Slavery And The American Revolution

Slavery, often called the “Peculiar Institution”, was an integral part of the United States economy. Prior to the civil war, the economy of the south was based on the use of slave labor for cotton. Even though the North did not have as many slaves, it relied on cotton from the South, which was the biggest import from the United States. Slavery became an important part of the culture of the south. Plantation life became an idealized way of life. Many whites came to view blacks as inferior and uncivilized. The United States was one of the last countries to abolish slavery and many of the ideas of white supremacy still exist today. For example, in The Growth of The American Republic by Samuel Eliot Morrison and Henry Steele Commager, a textbook used from the 1930’s until the 1960’s, the authors wrote about slavery having been beneficial for everyone, even the slaves. They wrote about how slaves were happy to be slaves and treated well. They claimed that slaves became devoted to their masters and were faithfully obedient. They wrote that slaves worked less than free workers of the North. Contrary to what Samuel Eliot Morrison and Henry Steele Commager thought, slaves were not treated well, content, or devoted to their owners, and suffered from overworking and terrible conditions.

During the period of 1830-1860 slavery existed throughout the United States. The topic of slavery has a long history in the United States, beginning with the slaves used to cultivate tobacco in the southern colonies. When writing the Declaration of Independence, the Founding Fathers realized they could not include any articles against slavery, for it would lead to the South not agreeing upon it. In the 1830’s to 1860’s, attitudes towards the institution of slavery varied throughout social classes and regions, ultimately settling with the North coming out against the expansion of slavery and the South for it.

In the late 1800s America’s North and South were very different, indeed while the South’s economy was constructed on the backs of African slaves, which provided easy cheap labor. About one million of the four million slaves in America at the time worked in industry, construction and mining. The North had about 90% of all the factories in America at the time which produced textiles. The North’s labor was expensive, and their workers were lively. There were a multitude of immigrants coming to the North to work, however this kept the wages of the North from growing very quickly.

The South gained its workforce through the African slave trade and once that ended in 1808 then it was domestic trade along with illegal smuggling. Also, a more gruesome way that slaves were produced was by breeding slaves like cattle. This was a common practice done by plantation owners, such as Mr. Covey, who “boasted that he bought her simply “as a breeder.” The “her” in this quote referred to a female slave that Mr. Covey had recently purchased and it was evident that she could not work to a great extent, so he knew that she would be used for something else, such as a “breeder”. This inhumane action allowed slave owners to keep slaves circulating throughout the South. Without this practice many would have either lost slaves or would have had to import more illegally from Africa. The realm of slavery would continue to grow with this even after the slave trade ended in 1808. Southern elites never hired an immigrant or local American for a job on the farm. All forms of labor were done by the slaves so that they did not have to pay for labor. Interestingly, the North had its own form of slavery called ‘wage slavery’ that was used to amass a large enough workforce to work in the factories. The people who had this job were called ‘slavers’ and one particular slaver for the Lowell factories rode in a “long, low, black’ wagon” that was “paid a dollar a head for all

Escaped slaves from the South helped the north to win the Civil War by increasing the number of soldiers fighting in the war for the north and by spying on the south for the north. With the help of escaped slaves fighting the South, the north outnumbered the south in battles, which eventually led to the North’s victory in the Civil War. Escaped slaves form the south also helped the north by spying on the south and reporting to Union officials who reported the information to the Union army. The purpose of this paper is to consider how escaped slaves from the south helped the north win the civil war resulting in the abolishment of slavery.

Slavery was an institution that caused much division between the north and south of the United States back in the 1800’s that instigated many political, economic and moral fights between northern abolitionists and southern slaveholders. The system was established on the basis of economic profits, cheap labor, and morality of “saving” Africans from their previous lifestyle. The Southern states were notorious slave-holding states, while the North contained few, but far, slave-holders. Despite the number of slaves present in the south, their impact on production effected the economy in the north. The few but proud abolitionists in the north saw right through southerner’s proslavery ideology, and refuted their claims on the grounds of

Slavery had a profound effect on the economy of North America from 1600’s to the 1800’s. The first shipment of slaves arrived in Jamestown around August of 1619 (Document 5). At first, slavery was not a big deal, and nobody was really interested in it. In Document 5, the writer only mentions the slaves for a few sentences and the moves on to more important things, because in that time period, slavery was still new and people did not really catch on. Slowly however, North America took on more slaves, which led to growth within the economy, as well as the spark of interest

The film “Slavery and The Making Of America” covered the beginning of American slavery in the British colonies until the end of slavery in the southern states and post-civil war reconstruction. This film shows viewers remarkable stories of individual slaves, providing new perspectives on how unjust the slaves experiences were, and besides all the trouble they were facing still having to survive and shape their own lives. The British colonies in North America had an abundance of land and a scarcity of labor ended up producing money crops with the forced labor of African slaves, literally being treated as if they were machines for production.

American slavery was something that not only mentally challenging, but it was physically demanding as well. Many slaves did not have the luxury of a “kind” master, and many were mistreatment from birth. Slaves fought masters, and master fought slaves without regard to the human condition. Antebellum slavery was different than past form of American slavery, because slaves had gained a taste of the ideas that were spread from the American Revolution. These idea played a big role in slaves wanting freedom, and doing anything to get it. Antebellum slavery, if it were defined in three simple words, would be categorized as; misleading, ruthless, and resistance. I have chosen these three words, because the give the essence of antebellum slavery, and show the underlying theme of the time period.

The 1800 has brought different ordeals for the growing country, so did the Revolutionary War. The new country still growing and gaining strength had one of the bigger problems to deal with. Slavery had been a problem and being, dealt with before the war started, still was a concern. U. S. History explains, “In the 18th century “property” included other human beings” (1). Certain restrictions set for the slaves, differed very little from colony to colony. “Slave Codes”, set upon them before the war, and did not end until after the Civil War. Although these restrictions existed, the confederate army refused to recruit the blacks for armed service. However, finding out they needed men, to keep the number of soldiers up to a quota, they decided

Slavery was a legal system in which people of the dark color did not have the same rights as white people did, and they were treated as they were a property. It started in 1619 in Virginia where the slaves were brought in North America to do labor jobs. They would immediately become slaves as soon as they get captured, or if they were born into a slave family. Slaves were treated very badly from their owners, and they were forced to do labor jobs without getting paid, they did not have proper homes and nor did they have any rights because they were legally considered as property. George Washington, the first president of America was born into a family that also owned slaves, and once he married his wife Martha Dandrig Custis, he gained a lot more slaves. However, his views on slavery changed during the American Revolutionary War. He saw slaves fearlessly fighting in the Continental Army in 1775, and he also noticed some places that did not have slavery and the agriculture were well developed.

While slavery was a horrific thing that led to the mistreatment of millions of black people, it had the power to last for centuries. When looking closely at historical accounts it becomes easier to see why this horrible practice was able to sustain for so long. One of the reasons was because the economy of Colonial America relied heavily on the labor of slaves. Farming, the slave trade itself, and the harsh treatment of slaves were all driven by the greed of slave owners. Another reason that slavery lasted so long was racism. During this time, the black population was considered inferior to the white population. This helped to promote the cruel behaviors that occurred in slavery. Lastly, many whites actually felt that the slaves were treated

This shows that the South lacked in the white working force, forcing them to find another source of labor, African slaves. Another source of labor that was quickly dwindling for the plantation owners were indentured servants. In the first couple of waves of settlers that came over to the New World, many came over as indentured servants because it was the only way for them to pay for a trip over to escape the English economy and poverty. But the English economy began to improve and people didn?t need to come over anymore causing even more trouble for the plantation owners to find people to work the fields.

The majority of slave work was accomplished by African men, women, and children. The North was fighting to free the slaves and after the war was finished there was still much work needed to secure the freedmen’s’ futures.

In order to talk about the abolition of slavery it is necessary to know the meaning of slavery and abolition. According to Dictionary.com the word “Slave means: a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person and abolition means: “the legal prohibition and ending of slavery, especially of slavery of blacks in the U.S.” Now that both words were defined we can begin. “It is said that the first African slaves were brought to the United States near the English Colony back in 1619 to Jamestown, Virginia by some Dutch traders. If we were to discuss the origins of slavery we would have to start not in the United States, but we would have to shift gears to Brazil were they were the biggest slaves traders of all times” according to History.net