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The social impact of no slavery
Effects of slavery on african americans
Effects of slavery on african americans
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Slavery as an Economic System
Slavery isn’t usually thought of as being an economical system, but it truly was an economical system and a crucial part to the Southern way of life. Without slavery the South would have lagged behind the North both economically and population wise, and would have had no way to make personal revenue and profits. Slavery and the slave trade gave the South the opportunity to grow and flourish, while also helping the North to grow and flourish. The South relied on slaves to work in fields, houses, plantations, and many other places. Without slaves, the Southern economy would have collapsed or dropped drastically. If slaves would have been hired and paid for the work that they did, they could have helped the economy to grow even more. They would have been able to do this, because they would be getting paid for their hard work, and they could then turn around and spend it on food, houses, and other wants or needs that would arise. By doing this, they would have also had the opportunity to have a touch of freedom. On the contrary, masters are seen by some as the kind of people that took care of their slaves. Most masters took care of only the minimal things, but at least the slaves didn’t have those things hanging over them. Some examples of the things that the master would take care of are: clothes, shoes, a place to live, and food and water. The masters took care of the necessities, which helped to release a burden that if the slaves were free, would have been placed on their shoulders. Being a slave must have been really hard. To have your master only care about you because you made them money, and to not be able to provide for, protect, or be with your family would have been a huge trial. M...
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...ut they were not given the respect that they deserve. The masters at least had the decency to give them a place to stay, clothes, shoes, and food and water. Even though slavery was focused on boosting the economy and helping with the supply and demand of the North, it soon became a way of life that took longer to abolish than it did to start. Slavery and the slave trade will forever be part of our past and will be something that we will always make sure will never happen again.
Works Cited
Fitzhugh, George. Cannibals All!: Or, Slaves Without Masters. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1960. Print.
Douglass, Frederick, and David W. Blight. "Caleb Bingham: Dialogue between a Master and a Slave 1797." Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave: with related documents. 2nd ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 2003. . Print.
When reading about the institution of slavery in the United States, it is easy to focus on life for the slaves on the plantations—the places where the millions of people purchased to serve as slaves in the United States lived, made families, and eventually died. Most of the information we seek is about what daily life was like for these people, and what went “wrong” in our country’s collective psyche that allowed us to normalize the practice of keeping human beings as property, no more or less valuable than the machines in the factories which bolstered industrialized economies at the time. Many of us want to find information that assuages our own personal feelings of discomfort or even guilt over the practice which kept Southern life moving
Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. An American Slave Written by Himself. (New Haven, Ct: Yale University Press, 2001)
Capitalism has always been a double edge sword for the United States. It began as the driving force in pushing along economic growth, but it came at the price of the African society. It was implied, and enforced, that Africans were of a lesser class through the means in which they were "used" by the slave owners to promote their wealth and stature. The larger their plantation, the wealthier and more successful people were seen. But in order to do this, the plantation owners needed workers, but if they had to pay workers reasonable wages, they could not yield a profit. Also, in the South, it was hard, rough work in the hot sun and very few whites were willing to do the work, therefore, most plantation owners purchased slaves to work the land. The plantation owner gave the slaves shelter and a small food allowance as a salary. Thereby, the plantation owner "saved" his money to invest in more land, which of course required more slaves to continue to yield a larger profit. An economic cycle was created between plantation owner and slave, one that would take generations to end. Slaves were now a necessity on the larger plantations to work the fields. They were pieces of property that quickly transformed into required elements of plantation machinery. African slaves were regarded as a large, dependable, and permanent source of 'cheap labor' because slaves rarely ran away and when caught they were severely punished. The creation of the plantation system of farming were essential factors in maintaining the idea of slavery.
The slave owners struggle to control the slave brought out an evil in them that cannot be brought out by any things. The slaves’ struggle for freedom and the suppression by their masters broke their spirit, which is a large part of human character. America would not have grown to be so great in such a short time without slavery, because of the economic value of it. But, it would not have been such a violent society then or such a violent society now if slavery had never existed.
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.
Works Cited Douglass, Frederick. A. A. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave.
Norton, Beth, et al. A People and a Nation. 8th. 1. Mason, OH: 2009. 41-42, 65-67,161,173.
Slavery today is a large concern to many people, just as it always has been. Any type of slavery is considered immoral and unjust in today’s society and standards. However, before the Civil War, slavery was as common as owning a dog today. Many in the United States, particularly in the South, viewed slavery as a “positive good” and owned slaves that were crucial to their business and income. However, the Civil War then changed the lifestyle of many southerners in a negative way. After the Civil War, slavery was abolished and any man owning a slave was required to let them free and view them as an equal. This was a difficult thing to do and eventually led to a downfall and destroyed economy in the southern United States. Abolishing slavery hurt the country economically and socially at the time and slavery was socially acceptable.
Print. The. Douglass, Frederick. A. A. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1995. Print.
Douglass, Frederick. “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: Written by Himself (ed. John Blassingame) Yale University Press, 2001.
George Fitzhugh’s, Cannibals All (Excerpt) is a primary document that appropriately argues that it is in the United State’s best intentions to preserve negro slavery across the South and the rest of the country in effort to sustain better lives for American negroes. Frederick Douglass argues in his piece, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave that society is responsible for shaping the negro community into slavery, and that abolition is necessary to remove that from existence. The author, Fitzhugh is a considerably significant individual who has a strong political background and is recognized for pro-slavery theology, influencing him to be a prominent figure in the context of arguing for the justification of slavery.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. The Classic Slave Narratives. Ed. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. New York: New American Library, 1987. 243-331.
For most American’s especially African Americans, the abolition of slavery in 1865 was a significant point in history, but for African Americans, although slavery was abolished it gave root for a new form of slavery that showed to be equally as terrorizing for blacks. In the novel Slavery by Another Name, by Douglas Blackmon he examines the reconstruction era, which provided a form of coerced labor in a convict leasing system, where many African Americans were convicted on triumphed up charges for decades.
Within the “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass: An American Slave” Douglass discusses the deplorable conditions in which he and his fellow slaves suffered from. While on Colonel Lloyd’s plantation, slaves were given a “monthly allowance of eight pounds of pork and one bushel of corn” (Douglass 224). Their annual clothing rations weren’t any better; considering the type of field work they did, what little clothing they were given quickly deteriorated. The lack of food and clothing matched the terrible living conditions. After working on the field all day, with very little rest the night before, they must sleep on the hard uncomfortably cramped floor with only a single blanket as protection from the cold. Coupled with the overseer’s irresponsible and abusive use of power, it is astonishing how three to four hundred slaves did not rebel. Slave-owners recognized that in able to restrict and control slaves more than physical violence was needed. Therefore in able to mold slaves into the submissive and subservient property they desired, slave-owners manipulated them by twisting religion, instilling fear, breaking familial ties, making them dependent, providing them with an incorrect view of freedom, as well as refusing them education.
Douglas, Frederick. Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (The Harper Single Volume American Literature 3rd edition) 1845:p.1017-1081