The Role Of Slavery In The 1800's

580 Words2 Pages

“Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves.” by Abraham Lincoln. I feel like this means that if you can’t give the others freedom than you don’t deserve the freedom yourself. In the 1800’s there was many slaves who were being mistreated. The slaves were at the very bottom social class at that time. As the time went by the working conditions changed. Factories were starting to form and they were getting paid, even though they were low wages. I think that if you were to compare the slave’s life with the wage earners in the northern industry and the free slaves in Africa, the slaves had the most hardest times. I have several of evidence and reason why I think this way. First of all, the slaves in the 1800’s were forced and taken away from their homeland and families. Their travel to the master or owner was a rough time for them. The over sea travel was harsh, the Africans were being treated like cattle. They were all squished into the ships and tied up. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr4.html) This is saying that the slaves were being forced to leave their home and to be in labor, be acused, and to be mistreated. On the other hand, in the factory there wasn't any choice of being taken or anything because the women and man both had to work in order to live …show more content…

In the textbook “The American Pageant”, page 356, it states that, “...free blacks who had purchased their freedom with earnings from labor after hours.” This is saying that they had more freedom in buying their freedom, buying themselves more freedom so they can live a better life. If you compare the free slaves to the slaves, the slaves didn't have this much freedom. They didn’t get this much freedom to even buy themselves the freedom they wanted. The slaves had to suffer and work their whole lives until they die or until they really got their

Show More
Related

  • Were Black Americans Made Free and Equal by the Abolition of Slavery, 1865-1915?

    677 Words  | 2 Pages

    After the black Americans were freed from their slave masters they did not have ‘a cent in their pockets’ and ‘without a hut to shelter them’ . This obvious lack a home, and the monetary funds needed to support them [the freed slaves] and their families, together with the lack of widespread Government support meant that many slaves continued to live in poverty, and in many ways, they could have been better off (economically), had they been left in bondage . For this reason, many Southern slaves ‘had little choice but to remain as paid labourers or to become sharecroppers working on the land as before’ . Sharecropping, which generally involved the ex-slaves renting land, tools, and a house from a white landlord, working the land that is given to them, and then providing the landlord with one-half to two-thirds of the produce . ‘This system kept the black cotton producers in an inferior position’ , which means that while they were ‘officially free’; they were still stuck in the previous cycle of working for their previous masters, without hope of escape for a better life. While this is what most ex-slaves did, some, like Jourdan Anderson, who left the farm on which he, was prior to being freed, with his family, ‘would rather stay here and starve - and die’ than to have his girls ‘brought to shame by...

    Read More

  • Slavery in America between 1800 and 1860

    724 Words  | 2 Pages

    Between 1800 and 1860 slavery in the American South had become a ‘peculiar institution’ during these times. Although it may have seemed that the worst was over when it came to slavery, it had just begun. The time gap within 1800 and 1860 had slavery at an all time high from what it looks like. As soon as the cotton production had become a long staple trade source it gave more reason for slavery to exist. Varieties of slavery were instituted as well, especially once international slave trading was banned in America after 1808, they had to think of a way to keep it going – which they did. Nonetheless, slavery in the American South had never declined; it may have just come to a halt for a long while, but during this time between 1800 and 1860, it shows it could have been at an all time high.

    Read More

  • The Relationship Between Slavery and Freedom

    866 Words  | 2 Pages

    The contradictions between slavery and freedom are very apparent throughout history. America started out with the intentions of becoming separate and equal. To become this kind of nation they needed a crop that would give them something to trade with the other countries. The most obvious choice was tobacco and to produce this demanding crop they used a lot of slave labor. Morgan states 'To a very large degree it may be said that Americans bought their independence with slave labor (122).' America was so obsessed with being free and equal it looks like they would go to any length to obtain it. Another example would be certain slave owners. Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington all owned slaves. This is interesting especially with Jefferson who had a major role in republican liberty. Another contradictory point made by Morgan is how England which prides itself in the l...

    Read More

  • American Slavery Book Review

    968 Words  | 2 Pages

    The author goes on to describe antebellum slavery. During this time he describes slavery as a massive expansion. He expresses this knowledge through numbers of slaves and overwhelming facts. At this time cotton boosted the economy of all the slave states, cotton producing or not. Cotton created an intense demand for slave labor and therefore slave prices rose to an all time high. Slave trading was very traumatic for the slaves, being separated from the only thing they knew. Some lived on plantations under a watchful eye and others worked right beside their owners. Slaves on large plantations usually worked in gangs, and there were better positions to work then others. Some gangs were separated into groups of lighter work, consisting of men and woman. Other gangs weren't so lucky and were assigned to hard labor.

    Read More

  • Caleb Bingham's Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass

    1893 Words  | 4 Pages

    This conversation also implies that a person is not a slave when he was born. He should have the right to obtain freedom, but he is not controlled by others. Slavery does not happen naturally and is not caused by the environment. On the other hand, it is forced by human being. In his book A

    Read More

  • Slavery In Colonial America Essay

    791 Words  | 2 Pages

    The first arrivals of Africans in America were treated similarly to the indentured servants in Europe. Black servants were treated differently from the white servants and by 1740 the slavery system in colonial America was fully developed.

    Read More

  • Slavery During the 1800s

    481 Words  | 1 Pages

    Slavery in the eighteenth century was worst for African Americans. Observers of slaves suggested that slave characteristics like: clumsiness, untidiness, littleness, destructiveness, and inability to learn the white people were “better.” Despite white society's belief that slaves were nothing more than laborers when in fact they were a part of an elaborate and well defined social structure that gave them identity and sustained them in their silent protest.

    Read More

  • What Major Problems Did Former Slaves Face After Civil War Essay

    777 Words  | 2 Pages

    Meaning that until former slaves believe that they are truly considered equal, they will have to provided with a way to make an income to support themselves and for them to have their own land that they can farm. Then, and only then, will former slaves believe that they too are considered free. Many former slaves, according to the reading passage, “Saw freedom in the ownership of land.” In 1865, General William Tecumseh Sherman tried to give emancipated slaves land from the land that was confiscated from former

    Read More

  • Slavery in Colonial America

    846 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery became of fundamental importance in the early modern Atlantic world when Europeans decided to transport thousands of Africans to the Western Hemisphere to provide labor in place of indentured servants and with the rapid expansion of new lands in the mid-west there was increasing need for more laborers. The first Africans to have been imported as laborers to the first thirteen colonies were purchased by English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 from a Dutch warship. Later in 1624, the Dutch East India Company brought the first enslaved Africans in Dutch New Amsterdam.

    Read More

  • Slavery In Colonial America

    1702 Words  | 4 Pages

    Slavery was created in pre-revolutionary America at the start of the seventeenth century. By the time of the Revolution, slavery had undergone drastic changes and was nothing at all what it was like when it was started. In fact the beginning of slavery did not even start with the enslavement of African Americans. Not only did the people who were enslaved change, but the treatment of slaves and the culture that each generation lived in, changed as well.

    Read More

  • the development of slavery in America

    1202 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slavery was the main resource used in the Chesapeake tobacco plantations. The conditions in the Chesapeake region were difficult, which lead to malnutrition, disease, and even death. Slaves were a cheap and an abundant resource, which could be easily replaced at any time. The Chesapeake region’s tobacco industries grew and flourished on the intolerable and inhumane acts of slavery.

    Read More

  • Argumentative Essay About Slavery

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    “We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” If the confusion has not yet set in, then give it a moment. This nation, the United States of America, prides itself on being far superior to all other nations because here in America we are free men. We set ourselves on a pedestal above Great Britain because the Declaration of Independence clearly states that everyone inside the parameters of our country will be treated as equal as the same individuals neighbor. Yet for nearly three centuries, our nation was full of individuals, including our forefathers, who “owned” people that were regarded as less than themselves simply due to the fact that the pigments in their skin did not allow them to fall within the Caucasian race. The very legal document that had the word “Independence” written within it’s name and blatantly stated that it is obvious that no human is greater than any other because we were all made by the same god for the same reason, is the foundation of a nation that used innocent lives as fuel for slavery. It wasn’t until some educated individuals finally stood up and realized how incredibly wrong these two concepts are when put together. It is said that when the former slave Frederick Douglass

    Read More

  • Freedom And Freedom Essay

    1161 Words  | 3 Pages

    49). The slaves were beyond desperate to leave their labor life that they made plans to escape. Unfortunately, the plot was discovered and many of the slaves were killed or taken to different states. The thought of getting caught had probably come into their minds, but they wanted to leave and be free. George Tucker, who speaks on this rebellion, opposed to slavery, but he believed that the slaves had to leave and move to the west side of the Mississippi River. There was no chance of whites and blacks living together. Not only were slaves eager for their freedom, Thomas Jefferson also wanted freedom. He believed if a man is under authority, he is not fully free. In the article “Slave and Freedom,” Jefferson said, “I am miserable till I shall owe not a shilling” (8). Jefferson was a debtor, so he was under the power of other to pay all debt. He was an important leading figure, but because of owing debt he felt the burden of not being free. Women also had the worry of not being free. Young, unmarried women had started to work in factories and the factory

    Read More

  • Modern Day Slavery Essay

    1371 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slavery has been a part of human practices for centuries and dates back to the world’s ancient civilizations. In order for us to recognize modern day slavery we must take a look and understand slavery in the American south before the 1860’s, also known as antebellum slavery. Bouvier’s Law Dictionary defines a slave as, “a man who is by law deprived of his liberty for life, and becomes the property of another” (B.J.R, pg. 479). In the period of antebellum slavery, African Americans were enslaved on small farms, large plantations, in cities and towns, homes, out on fields, industries and transportation. By law, slaves were the perso...

    Read More

  • Slavery: Profound Impact on Global Relations

    1396 Words  | 3 Pages

    In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, slavery connected the world. Slaves were present on almost every continent and were traded frequently across the Atlantic Ocean. Various countries influenced their allies, persuading others to join the chaotic process of selling human lives. Slaves were taken from their native homeland in Africa, sold to plantation owners in the West Indies, and then shipped to their final destination: the United States of America. This was not just a bad habit or business tactic; slavery became a cruel lifestyle. Thousands of lives were altered, leaving a considerable impact on the physical, emotional, and social aspects of society. Many causes attributed to American

    Read More

More about The Role Of Slavery In The 1800's

Open Document