Slavery During The Colonial Period Of The 19th Century

In the 1700’s and 1800’s, the planter elite class of the American South conspired with both federal and state governments and other whites to institutionalize slavery in order to protect their economic and social power and way of life. Their efforts were generally wide spread, simple, blatant and generally very effective.

During the 19th century slavery was a very prominent and controversial issue between the north and the southern states. In the South, most people believed that slavery was a profitable way of life and if the slavery was to be abolished it would then affect their economy. On the hand the northern had different opinions about slavery and intended to stop it. The fact that the perception were different between the two led to a very difficult situation in resolving the issue.

During the 19th century, so known “peculiar institution” of slavery dominated labor systems of the American South, also dominated most production in the US and led to a boost of the economy of the New Republic. By the 1850 's, US had become a country segregated into two regional identities, known as the Slave South and the Free North. While the South maintained a pro-slavery identity that supported and protected the expansion of slavery westward, the North largely held abolitionist views and opposed the slavery’s westward expansion. Until the 1850 's the nation uncertainly balanced the slavery subject between the two opponents. However, the acquisition of the Louisiana territories in 1803 by the Jefferson administration doubled the size of the US and the victory in the Mexican-American War extended the territory to the Pacific which quadrupled the area of the US. Ultimately, the territorial expansion led to the spread of slavery. In this essay, I will describe some of the reasons for the expansion of slavery including its influence in national politics, and consequences such as political debates and crises of 1850’s.

In the second half of chapter 3, the new colonists were looking for ways of labor, rather than working themselves. While many English colonists wanted to force native Indian labor, they were unsuccessful in doing so. Instead they looked back into another source of workers that were used by the Spaniards and Portuguese: enslaved Africans. If it was not for the enslaved to produce products for elite whites, then Jamestown would still be struggling economically and not be able to give England a big profit. By the 1700s one of every eight person was a black person from Africa.It was also seen to settlers as an investment in purchasing slaves rather than servants, because slaves were never freed. Mortality rates had begun declining in the late 1680s, planters could reasonably expect a slave to live longer than a servant’s period of indenture. The two main crops that slaves worked on in the field were tobacco and sugar.

Slavery in the 1800’s on plantations was a very big deal. Slavery was common in South Carolina due to the plantation based economy. Women and men were constantly being auctioned to other slave owners to work in fields (“U.S History from 1812-1914”). Slaves were usually separated from their families due to slave auctions. Whenever they arrived to the fields they were treated inhumanly. Colonial Williamsburg Foundation stated that, “Slaves were often punished for taking breaks while working. Women slaves were also used for cooking, housework and childcare.” Not only were slaves separated from their family, they were also treated very poorly. Because of the mistreatment , it would soon lead to the Civil War.

In the early years of the 19th century, slavery was more than ever turning into a sectional concern, such that the nation had essentially become divided along regional lines. Based on economic or moral reasoning, people of the Northern states were increasingly in support of opposition to slavery, all the while Southerners became united to defend the institution of slavery. Brought on by profound changes including regional differences in the pattern of slavery in the upper and lower South, as well as the movement of abolitionism in the North, slavery in America had transformed from an issue of politics into a moral campaign during the period of 1815-1860, ultimately polarizing the North and the South to the point in which threats of a Southern disunion would mark the beginning of the Civil War in 1861 (Goldfield et. al, The American Journey, p. 281).

Slavery was a tough stages for races, in the 1800s they had to go threw physically and mentally abused. Slavery was introuduces to many colonies of all ages and races or genders. According to the text “ Three distinctive systems of slavery emerged in the American colonies. Slavery was introuduced to the colonie when 20 slaves were brought to jamestown virginia.” Slavery started to spread in the south because slaves help out with the labor in the old south.

Freedom or liberty, a term often used interchangeably, generally meaning exemption from control, is arguably the most fundamental right that American’s identify with, both as individuals and as a society. It is most notably rooted in American history and politics, and is often the justification for political decisions and beliefs, even still today (such as war, “operation Iraqi Freedom”). Historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution and even newer political documents, all reference freedom or liberty, defining their purposes and intentions. Furthermore, the American person tends to love representing their idea of freedom by showing their patriotism and by partaking in patriotic landscape design (liberty

During the colonization period on the US territory, England used racism to facilitate and legalize slavery. In 1705 Virginia Act established that slavery would apply to those people who were not Christians. Most of the slaves were black and were held by whites, although some Native Americans and free blacks also had slaves. In part due to success business around the tobacco in the southern colonies and the high demand for labor associated with it, the plantation owners turned to increase the importation of slaves into the late seventeenth century, a phenomenon no equally occurred in the north colonies. The south had a significantly higher number and proportion of slaves in the population. This method was emotional and physical all together.

How many of us actually know what slavery means? We all know it happened during the 1800's, but no one really knows the definition of the word. For all we know, it could still be happening. Slavery is the owning of a person who is practically property. People who own slaves control them so they earn profit from their work. Back then, slaves were primarily African-American and were shoved on a boat into the New World. Nowadays, the word "slave" can be used for people who are overworked and underpaid. Even though slavery legally ended in 1883, people are still being affected by the same tactics fueled by vulnerability and lack of stability.

Slavery were prevalent in America due to the legalization of slave trade. Back in the late 1400s, after successfully conquest the native Americans, colonists from Spain and Portugal needed large amount of labor to build up their colonial society. They put their eyes on Africa, a country with weak military defense but ample population. They compelled African people to work for them and transported them to America as slaves. Additionally, Spanish colonists legalized slave trade among Europe, Africa, and America in 1510. And because obtaining slaves was legalized, African slaves became the best source of labor force for colonists. The colonists also established a thorough system to transit African slaves to America. The large amount of imported

The above collage is composed of images that represent different things that people used to justify slavery in the United States in the 1800’s. The image in the top left depicts a presumably African American man with a very cheesy smile. Slaveowners sometimes said the the slaves were happy and enjoyed being in slavery. They would argue that outside of slavery African American’s might not be able to earn a consistent living. The happy man shows that they thought slaves were delighted with slavery when, in fact, they were not.

Through common human nature, we have isolated ourselves from the meaning of common dignity. People are always looking for excuses, ways of making themselves look and feel more important. They have created classes and look down on people that are not like them. For example, for many years in the past, whites owned blacks as personal slaves without pay and were cruel to them if they tried to listen otherwise, they simply would not accept the fact that they were different and treated them inferior. Humans are not used to social change and take advantage of opportunities, such as a weakness in society. When one sick human being looks down upon another, other weak-willed people follow along as a result of peer pressure, not able to make their own decisions.

The struggles of African Americans in a fight for freedom and civil rights in the U.S. during the seventeenth century was tarnished with blood and destruction of African cultures and families. A struggle that is condescending to the reasons as to why the thirteen American colonies were established. The Founding Fathers of America built a nation with a mission that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The meaning of this passage today has a stronger meaning to all American citizen then it did in the seventeenth century for those

American’s who live in the 21st century know that slavery is terrible and also a touchy subject. But Americans used to rely heavily on slavery, how we perceive slavery in today’s society can either be the same or different from how others thought of slavery living within mid 1800s. People who resided in the northern region of American found slavery wrong as we do today. Americans who lived farther south however liked, and relied on slavery. In today’s world, we Americans almost all agree that slavery had been a negative factor of our country. But within the 1840s and 1870s, Americans had been divided by slavery. People that were against slavery created the union as the pro slavery citizens created the confederates. Today, we can see why people of the mid 19th century either supported slavery or rebelled against it by reviewing sources.