Slavery Was A Cruel And Devastating Trade That Ravished Through The World During The Antebellum Era Essay

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.

Slave by definition is a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them. That about sums up what slavery really is in our mind and is pretty much the definition that we all picture when we think about slaves and slavery. But this is not what slavery truly was within the antebellum time period. Most of the slaves had a whole different outlook on the way they viewed, and acted and while living in their unfortunate circumstances. This is one of the few things that will be discussed further on within this paper. The main concept of this paper will be to discuss slavery in three sections; these sections will be discussing the types of people who were enslaved, and the nature of their bondage in the first section. The

Women were treated differently than men in each region. In the South, slaves had the same demands regarding their work and the same hours (from sun to sun, that is long hours and large work), no matter their sex. However, in the North, women had less demanding jobs and also worked less hours than men.

Slavery was common in the eighteenth century. Slaves were seen as property, as they were taken from their native land and forced into long hours of labor. The experience was traumatic for both black men and black women. They were physically and mentally abused by slave owners, dehumanized by the system, and ultimately denied their fundamental rights to a favorable American life. Although African men and women were both subjected to the same enslavement, men and women had different experiences in slavery based on their gender. A male perspective can be seen in, My Bondage and My Freedom by Frederick Douglass. A female perspective is shared in Harriet Jacobs’ narrative titled, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Upon reading both of the viewpoints provided, along with outside research, one can infer that women had it worse.

Eighteen century was a time period when slavery took deep roots in the New World. Slavery institution deeply affected and shaped the United States in the way we know it now. It affected all aspects of an American society: politically, economically and socially. Slaves were the ones who worked on large plantations, harvesting the crops, taking care of houses, fighting for an American independence, and gave the white people a leisure time to improve their knowledge and exercise political power. From an early colonial settlement through the civil war, African-American slaves had completed a long path of oppression, abuse, and repudiation of basic liberty rights. Though the appearance of the colonial America to the end of the civil war, slavery was a foundation, that allowed the United States to appear and function.

During the 1800’s many slaves were treated like animals and had absolutely no freedom. Both men and women were taken from their homeland and forced to do anything their master said. Many slaves were beaten mercilessly and were mentally and physically degraded by their “overseer”. Working as a slave meant working from sunrise to sundown daily. With Eli Whitney’s invention of the cotton gen in the 1790’s, the demand for slaves was higher than ever. Men were assigned to jobs like plowing the fields, carpentry, and blacksmithing, while women were assigned things like being a servant in the house or hoeing the fields (source). Depending on the type of plantation, many slaves would go without food for many days and then when they would get food it would be a disgusting remedy even pigs would not eat. Their headquarters consisted of a dirt floor too sleep on and little to no furniture. Out of fear of rebellion, the southerners created “Slave Codes”

Widely admired for its vivid descriptions of the slave trade, Olaudah Equiano 's autobiography reveals many aspects of the eighteenth-century Western world through the experiences of one individual. Throughout the narrative, Equiano -- a man defined by his abilities and usefulness, not by his skin color -- demonstrates the foundations for America’s role in the world and how his experience became a global story. From the west coast of Africa to the east coast of America, Equiano encounters a different culture in which he was able to develop his own sense of identity. In this Narrative, Equiano goes through a cultural change by learning the English language, meeting new people from different places, and experiencing different cultures and beliefs.

To illustrate, female slaves in the 19th century had enormously more adversity to cope and manage with then the male slaves; such as sexual assault from the male slave owners and harassment from the female slave owners. Many slave girls would start to be harassed and sexually assaulted around the young age of only 15, “But I had now entered my 15th year – a sad epoch in the life of a slave girl. My master began to whisper foul words into my ear” (26 Jacobs). This shows that not only did female slaves have to deal with these kinds of harsh conditions; they had to begin to cope with these circumstances at a very young age. Throughout

It is well known that black slaves in America faced many trials and tribulations, however, there are cruelties which women faced with the institution of slavery which were exclusive to their gender. For slave women, sexual harassment, and rape

Slaves were not usually treated with respect in the households they worked in, most of the time, slaves were treated horribly. They would be raped, beaten, teased, whipped, and were victims of many cruel and unusual punishments that are unimaginable to the human race present day. Family was the most important thing to the African culture. Brothers tried their hardest to look over their younger sisters as best as possible. Old women and men with no family members to turn to, looked to the comfort of nieces, nephews, and cousins when they fell ill, and aunts and uncles played a primary part in the family as well. Men were not the only ones that were forced to take part in daily labor and routines but also women and children. Some slaves were assigned outside work in which they would tend the crops and more commonly known work the plantations on their masters estate. Women were more commonly assigned to kitchen work such as cleaning the houses, washing clothes, cooking meals, working as servants, and tending to the masters each and every need. Most women who worked in the houses were brutally raped by their masters whether or not they were married to a man or not. Although most women worked in a home setting, there were some women who did work outside with the men and children. Work was difficult on the slaves and their masters were not empathetic towards them in

Women slaves endured far worse punishment and cruelty than men ever did. Lets begin with women’s duties. Their duties consisted of two parts. The first part was that of being a household servant. They did the cleaning, cooking, cared for the white children of their Mistress and Master, and other household duties. Secondly, slave women had to not only maintain the household, at times, they were also expected to work in the fields and slave like the men on the plantations. Things like picking cotton, cleaning outside, feeding animals, and hoeing the grounds for planting crops. Slave men were never made to perform women duties.

This was the period of post-slavery, early twentieth century, in southern United States where blacks were still treated by whites inhumanly and cruelly, even after the abolition laws of slavery of 1863. They were still named as ‘color’. Nothing much changed in African-American’s lives, though the laws of abolition of slavery were made, because now the slavery system became a way of life. The system was accepted as destiny. So the whites also got license to take disadvantages and started exploiting them sexually, racially, physically, and economically. During slavery, they were sold in the slave markets to different owners of plantation and were bound to be separated from each other. Thus they lost their nation, their dignity, and were dehumanized and exploited by whites.

However, one of a hardworking example of black men is slavery era. Slavery is a social institution established by law and custom; it is the form of the most compelling human bondage. The work was a harsh necessity, the man sought the means to dispense, and strong work made low; War provided the slaves. Where the work was not imposed by the need, slavery did not exist: they killed prisoners of war and often they are eating. The main characteristics of slavery are working or services by force, and that the individual is regarded as the property of another person, the owner, to the will which it is entirely

The goal of the civil war was never originally to free slaves but slaves became a large part of the war. African American slaves overcame many challenges to finally receive their freedom. Many African Americans endured the chance to fight for the union and that immensely increased the man power of the union.

Moreover, there are a few more countries which have involved in the slave trade like Africa, Britain, Portugal and Spain. As for Britain, they were one of the major player in doing trading. British had many ships who were mainly carried 2,6000 000 slaves from the African’s in the 18th century to the Caribbean sea and America’s in order for them to trade those goods in a different parts of their cities in the country. For example, one of their cities like London who owned those slaves ports back in the 17th century transports their goods to Manchester and Birmingham. The main reason was because they intended to combine those three ports in order to fit all of the goods and exported them using those ships. For example, they manufactured some goods such as guns, metal cotton and tobacco. At the same time, they decided to do a business trade by getting a permission from the royal king and signed a contract with a company