Compensated Emancipation

In 1776, Jefferson unsuccessfully drafted the Virginian constitution to include a provision that prevented new slaves from entering the territory. This, to Jefferson, was a pragmatic and early attempt that sought to prevent the growth of slavery while simultaneously satisfying the current Virginian slaveholders. Two years later, Jefferson again pushed for a similar bill that disallowed the entrance of African slaves into American territories. Jefferson’s initial attempts at emancipationist legislation reflect his commitment for pragmatic methods of ending slavery. Jefferson did not pursue bills that would eradicate the institution entirely, but laws that would regulate slavery and slow its growth in America. However, Jefferson failed to

In my opinion, there should be reparations for slavery. One reason being that the slaves helped create america’s infrastructure from the very beginning. Another reason is the discrimination and prejudice African Americans faced for centuries. Not to mention the jim crow laws and segregation following the civil war. In the atlantic article, “The Case for Reparations” by Ta-Nehisi Coates, the author discusses the possilibilty of reparations for slaves in the united states.

If the United States government were to support the reparations to the descendents of African American slaves it would be an admitting of their responsibility. This is an issue that the United States government does not want to bring back to the forefront. To them, slavery is an occurrence in history such as the Vietnam War, which is not easy to tell about without editing. What is done is done, and bringing up possibilities of any type of reparation would stir up a negative outlook on government, even if trying to make amends.

A big argument often used in support of reparations is the idea that reparations will help to fix the socio-economic problems with African Americans in the United States. Although a check for $10,000 or $20,000 may be helpful for a short period of time, it will do very little in the long run. Racism won’t end just because African Americans are given an apology and a bag of money. It may in fact make things worse if people feel that reparations are unjustified and they dislike the special treatment of African Americans. Reparations won’t fix the fact that most people who live in ghettos are African American or the wage gap between whites and blacks. It may even cause African Americans to be in a worse financial situation than they were previously if they are irresponsible with it.

The economic benefits of slavery made it justifiable in the United States as the abolition of the institution could have caused financial ruin. Although slavery denied African Americans unalienable human rights, it was promoted in the South for economic reasons. Therefore, the gap between the ideal and painful realities of American life was widened by the document.

In the Atlantic article by Ta-Nehisi Coates titled “The Case for Reparations, Coates argues that the reason why the United States was able to grow and acquire most of its wealth can be directly tied to the enormous losses people of the African-American community have suffered since the use of slave labor in America. Historically, African-Americans have always been discriminated against. Even today, African-Americans continue to be excluded from the system, while the nation, primarily non-blacks, continues to reap the benefits. Moreover, Coates affirms that the nation needs to acknowledge these truths and should provide reparations for the African-American people. Merriam-Webster defines reparations as “the act of making amends, offering expiation,

The United States government should pay reparations to African Americans as a means of admitting their wrong-doing and making amends. The damages African Americans have sustained from White America’s policy of slavery have been agonizing and inhumane. Therefore, I am in favor of reparations for African Americans. The effect of slavery has been an enduring issue within the African American community. Many of us are cognizant of the harm racism brought to the African American race, conveyed through slavery, racial segregation and discrimination. African Americans suffered many atrocities, but the greatest damage done to them was the destruction of they’re original identity. African

Reparations for slavery have been a topic among scholars and regular people for years now. During the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War many freed slaves were promised 40 acres of land, as a form of reparations.(Staff www.The Root.com) However, this became an empty promise and nothing was enforced to help African Americans become socially, economically, or politically leveled with white Americans since. African Americans were enslaved to work for big corporations and never received any form of wages after the abolishment of slavery. Businesses that thrived off slave labor continued to succeed after the Slavery Abolition Act, while freed slaves were stuck without any assets to properly function in society. To

For years African Americans descent were slave by the United States. During these rough times, Africans faced painful hardships and lost their true identity. Later on in 1863, president Abraham Lincoln announced The Emancipation Proclamation where the slaves were finally "free". Although this freedom, many Africans were still considered slaves to many white Americans. Whites made African Americans believe that if they stayed, they would be paid and live a much better life rather than leaving with empty hands and starting off from nothing. Though this, Africans were still betrayed by the whites even though they were already considered free. Taken this into consideration, there’s one question that has remains for years, and that is whether or not black Americans should be paid for the reparations of their hardships. This had been a commonly topic for years with two sides to the story. Many agree with the idea that the United States should pay for reparations because Africans were promised goods for their hard work. And on the other hand, many believe that the United States shouldn’t pay for reparation because slavery ended years ago and it is unfair to take money from American taxpayers where many came to the United States after slavery ended. The author of The Case for Reparation, Ta-Nehisi Coates goes into deep details on how the U.S should be marked responsible for paying for reparations. And writer Kevin D. Williamson goes against Coates own essay in how the U.S shouldn’t

To better understand why the issue of reparations being paid to freed slaves or their descendants, one would have to understand a few very important facts such as slavery made America wealthy, and racist policies since have blocked African American wealth-building, the other is many indentured slaves and their families spent their entire lives as enslaved property and now freed into a society still going through changes and still in formation stages.

Now it might be said that it would be easier and more humane to free the slaves and pay them. But the answer for that is simple. Slaves are seen as Capital there is no need say in an economic downturn to get rid of slaves as there would be for paid workmen. To turn out a slave is to lose money. (Fitzhugh, Sociology, 1) Then there is the fact that a lot of Americans lower class white men are in poverty. They do not have enough food, enough clothing, or enough shelter. The condition of these people is worse than the slaves. Slaves are brought from the wild confines of Africa to live in comfort in America. (Fitzhugh, Sociology, 2) Slaves are hard workers, the are better at working in the climate of the south than those europeans that try and work the land. Sure it would be better to free them and pay them if we were in a place like england which has little land and lots of people. But in America it is opposite, there is tons of land and little people. If slaves are free what is to stop them from going and finding their own land? If that happens it will destroy the economy. It is better to have 1 plantation with 100 workers rather than have 100 plantations with 1 worker. The latter example will gain less income and the economy will fail destroying

Finally, the Confederacy relied on mutual economic interest with England, since England was the main buyer of Southern cotton, and requested the British to join them in the war; however, Emancipation affected the British to join the war, and they lost interest to support the Confederacy. Due to all these factors, Lincoln perceived Emancipation as a political and military necessity. Before, declaring Emancipation, in order to prevent the connection of border slave states to the Confederacy, Lincoln offered Border States gradual Emancipation as well as government compensation to slave owners (P.413). He also advised blacks to move back to Africa, so he signed a contract to send slaves back to Haiti. After abolitionist’s support in congress and

America owes a debt to slavery that can never be repaid. That's not to say it shouldn't be. At the very least, it should be acknowledged, validated, and honored with the respect that it deserves.

In Charles P. Henry’s ethnography, Long Overdue: The Politics of Racial Reparation, the author attempts to provide a detailed description of how America failed to compensate African Americans for the damages and injustices of slavery. Henry delivers a summary of the racial compensations and challenges the idea of why reparations are being rejected. Charles P. Henry examines the reluctance of confronting the political, social, and historical debate over compensation concerning race in America. Henry provides a current political outlook of political efforts to implement reparation to the African American communities as well as comparison of other races. Henry discusses the effective apology that the U.S government ought too make for the slavery

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