Masters, Slaves, and Subjects
In his book “Masters, Slaves, and Subjects”, Robert Olwell examines the complex relationships and power structures of colonial-era Charles Towne. Charles Towne, as Charleston was known in the years between its founding and its independence from the British Empire, is portrayed by Olwell as dominated by a rigid agrarian slave society which served as an intermediary in a more complex power structure that extended from the royal halls of London to the plantation fields of the Lowcountry. In examining the complicated web of relationships between London and the colony, and Masters and Slaves, Olwell argues that the economic and political structure of Charles Towne was based upon a successive series of carefully-maintained power-based relationships.
CHARLES TOWNE: A GATEWAY TO POWER
Power in Charles Towne was centralized at what became known as the Four Corners of Law, at Broad and Meeting Streets, and radiated outward across the Lowcountry. The Four Corners were home to the State House, where the Colonial Assembly met, St. Michael’s Church, the heart of the Church of England in the colony, the Town Watch House, which kept the slave population in check, and the public marketplace, where the commerce that was vital to the colony’s economy took place (19).
One could easily see power was centralized within Charleston, not just over the local area, but also statewide. Of the forty-eight members of the colonial Assembly, twenty-eight lived within a day’s horse ride of the city. Half of the justices of the colony, who took an oath to defend “King and Country”, were either sitting or former members of the Assembly, and all of the justices were slave owners (...
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...constitution officially separated church and state, ending the power of the Anglican Church forever (282). With this, the last ties to Mother England were cast off, and the elite were secure as Masters of their world, and Subjects to none.
CONCLUSION
Colonial Charles Towne had evolved into a sort of fuedal city-state governed by power-based relationships, which established roles for everyone from the lowest slave to the economic and political elite who ruled the colony. These relationships were vital to the success and stability of the city and the lands and the people over which it held power. In his book, Robert Olwell clearly identified defines the roles of Master, Slave, and Subject, and made a strong argument that, right or wrong, this system of power-based relationships was the key to the success, prosperity, and security of the colony.
Breen, T. H., and Stephen Innes. Myne Owne Ground: Race and Freedom on Virginia 's Eastern Shore, 1640-1676. 25th anniversary ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. 142 pages (kindle edition).
...usion that race is deployed "in the construction of power relations."* Indeed a "metalanguage" of race, to use Higginbotham's term, was employed by colonial powers to define black women as separate from English women, and that process is deconstructed in Good Wives, Nasty Wenches, Anxious Patriarchs. However, Brown's analysis rests mainly on the shifting English concepts of gender and race imposed on colonial society by the white elite, becoming at times a metalanguage of colonial gender. Nonetheless, Brown's analysis of overlapping social constructions is instructive for understanding the ways gender and race can be manipulated to buttress dominant hierarchies.
Hammond’s voice was very loud when it came to the issue of slavery. He was not ashamed to let everyone know how much he supported it. In 1831, Hammond became the owner of a cotton plantation called Silver Bluff. There were 147 slaves at Silver Bluff when Hammond arrived to take possession of it. They were eager to meet their new master. “Hammond had acquired seventy-four females and seventy-three males, a population with a median age of twenty-five. He would certainly have noted that forty-six, nearly a third of these slaves, were not yet fifteen, too young to be much use in the fields but a good foundation for a vigorous future labor force. Undoubtedly, too, he observed that sixty-four of the slaves were between fifteen and forty-five, the prime work years. These were the individuals upon whom Hammond would rely to plant, cultivate, and harvest the cotton and corn that would generate most of his yearly income” (Faust, 71). The rest were older slaves that couldn’t really do a lot of hard labor in the field, but they could do chores that didn’t require such demanding work ethics like watching over the children whose parents are out working in the fields.
Beginning with the idea of independence, Breen explains that the people within society sought no form of constraint by a higher political leader, but at times worked together to make sure their colony was stable Moreover, by understanding their preferences, it is safe to say that they were more comfortable with having the freedom they had from not having a higher ruler. Due to the many immigrants that came in from the European rule, higher classes within the colonies of Virginia sought the opportunity to gain independence. This way, as Breen points out, the gentry were able to control as much land and property as they willed. Consequently, the amount of personal possessions among the people lead into a society built by competitiveness and they obsession of always having
Christina Snyder, who was a student of South history, focused on Oglethorpe and colonization, slavery and the Civil War. However, when she learned of an older South, which was once dominated by Native people, she was fascinated by the region’s Native history. Although there were much warfare occurred at the region, she concluded the region as “… I also learned that these two Souths were never really separate, that the region was and is diverse and contested.” (Snyder 317) In the book “Slavery in Indian Country”, she explored the long history of captivity. I will write a book review of this book in the following.
Kyles, Perry L.. "Resistance and Collaboration: Political Strategies within the Afro-Carolinian Slave Community, 1700-1750." The Journal of African History 93: 497-508.
Valerie Martin’s Novel Property is an engrossing story of the wife of a slave owner and a slave, whom a mistress of the slave owner, during the late 18th century in New Orleans. Martin guides you through both, Manon Guadet and her servant Sarah’s lives, as Ms. Gaudet unhappily lives married on a plantation and Sarah unhappily lives on the plantation. Ms. Gaudet’s misserableness is derived from the misfortune of being married to a man that she despises and does not love. Sarah, the slave, is solely unhappy due to the fact that she is a slave, and has unwillingly conceived to children by Ms. Gaudiest husband, which rightfully makes Sarah a mistress. Throughout the book, Martin captivates the reader and enables you to place yourself in the characters shoes and it is almost as you can relate to how the characters are feeling.
As the United States grew, the institution of slavery became a way of life in the southern states, while northern states began to abolish it. While the majority of free blacks lived in poverty, some were able to establish successful businesses that helped the Black community. Racial discrimination often meant that Blacks were not welcome or would be mistreated in White businesses and other establishments. A comparison of the narratives of Douglass and Jacobs demonstrates the full range of demands and situations that slaves experienced, and the mistreatment that they experienced as well. Jacobs experienced the ongoing sexual harassment from James Norcom, just like numerous slave women experienced sexual abuse or harassment during the slave era. Another issue that faced blacks was the incompetence of the white slave owners and people. In ...
My interviewee went through a lot during World War II and sharing her amazing story left me evaluating her words for a long time, rethinking and still not willing to imagine the pain. She was one of the 150,000 American woman served in the Women’s Army Corps during the war years. They were one of the first ones to serve in the ranks of the United States Army. She recalls being teased a lot about being a young woman in a uniform but was very proud of it. Women finally were given the opportunity to make a major contribution to the national affair, especially a world war. It started with a meeting in1941 of Congresswoman Edith Nourse Rogers and General George Marshall, who was the Army’s Chief of Staff. Rogers asked General to introduce a bill to establish an Army women’s corps, where my interviewee, Elizabeth Plancher, was really hoping to get the benefits after the World War II along with other women. ( Since after World War I women came back from war and were not entitled to protection or any medical benefits. )
Thomas Pownall was a man of high status who had a huge influence in British politics. With a resume of governing the Province of Massachusetts Bay, to serving in British parliament, one could say that Pownall was a huge advocate of British practices. Although a supporter of the colonies, Pownall confidently spoke of the impossibility of Independence America faced. He was not alone in this idea, and was supported by other people and situations that made his statement a reality. There were examples from 1600-1763 that support Pownall’s implications; however, through great perseverance and help, the colonies were able to support themselves long enough to build a flourishing America.
Harris, Leslie M. “In The Shadow of Slavery: African Americans in New York City, 1626-1863. New York: University of Chicago Press, 2003. http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/317749.html
"Update: Women in the Military." Issues and Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 29 May 2007. Web.
Writing around the same time period as Phillips, though from the obverse vantage, was Richard Wright. Wright’s essay, “The Inheritors of Slavery,” was not presented at the American Historical Society’s annual meeting. His piece is not festooned with foot-notes or carefully sourced. It was written only about a decade after Phillips’s, and meant to be published as a complement to a series of Farm Credit Administration photographs of black Americans. Wright was not an academic writing for an audience of his peers; he was a novelist acceding to a request from a publisher. His essay is naturally of a more literary bent than Phillips’s, and, because he was a black man writing ...
Many argue that parents choose to home school their children in order to protect them from things such as being bullied, while you have others who feel that you cannot protect children from everything. Children need to be exposed to certain situations at some given points in their lives. A child that is home schooled, in my opinion, is often sheltered and does not fully understand the true meaning of struggles in life. It is understood that some parents oppose the fact that their children will be bullied in public schools but once again you cannot protect them from all the dangers.
Homeschooling, however, wonderfully prepares children for the future and teaches them to enjoy learning. In a survey conducted by Dr. Gary Knowles, a University of Michigan Assistant Professor of Education, he interviewed more than 50 adults who had been homeschooled as children. “He found that nearly two-thirds of the adults he surveyed who had been homeschooled owned businesses. Socially, 2/3 of the adults surveyed were married, and none were unemployed or on welfare. Also, more than 75% felt homeschooling had helped them learn to interact with others as an adult.” If you want to prepare your child well for life, then you should consider homeschooling or if you can 't do that then at least consider enrolling them in private or charter