Cruelty Of Slavery

Slavery has existed for eons in human history, as we can trace slavery back to Babylonian times. The African Blacks were definitely not the first to be enslaved. However, it seems as if they were indeed treated the worst by their white masters than had any slaves before them been treated. The stories of the horrendous treatment endured by many slaves for the simple wish to be free are horrendous and heartbreaking. I believe there is no person better qualified to inform the world of the horrors of slavery, and to stand behind the idea of abolition, besides a former slave. This man was able to rise above every adversity thrown at him, he taught himself how to read, he observed everything going on around him, and learned from those experiences.

“It is important to keep the memory of the victims, to consider that what happened is a part of the history of human being, not only history of Africans or blacks or whites.” Eloi Coly

Fredrick Douglass writes as an abolitionist. Douglass is a man who lived through the horrors of slavery in the 1800’s within the United States of America. By the time of Douglass’ This primary source effectively shows how closely related racism was with the institution of slavery in this context.

Cotton: used in the clothes worn today, but is that all there is to cotton? During the 1700s up to the late 1800s cotton was harvest by slaves. When someone puts on a cotton shirt on they most likely does not think about the past slaves who were forced and tortured and abused all for the cultivation of cotton, It’s essential to mention that slavery was on its way to a natural death during the late 1700s, since the enlightenment and the great awakening combined caused people to think about the inhumanity of slavery. The main factor, however, was the fact that cotton was a difficult crop to harvest. In fact, cotton was a tedious crop to deal with until Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1793. This invention caused slavery to continue on several more years and this invention, although it seemed to benefit America at the time, has caused America to be behind with equal rights.

Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats attempted to cure their complete opposition on the regulation of slavery by using federal power to coerce an end to the feud, yet the movement increased tension between the divided nation. By invoking both legislative and judicial power, politicians used laws which included slave codes and freedom laws as well as court decisions like Dred Scott v Sandford (1875) to convince or force the population into acceptance of stances on slavery. Each party viewed their tactics and ideas to be righteous, and though they intended for positive results, national outrage answered the governmental movement.

However, with Jefferson’s dislike for the institution he knew that to oppose the issue could tear the nation completely apart. In 1820, during James Monroe’s Presidency the Missouri Compromise was approved. The Missouri Compromise essentially regulated the balance for the admittance of Slave and Free States into the Union. In Thomas Fleming’s A Disease in the Public Mind the author, states that with the Compromise’s passing that Jefferson declared that it signaled the end of the Union of the nation as they had once known it. With this idea in mind, Fleming presents how the Missouri Compromise seemed unsettling for Jefferson, who believed that regulating the state’s choice to have slavery or not would not end the institution but only stir up more loathing for the Southern States. Along with this Fleming, points out how many slave owners made the claim that the slaves they owned were considered property and were entitled to their property to be preserved by the government. It was here that the first changes in the nation’s society and economics take place in the United States. With the further spread of slavery into the west, the abolitionist and anti-slavery movements began to rise changing the minds of many who lived in the North and even some in the South to look at their society as a whole, which formed the question whether the institution of slavery was a moral and just one. This idea of slavery being moral and moral in American society heavily relied on the religious

Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, brings to light many of the social injustices that colored men, women, and children all were forced to endure throughout the nineteenth century under Southern slavery laws. Douglass's life-story is presented in a way that creates a compelling argument against the justification of slavery. His argument is reinforced though a variety of anecdotes, many of which detailed strikingly bloody, horrific scenes and inhumane cruelty on the part of the slaveholders. Yet, while Douglas’s narrative describes in vivid detail his experiences of life as a slave, what Douglass intends for his readers to grasp after reading his narrative is something much more profound. Aside from all the

No human being deserves to have their pride and dignity stripped from them, because we all are equal and should be treated as such. America’s race relations history is everything, but pleasant. For example, when Africans were brought here in shackles to make their white slave masters money, and convert them to Christianity. Once slavery began, indentured servants weren’t in high demand, and slaves were more profitable because they worked for free their entire lives. Slavery was inhumane and unnecessary, because human beings were treated like their God given purpose was to make America money and do whatever else their master told them to. These helpless people were treated like objects that could be auctioned or killed if they didn’t obey. Even U.S. presidents felt that slaves couldn’t function on their own, because their color and ability wouldn’t allow it. This awful activity took the lives of millions, especially during the middle passage, because slaves were transported to America shackled and chained at the bottom of a ship. The decision to

Many are aware of the gruesome effects of slavery. But how many take into consideration the minute, yet very significant, basic privileges that were revoked from the innocent, enslaved African Americans? A majority of slaves were prohibited from knowing birth dates, family heritage, common arithmetic, and much more. A fear so great that the agglomeration of African Americans would rise up, forced government officials to set certain codes (rules) that ultimately preempted rebellion and escape. These rules, known as black codes, were implemented to limit freedoms of African Americans. Black codes were known as “slavery without chains”. There was no partiality to who the laws and codes applied to. This form of slavery, without chains, represented the One-Drop Rule perfectly: “This social and legal principle asserted any person with even one ancestor of sub-Saharan-African ancestry was considered black” (“One Drop Rule”). In other terms, the codes were not set for criminals; the codes were set for anyone who was colored.

Slavery has played a very integral part in the development of the United States so far. It has taught people the importance of racial equality and moral discipline, which was lacked back in the time when slavery existed. Moreover, slaves were used mostly by farmers and business owners who wanted to maximize their profits and wanted cheap sources of labor.

Cruelty is any behaviour that causes physical or emotional pain to someone else purposely. Slavery which is one of the worst form of cruelty, is the process whereby an individual is owned by ‘slave owners’ who control where they live, work and to an extent how they feed. The aim of this essay is to discuss on the cruelty the African American slaves faced in the 17th century. Slavery in America began when the first African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. They were used in the production of crops such as tobacco and later on, the invention of the cotton gin solidified their importance because it improved the economy of the south.

As if the physical toil was not enough, slaves were also subject to emotional abuse. From their earliest days, they are made to feel unequal. Jones states “I was made to feel, in my boyhood’s first experience, that I was inferior and degraded, and that I must pass through life in a dependent and suffering condition” (Jones, 97). From his earliest memory, there is not a time that he felt as though he deserved a good life, or that he had any basic human rights. This mentality, and constantly being reminded of their lesser state takes a toll on their minds and bodies. Jones asked himself, “Is it any wonder that the spirit of self- respect of the poor ignorant slave is broken down by such treatment of unsparing and persevering cruelty?” (Jones,

The United States of America is known for its claims of democracy, equality, and freedom for all of it’s citizens. These claims are the foundation of America’s independence and essentially its entire history. But “claims” are simply all they were in history. While many achieved equal democracy and freedom, the African-American population of the US was exempt from these “inalienable rights” and heavily oppressed by society. The cruelty of slavery and oppression as a whole reached its peak in the 19th century bringing upon the abolitionist movement, which eventually aided in the historic removal of slavery and the continued fight for equal right of citizenship for African-Americans. Of the many abolitionists who fought for

Even though the slavery was introduced in the early 1600s, it had no doubt that the abolitionist inaugurated the movements about the slavery actively from early 1850s. The slavery became the essential part of industry in the South more than in the North because of the large plantations and slave trades. So in the Southerners’ perspective, the slave flourished the businesses with their inexpensive labor forces in order to profit; they argued slaves were by and large a culturally inferior, child-like people who were treated well by whites and thus content with their status in life. However, Uncle Tom’s Cabin described the slavery as an evil institution that must be abolished accurately from the historians today.

Racism on the Racist: Examining Racial Discrimination’s Effects on its White Subjects in ‘Benito Cereno’, ‘What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?’ and Playing in the Dark