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Antebellum Slavery And The American Revolution

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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 first word to focus on is misleading, and the general assumption that slaves were happy. Due the general degree of punishment that was experienced by slaves, most slave told their masters what they wanted to hear. This aspect of antebellum slavery cause much distrust and disdain between slaves and masters. In the discussion document Slaves Tell Master What Masters Want to hear by James Henry Hammond, he says that slaves are so fearful of master that they never fully express their true opinions (Slaves Tell; page 374). James goes on to say that this reality was made southerners believe that they were just in the treatment of their slaves (Slaves Tell; page 375). The biggest takeaway

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