Read the selection below from the section ""Devising arguments to defend slavery."" Defenders of slavery argued that if all the slaves were freed, there would be widespread unemployment and chaos. Abolishing slavery would

lead to uprisings, bloodshed and anarchy. Which word, if it replaced ""abolishing"" in the second sentence, would MOST change the meaning of the sentence?

a. ending
b. eliminating
c. decreasing
d. discontinuing