Slavery in America was witnessed in the 18 th and 19 th century. Africans and Africans Americans were the affected groups . This was after America had gained independence and before the end of the American Civil war that had emerged in 1861. It is worth noting that slavery had been practiced from the colonial days and it was legal in all British Colonies. Several anti-slavery movements emerged stating that slavery was contrary to religious beliefs and philosophical principles (Elkins & McKittrick, 1957). Their concerns both in writing and in speech bore fruit when the first legislation was passed the Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery passed by the Pennsylvania Assembly on first March 1780.
In the 17 th century, enslavement was solely based on race. History records that slavery began in 1619 when the African slaves were brought to the North American Colony to assist in the production of profitable cash crops (Elkins & McKittrick, 1957). This was because Africans were considered as cheap laborers compared to the indentured servants who were mostly the poor Europeans. Slavery solidified in 1793 when the cotton gin was invented. Historians have given an approximation of between 6 to 7 million slaves were sold to North America in the 18 th Century. These slaves worked on rice, indigo and tobacco plantations found in the southern coast (Richards, 2000).
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Masters who owned slaves swore to prove their lives difficult in the following manner; they did restrict their movement, watched their behavior, prohibited them from learning how to read and write, and on the worst end female slaves were subjected to sexual abuse (Richards, 2000). Clearly, slaves were totally dependent on their masters with such restrictions in place. Consequently, those who did obey their masters were awarded favors on one hand and on the other, those that did rebel were punished severely. Notably, there was a class within the slave community. The higher class was comprised of those endowed with different skills, and in most cases, they enjoyed a lot of favors. The lower class consisted of non-skilled individuals who worked in the field throughout. Slave marriages were not recognized under the law; however, they did marry, but their families suffered separation as a result of sale or removal (Richards, 2000).
Fortunately, protests against slavery emerged during this period too. Between 1830 and 1860, anti-slavery movements led by free blacks such as Frederick Douglass gained strength (Elkins & McKittrick, 1957). Other profound individuals include William Lloyd Garrison, the founder of ‘The Liberator’ which was termed as a radical newspaper. Most of these activists were of the opinion that slavery was no-religious, regressive, inefficient and that it had the minimal economic sense (Richards, 2000).
These movements significantly helped slaves escape. For instance, the Free blacks movement realized this through a practice known as “Underground Railroad” in the early 1780s (Richards, 2000). This was the adopted practice, and its perpetrators saw to it that it did not come to an end. Statics show that an estimated number of between forty million to a hundred million slaves were led to freedom in the 1830s.
In 1820, there was a debate over future limitations and expansion of slavery. Resultantly, a compromise was reached whereby Missouri was admitted as a slave state while Maine was declared a free state. In 1854, slavery was open to all new states leading to a blood-shed struggle between pro- and anti-slavery forces in Kansas (Richards, 2000). Sadly, an abolitionist by the name John Brown was executed in 1859. To crown it all , expansion of slavery was brought to a halt when Abraham Lincoln won the elections in 1860.
References
Elkins, S., & McKittrick, E. (1957) Institutions and the Law of Slavery: The Dynamics of
Unopposed Capitalism. American Quarterly 9 , ( 1) , pp. 3-21.
Richards, L. (2000). The Slave Power: The Free North and Southern Domination, 1780-1860. Baton Rouge, Louisiana: LSU Press.
