The American Revolution: The Punishment Of Runaway Slaves

After winning the Revolutionary War, America was finally free from brutal tyranny. Unless you turned out to be a slave. This was one of the primary

The federal acts of 1793 and 1850 provided for the return between states of escaped black slaves. Alike laws existing in both North and South in colonial days applied also to white indentured servants and to Native American slaves. Many Northern states also passed personal-liberty laws that allowed fugitives a jury trial, and others passed laws forbidding state officials to help capture alleged fugitive slaves or to lodge them in state jails. As a concession to the South a second and more rigorous fugitive slave law was passed as part of the Compromise of 1850.

Slavery became an established activity in America by 1600’s. The slaves were mostly to provide free and cheap labor. Apart from America, slavery was practiced in other parts of the world throughout history, and in fact it can be traced back to the time of the ancient civilization. With industrial revolution especially with the rise of sugar plantations, the slaves were used to grow sugar in the periods from 1100. This intensified between 1400 and 1500 when Portugal and Spain ventured into sugar growing in the eastern Atlantic regions. The growth of the plantations required labor, hence African slaves were bought from Africa, to provide labor.

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.

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 1800 has brought different ordeals for the growing country, so did the Revolutionary War. The new country still growing and gaining strength had one of the bigger problems to deal with. Slavery had been a problem and being, dealt with before the war started, still was a concern. U. S. History explains, “In the 18th century “property” included other human beings” (1). Certain restrictions set for the slaves, differed very little from colony to colony. “Slave Codes”, set upon them before the war, and did not end until after the Civil War. Although these restrictions existed, the confederate army refused to recruit the blacks for armed service. However, finding out they needed men, to keep the number of soldiers up to a quota, they decided

Slavery was a legal system in which people of the dark color did not have the same rights as white people did, and they were treated as they were a property. It started in 1619 in Virginia where the slaves were brought in North America to do labor jobs. They would immediately become slaves as soon as they get captured, or if they were born into a slave family. Slaves were treated very badly from their owners, and they were forced to do labor jobs without getting paid, they did not have proper homes and nor did they have any rights because they were legally considered as property. George Washington, the first president of America was born into a family that also owned slaves, and once he married his wife Martha Dandrig Custis, he gained a lot more slaves. However, his views on slavery changed during the American Revolutionary War. He saw slaves fearlessly fighting in the Continental Army in 1775, and he also noticed some places that did not have slavery and the agriculture were well developed.

Slaves in the colonies during the revolution were faced with no real options and little liberty. The slaves’ lot in life varied greatly between individual experiences. Those slave owners who had only a few slaves generally treated their slaves better than those with large numbers of slaves. Even if they were treated well, the slaves had little in the way of freedom. They would be required to work throughout the day at the bidding of their masters and had no recourse to whatever punishment was given at their master’s hands. The slaves also had little hope of ever obtaining freedom for themselves and their children (Pavao, n.d.).

Even before America’s war for independence began, slavery was an old institution that played a significant role in the American economy, and, as a consequence, was widely approved of by many white Americans. While in some ways the Revolution reinforced the American commitment to slavery, it also gave rise to new ideals, which brought into question what liberty and equality truly meant, challenging the long tradition of chattel bondage. The actions taken on the issue of slavery following the American Revolution illustrated both the country’s potential for radical change and stagnation.

The Revolutionary War transformed life for those in Britain’s American colonies. Amid the disorder American society changed and institutions adapted, while the American people’s values shifted. Unlike their beliefs prior to the Revolutionary War, most Americans stopped condoning slavery during and after the war, as it contradicted the principle of liberty that America was founded on. Widespread disapproval could not end slavery and its underlying racism in the U.S., for the economy had become dependent on slave labor, though it did yield more opportunities for slaves to gain their freedom. Before the war, Americans treated slaves inhumanely, viewing slaves as a way to make profit. Turmoil throughout the war allowed slaves to seize opportunities

Slavery had been a major component of the economy in eastern and southeastern regions of the state since the seventeenth century. However, slavery did not come to West-Central New York until the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries (DeAmicis 2003:3). During the seventeenth and first half of the eighteenth century, the Dutch had acquired the land now included in New York State from the Native Americans living in the region. Slavery was first brought to this area in 1625 when the Dutch imported eleven slaves to construct roads, buildings, and other infrastructure in New Amsterdam, a settlement on Manhattan Island (Harris 2003:14). Because the colony was not being settled very quickly, the enslaved were not subject to the strict rules

This country was founded on many things in the beginning with the acceptance of slavery, more so in the south than the north, but racism was everywhere in American and not just towards blacks. The real arguments over slavery were about to begin as the land was taken from Mexico and the Americans had spread all the way to the pacific coast.

Slavery has been a key issue in American history since the first settlers settled here in 1607. Historians such as Vincent J Rosivach writes that when the issue of slavery is mentioned the first thing people think about is the slavery model of the deep south, the cotton kingdom. Rosivach writes that there were many different slave models such as the northern American colonies and 4th century Athens. Rosivach and many other historians agree that the way slavery was done in the north was totally different from the south. Slaves have had an important role particularly in the northern American colonies helping them early establish themselves first as a region then as a country. Historians have argued that America was built on the backs of

While slavery was a horrific thing that led to the mistreatment of millions of black people, it had the power to last for centuries. When looking closely at historical accounts it becomes easier to see why this horrible practice was able to sustain for so long. One of the reasons was because the economy of Colonial America relied heavily on the labor of slaves. Farming, the slave trade itself, and the harsh treatment of slaves were all driven by the greed of slave owners. Another reason that slavery lasted so long was racism. During this time, the black population was considered inferior to the white population. This helped to promote the cruel behaviors that occurred in slavery. Lastly, many whites actually felt that the slaves were treated

In 1850, the topic of runaway slaves was becoming more frequent. Though there were passed laws that allowed owners of slaves to recapture “slave property” in other territories, the South felt the laws needed to be more iron-fisted. (This was mostly due to the Northern abolitionists making the South uncomfortable with their current grip on the government.) Of course, they got their way, and the Fugitive Slave Act. This allowed the slave holders to say a slave was his in front of a government official (even if they were not) and have legal right to claim them. Not soon after, Northern writer Harriet Beecher Stowe, wrote about a slave, in her book Uncle Tom’s Cabin; drove even more Northerners against slavery. The south denounced her book, calling it slander and “intense fanaticism”. Still Stowe’s book sold 300,000 (sadly ten times the amount Frederick Douglas’ autobiography sold for). But still the