The Three Historical Examples Of Exclusion Or Discrimination

Discrimination is when someone has a bias opinion on a specific crowd of people due to their race, sex, religion, or order of rank. This basically goes hand in hand with the phrase judging a book by its cover meaning the person with the negative opinion will not give the other individual a fair chance for the reason being they are being stereotypical and not thinking of the other person’s talent, or character. A modern day example of discrimination would be if a male employer were to compensate a female employee a lower pay due to her gender. At some time in everyone’s life due to today society, we have all been victimized by discrimination. Whether it may be a dirty look from a random person, or the way you dress, talk, and even look.

Slavery in the United States was a driving force of the economy from the inception of our nation until the mid nineteenth century. Enslaved peoples in the United States endured trials and tribulations that we today cannot fathom. Enslaved peoples were taken from their homes, separated from their loved ones, boarded onto ships and packed together like pigs headed for slaughter. One would wonder if death was actually more humane than what those people endured. Not everyone was a supporter of slavery in America. John Adams, Abigail Adams, John Quincy Adams, Alexander Hamilton, and Abraham Lincoln were known abolitionists who opposed slavery in the United States. “Abolition was a radical, interracial, movement, one which addressed the entrenched problems exploitation and disenfranchisement in a liberal democracy and anticipated debates over race, labor, and empire.” In January of 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing enslaved peoples in the southern states that had seceded from the Union. There have been abolition movements in the United States dating as far back as the eighteenth century. For abolition to work abolitionists needed the support of congress, be it to the chagrin of southern states where slavery was still a cultural norm, it did not gain traction early on. From abolitionists issuing pamphlets and writing plays and poems to bring awareness and solidify their cause for the abolishment of slavery, abolition had gained traction

The Union went on to win the Civil War, maintain the union and abolish slavery. Problem solved right? Well, not quite. In fact, America’s problems had only just begun.  After the Civil War, the country needed to be reconstructed for a few reasons. First of all, much of the Confederate land was now wrecked, with farms and plantations burned down and crops destroyed. People were using now illegitimate confederate money and local governments were in disarray. Former confederates needed to be effectively incorporated back into the Union. Most importantly, slaves were now freedmen and needed to be integrated back into society. The United States was a “new nation,” that, for the first time was “wholly free” (Foner 477). But with the abolishment of slavery, “What is the true definition of freedom?” became a central question in the nation. Black people in America after the war were facing intense scrutiny, racist ideologies and bigotry that was still very prevalent throughout the country. In 1865, Congressman James A. Garfield asked, “Is it the bare privilege of not being chained? If this is all, then freedom is a bitter mockery, a cruel delusion” (Foner 477). Was freedom simply just the absence of slavery, or did it give other rights to former slaves?

Although slavery is no longer an issue in the modern era, it was an important predicament from 1776 to 1852. This conflict split America in half, those for slavery and those opposed to slavery. As time passed, the opposition to slavery grew tremendously. Starting with America’s Declaration of Independence where it states “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.” Starting with the creation of America, there have been those opposed to slavery, holding the Declaration of Independence as a weapon against it specifically because “all men are created equal.”

The issue of slavery has been in infamous part of American history since it first started in the 1600’s in Jamestown, Virginia. During the colonial era, white male landowners needed help on their land taking care of crops, so they would purchase the African slaves after they arrived by boat and have them work the land as well as other tasks that needed to be done such as tending to

Slavery existed since the beginning of the United States’s time but was practiced long before in Western Africa. Slaves were important to the country’s economy and agriculture since they were based off of slave trade and plantations they worked in. After a few years, slavery demands and its population declined but after the invention of the cotton gin, demands went up again. They had to work harder than before and more Africans were sold off to white plantation owners. Although slaves had hard daily lives, were mistreated, and discriminated, they still refused to believe that there was no chance for them and instead rebelled for their freedom.

Imagine if you couldn’t control your own fate? Ever since you were little, your fate has already been decided for you. Any dream that you had, consider it gone. Going to school, finding a job, creating a family, take those lifetime goals and throw them out the window. You are forced to work for the rest of your life as a slave. That’s what life was like as an African American prior to Civil War. If you were African American, or even “one-drop” black, you were qualified to be part of the slave trade. Slaves didn’t know when their next meal was going to be or if they were even going to get one. Slaves, especially those in the field, worked from the time the sun would rise until sunset. Hours were long; men, woman, and children were worked to the bone and were expected to perform hard but not be given the proper food or sleep needed to refuel themselves. That’s what made the slave trade so horrible, African Americans weren’t looked at as human beings in society, and they were looked at as property. Even small children and the elderly were not exempt from these long work hours; there were no excuses for anyone who was African American. In class we talked about the United States Constitution and it’s significant to our nations history. It talks about the proper rights given to the people and the rules set forth for everyone to

In 1862, thousands of enslaved African Americans headed to the Union lines as President Lincoln’s troops marched through the south, to push and fight for their rights. A common belief about the slaves was that they were accustomed to the bondage and basically, did not mind that they were slaves. This, of course, was a myth, and them heading to the Union lines during the Civil War further proved to Lincoln that he needed to free them. Prior to this, Lincoln personally did not support the enslavement but was concerned as to how the Northern slave states would react to the Union wanting to free their slaves. He was worried they would join the Confederacy. However, he realized that emancipation was a necessity, both politically and for the military.

In the 1800s slavery wasn’t a new concept in America. The sad truth was that this way of life in the “Old South” was normal. Many challenged it, some thought it was the only way, that slavery was natural way of living and blacks were only seen as property. In the era of slavery, most people often wonder if it could’ve ever have been prevented. Another aspect is that slavery was inevitable and that in a twisted way it made us better. With all these questions, and twisting of views one thing is for certain, it’s a part of our history, we are taught about it and it happened. It’s up to us to make sure we never get back to this “way of life” or the idea of slavery as normal.

Abraham Lincoln, for starters, was more concerned about preserving the union then freeing slaves. “If I could save the Union [the United States] without freeing any slave I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would do that also.” (Document C) Lincoln never actually wanted to save slaves, he was always concerned with preserving the Union. He knew that slavery was not as important and making sure the country made it out of war mostly unharmed. As president, Lincoln had an obligation to protect the US and it’s constitution, therefore his plans for

The United States half-slave and half-free is a nation divided. “United we stand together we fall.” As a nation in the United States we are to unite as one. Abraham Lincoln, (Schweikart, L., & Allen, M. P. 2004. A Patriot's History of the United States: From Columbus's Great Discovery to the War on Terror pp 303) stated the Republican party looks at the institution of slavery as morally, politically, and socially wrong. Nominated for the United States Senate, Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous words

Slavery (the ownership of another human as one’s own property) is one of the oldest traditions in human history. History shows that ancient Rome and Greece valued their wealth upon the number of slaves an individual owned. Their service was to provide slave labor for their owners. As time progressed, slavery began to evolve into something much different– especially in the North American colonies. A new nation was emerging, fueled by a drive for expansion and a growing economy. The United States exploited African Americans through racial slavery to fill the labor shortage and created a system that stripped them of their basic rights, dignity, and created social barriers to ensure their subservience to Southern society.

In an idealistic democratic America, one likes to think that everyone is free and everyone is equal. However, this is not the complete truth; we still battle injustice and work to treat everyone fairly every single day. But what is the truth is that we have come a long way and that we have improved over time. Slavery before the Civil War is important in U.S. history because not only was it involved in various significant events; it also shows us how far our society has come.

Slavery has been entwined with American history ever since Dutch traders brought twenty captive Africans to Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Slavery in America is a subject with minimal truths and stories rarely told. The public school system excludes the fact that eight of the first twelve American presidents were major slaveholders. Emancipation brought freedom, but not approximation. The civil rights movement killed Jim Crow, but shadows remained. Affirmative Action created opportunities, but racism continues.

     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