Slavery During The Civil War 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.

Edmund S. Morgan’s famous novel American Slavery, American Freedom was published by Norton in 1975, and since then has been a compelling scholarship in which he portrays how the first stages of America began to develop and prosper. Within his researched narrative, Morgan displays the question of how society with the influence of the leaders of the American Revolution, could have grown so devoted to human freedom while at the same time conformed to a system of labor that fully revoked human dignity and liberty. Using colonial Virginia, Morgan endeavors how American perceptions of independence gave way to the upswing of slavery. At such a time of underdevelopment and exiguity, cultivation and production of commodities were at a high demand. Resources were of monumental importance not just in Virginia, but all over North America, for they helped immensely in maintaining and enriching individuals and families lives. In different ways, people in colonies like Virginia’s took advantage of these commodities to ultimately establish or reestablish their societies.

Slavery in America can be traced as far back as the first settlement in the New World. The first African slaves were brought to America, in 1619, to assist in the production and cultivation of profitable crops. The habitual use of slavery during the centuries has help sculpt the economic foundation of America. Slavery was proven important to the South’s economy in 1793, by the invention of the cotton gin. By the mid-19th century, America had many growing abolition movements in the North. Those of which would awaken an immense debate over slavery that would split the nation into two causing the American Civil War. During the Antebellum period, the argument of slavery was intense. The north disagreed with the use of slavery while the south continued to make excuses on why the act was of great value. The South produced many reasons and justifications for the need of slaves at the time. Justification of slavery from the South, used a variety of different reasonings such as religion, economics, socialism, humanitarianism, history, and even legality.

lives would have been saved and blood need not have been shed in the name

As the Europeans set up colonies in America, they brought the plantation ideas with them, which led to the need for labor hence they tried to enslave the Native Americans to work in their mines and fields. The Native Americans were prone to diseases hence most of them died as a result of diseases and overworking. Apart from the ones who died, a number rebelled and formed alliances forcing the Europeans to look for other sources of labor. They started to acquire African slaves due to a number of reasons: The African slaves were more stronger and immune to a number of diseases in Europe and America; the Africans had no friends and family in America hence it was not easy for them to form alliances or to escape; they provided a permanent and a cheap source of labor; and most of them had worked on farms before in their

Soon this need for cheap labor was replaced with a need for even cheaper labor. Slavery filled this need, but when Africans arrived to America in 1619, the colonists initially treated them as indentured servants. It was not until 1641 that the first slave codes were passed in the colony of Massachusetts and 20 years later in Virginia, marking the

Slave as defined by the dictionary means that a slave is a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another; a bond servant. So why is it that every time you go and visit a historical place like the Hampton-Preston mansion in Columbia South Carolina, the Lowell Factory where the mill girls work in Massachusetts or the Old town of Williamsburg Virginia they only talk about the good things that happened at these place, like such things as who owned them, who worked them, how they were financed and what life was like for the owners. They never talk about the background information of the lower level people like the slaves or servants who helped take care and run these places behind the scenes.

Slavery was held out until 1865, but during this time period abolitionist are trying to do anything to stop slavery. The reason being is because slavery wasn’t slavery anymore. Slavery was beginning to become more advance due to technological innovation. The Abolitionist are people that were against slavery and would boycott anything to get rid of slavery. The argument that the Abolitionist had during this time period was its conditions as violating Christian’s principals and rights to equality. The abolishment of slavery was a significant change in the history of slavery, because of all the technological innovation that was making the slaves jobs easier. In the American Revolution war slavery played a role in which they began a sequence of abolishing slavery. Slavery played a role in the American revolutionary war to begin to grant themselves freedom, liberty, and rights. Slavery changed in 1808 due to a bill that abolished the slave trade. The westward expansion divided the nation because the north and the south weren’t coming into agreement of change going on in the United States. The abolitionist had a plan and that plan was to abolish all slavery throughout the whole United States. These are some of the main things that would lead to the abolishment of 1865.

The Civil War was caused by many several pressures, principles, and prejudices, fueled by sectional differences, and was finally set into motion by a most unlikely set of political events. From economic differences to political differences all the way up to cultural differences, the North and the South opposed each other. These tensions were further increased after the western expansion of the United States. By the early 1850’s a civil war was known to be likely coming soon.

Slavery, especially in America, has been an age old topic of riveting discussions. Specialist and other researchers have been digging around for countless years looking for answers to the many questions that such an activity provided. They have looked into the economics of slavery, slave demography, slave culture, slave treatment, and slave-owner ideology (p. ix). Despite slavery being a global issue, the main focus is always on American slavery. Peter Kolchin effectively illustrates in his book, American Slavery how slavery evolved alongside of historical controversy, the slave-owner relationship, how slavery changed over time, and how America compared to other slave nations around the world.

When it comes to some important events before 19th century in United States, we must mention the Abolition Movement, which began in 1930s, and ended with Emancipation Proclamation. Just like our textbook---A Short History of the American Nation, ¡°No reform movement of this era was more significant, more ambiguous in character, or more provocative of later historical investigation than the drive to abolish slavery.¡±

Slavery was a part of many societies and nations around the world in times past. There was slavery in North America before the United States was established. However, the United States continued the practice until the Civil War in the mid-1800s. Before the Civil War, slavery and descendants of slaves were much of the backbone and strength of the society and economy of the United States. Slavery really fully developed during the colonial times; boomed in the South during the antebellum times; and finally dissipated after a war proved to be the only way to resolve the controversy.

Slavery and racism in America began solely in the 1600 's when African slaves were transported to the American Colony of Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. The African slaves were brought to America in hopes to speed up the production and distribution of crops, such as tobacco. Slavery was tremendously beneficial to the rising economy of the American Colonies, despite the abuse that the slaves had to continuously endure. Slavery was viewed as a cheap labor source instead of having indentured servants:

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.

The European settlers in America, turned to the African slaves as a means of cheap labor because there found in plenty unlike the poorer Europeans servants. Even before the Revolution, slave trade was a custom throughout the new world (Bales and Soodalter 22). Major European powers entered the transatlantic slave trade, because they had slave colonies. British came and dominated the slave trade because of its influence in Africa, where its ships carried African captives as compared to other nation. It was estimated that about three million slave were shipped across