The Causes And Impacts Of Frederick Douglas And Olaudah Equiano

The late 1700’s and early 1800’s were a very pressing time in history regarding slavery and tobacco production. There were numerous altering opinions on these topics, and some were voiced better than others. The people that were more concerned with these issues wrote articles about them. The first article was written in 1775 when a traveller wrote about the effects tobacco production on the land in Virginia and Maryland. About twelve years after that, Thomas Jefferson wrote his article on his thoughts of slavery and how he believed that blacks were naturally inferior to whites. Contradictory to Jefferson, there were also articles written by slaves that had taught themselves to write. Frederick Douglas and Olaudah Equiano were both slaves during this time. Douglas wrote about the struggles and consequences of learning to

In response to this question, Douglas would’ve said yes, because it caused so many innocent people to go into slavery. The slaves were often treated so ill that they were suicidal, as Douglas was when he wrote “I often found myself regretting my own existence, and wishing myself dead; and for the hope of being free, I have no doubt but that I should have killed myself or done something for which I should have been killed.” The article “Tobacco Culture is Fast Declining” agrees that long term, yes, it was more catastrophic because it ruined the soil, but on a short term scale, tobacco was beneficial to the economy in places it was being produced and sold. The traveler’s article disagrees with the previous authors because it says that tobacco grew the economy. Tobacco wasn’t largely grown in Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, making it a very desirable crop in those areas. This article also concludes it was good because it employed the blacks. The Traveler writes “. . .during all this time, the Negroes are employed twice a week. .