Essay on The Cruelty of Slavery and Opression in America

Slavery has long inspired controversy among historians. Many have different views on slavery whether it was slaves lived under kind masters, or slavery was a brutal system that drove slaves into constant rebellion, but neither viewpoint is accurate although both contain some truth in it. Many masters wanted to earn profit off of slaves no matter what because some masters were kind causing the slaves to develop genuine affection for their owners. Although slaves had affection for owners they did not even question themselves when deciding to desert to Union lines when northern troops descended on the plantations during the Civil War. The experience of slaves working on cotton plantations in the 1830s and 1700s differed because of reasons unrelated to the kindness or brutality of masters. More of reasons like the plantation system, the work and discipline, the slave family, and the longevity, health, and diet of slaves.

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.

Slavery as a Cruel Institution Cruelty can be defined as an inhumane action done to an individual or group of people that causes either physical or mental harm. Slavery, at its very core, was a cruel and inhumane institution. From the idea behind it to the way that it was enforced, it degraded the lives of human beings and forbade the basic liberties that every man deserves under the Constitution of the United States. Three major areas where cruelty was especially prevalent were in the slaves working conditions, living conditions, and loss of fundamental freedoms. Working conditions for slaves were about as bad as can possibly be imagined. Slaves worked from dawn till dusk and sometimes even longer. Solomon Northrup describes his

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.

African-Americans have fought on many of liberty’s battlefields from the pre-emancipated plantation to the killing fields of the Civil War. African-Americans have always been willing to fight not just for their freedom, but for their country as well. Yet, their country never lived up to its founding document that asserts that, “All men are created equal; ”instead,

In addition, Kolchin gives the readers the catalysts for the events in the history of slavery. Economic,

Slavery has a lot of effects on African Americans today. History of slavery is marked for civil rights. Indeed, slavery began with civilization. With farming’s development, war could be taken as slavery. Slavery that lives in Western go back 10,000 years to Mesopotamia. Today, most of them move to Iraq, where a male slave had to focus on cultivation. Female slaves were as sexual services for white people also their masters at that time, having freedom only when their masters died.

So many people wanted slaves, especially in the South. They had more farms than they could handle on their own. Northern owners wanted them because they would have to do less work. Very few owners treated their slaves nicely and paid them to do work around the house. They would not be treated like family but would get treated a whole lot better than your “typical slave.” Those kinds of circumstances occurred more in the Northern states than the Southern states.

Kidnapped, separated, enslaved, identities stripped, ordered, forced, labored, beaten, bones broken, dreams shattered, lost. Everyday, people are forced to work in fields, from sunrise to sunset, worked passed the breaking point, beaten for not being good enough, putting your dinner on the table, suffering, for your luxury. John Adams stated, “Negro slavery is an evil of colossal magnitude”.These innocent, defenseless, people will never get to follow their dreams, pursue their careers, or be independent. They will never know what equality really is. They will never work for their own benefits. They will never experience the power of freedom. They will continue to feel the torture and so will the many generations

     The history of the United States is filled to the brim with an abundance of significant events. Over the course of this nation’s young history there have been numerous social institutions. Many have been a necessity in our development. However, the US was home to one of the greatest atrocities committed on mankind. The institution of slavery is not only the most embarrassing but most sever infraction on the natural rights of man. At times there were in excess of three million black Americans enslaved in this country. It was not the dismal living conditions nor the bleak existence they lived that led them into a resistance of slavery. It was the theft, the

During the time period that slavery flourished in the American settlements, Georgia was the only state wanting to ban it. However, it was not an ethical arrangement. The Georgia Trustees, a group of people who set the laws of the colony, restricted slavery due to it getting in the way of their genuine idea of poor landowners exuberating from his or her own hard work. The Trustees also desired for Georgia to become a military defense between Spanish Florida and the English settlements. The Spanish presented independence to slaves in return for active military service; this would eventually threaten Georgia’s preservation. The restriction of slavery was eventually abolished in 1751. (Slavery in Colonial Georgia, Today in Georgia History)

Slave narratives were written for several main purposes such as to present a true description of the slave system and the treatment of slaves, to show the religious ideals of the main characters, and to appeal to abolitionists by showing the common humanity of slaves. Solomon Northup’s dominant purpose in writing the narrative novel Twelve Years a Slave is to present a true description of the slave system and the treatment of slaves. This purpose is chosen over the rest because he gives a clear explanation of what he went through as a slave, how he became a slave and how he dealt with it, and what it was like to live a slaves’ life when he was originally a free man.

There has been much debate on the topic of slavery in the early times, although most of the countries considered slavery as a criminal activity. Some countries such as Myanmar and Sudan do not abolish it. They even expedite the slavery system. It is no doubt that slavery violent the human rights. However, it was commonly spread in the early times from 17th to 19th century. In this research, I will talk about the origin of the slavery, the reasons for people to becoming slave and the life of the slave.

The dark and seldom discussed crudeness of slavery is often masked by euphemisms to avoid expressing the true damage it inflicts. This veil is lifted as Toni Morrison successfully attempts to inform readers in realistic detail of the animal like treatment that the black population endured in her novel, Beloved. Through explicit scenes of abuse as well as character recollections of memories once locked away, audiences are given an insight into the torture that convinced black slaves that they were nothing more than animals. Firstly, schoolteacher ensures that future generations continue the white racist agenda of ridding the black population of their human traits. Secondly, the inhumane treatment of slaves by the white masters is returned through animal like behavior. Finally, the suffering endured at Sweet Home challenged the slaves’ most valued qualities. The dehumanizing treatment of slaves leads to the deterioration of their identities.

A historian once wrote that the rise of liberty and equality in America was accompanied by slavery. There is truth in that statement to great effect. The rise of America in general was accompanied by slavery and the settlers learned early on that slavery would be an effective way to build a country and create free labor. There was a definite accompaniment of slavery with the rising of liberty and equality in America.