Slavery is defined as the act of instinctive subjection to another. This means that the concept of full ownership and control by a master is in the interplay. It began in 1619 when, when a Dutch ship imported about 20 Africans at Jamestown, in Virginia. Henceforth, the use of slavery in the cotton and rice plantation became a widespread practice. Slaves were preferred due to their strength, easy affordability, and immunity to diseases. The Trans-Atlantic Ocean Trade was the main source of this valued commodity.
It was not until 19th Century that mushrooming of arguments on slavery begun. The church played a major role in the abolishment of the slave trade. Anthony Benzet, a Quaker teacher, claimed that the perception that the blacks are an inferior race should be demystified. He claimed that he had a 2o year experience teaching black pupils and did not concur with the sentiment. The Christian missionaries argued that slavery is a threat to the spread of Christianity. They emphasized that it was a downwash to the spirit of goodwill. Britain, a Christian country, was not expected to get involved in such discriminative form of trade. The church further argued that no an can serve two masters. This line is cited in the Bible in the book of Luke.
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Influential individuals such as William Wilberforce made a major impact on the end of the slave trade. Wilberforce gave a speech in parliament highlighting the suffering that the slaves had to undergo during shipping. Wilberforce said that most slaves preferred diving into the waters to meet the shark to reaching the new lands. He summarized his speech in parliament 1n 1789 by saying that slavery is nothing more than damage to Africa.
Also, slavery deprived African continent of her able, strong men and women. This was based on the idea that up to 7 million slaves had been shifted to the Americas leading to depopulation of the continent. Baron Grenville argued that there was no justification for slavery. He underscores the fact that if something is wrong, then it is wrong. It does not matter whether other people do it, or they do not. Thomas Clarkson added that there was need to engage in other alternatives to trade. Ian Smith postulated that free workers are better than slaves are.
Despite these preaching against slavery, there were arguments for this inhuman form of trade. To some nations, the blacks were regarded as an inferior race. It is thus justifiable for them to be servants to the whites. They felt that slavery was good enough for them. The blacks were viewed to be incapable of taking care of their self. Slavery was thus the only option that would take care of them.
Elsewhere, slavery was taken as a privilege to the blacks. They felt they were helping them instead of them starving to death in their continent. Some industries depended on slavery for labor. It was a source of cheap labor that would help attain wider profit margins. Slavery already existed on the African continent. Thus, it is a legit form of trade. The consideration that slaves were was captives or prisoners were deliberately overlooked. In effect, Stakeholders said that slaves enjoyed that kind of life- being enslaved. Some nations went to the extent of taking slave trade as their culture hence claiming that it will be difficult to abolish.
However, with the industrialization of Britain, machines replaced human labor. Thus, slavery became irrelevant. In addition, the kicking out of Britain from The USA in 1776 left Britain with no place to take slaves to. Johnson, in his book of Antebellum Slave marketplace, highlights the way of life of the blacks in this marketplace. Johnson goes an extra mile of analyzing the South market place instead of just focusing on the slaves in the plantation farms. As much as the US government had abolished the Trans-Atlantic ocean trade, the domestic slave trade was the order of the day in the south. Buyers and sellers marketed in these innocent human beings without any shreds of tenderness. Slaveholders advertised their slaves as if they were items for trade. Slave pens existed where traders for fitness for work assessed these slaves. Slaves that were competent cost more than others did. It is evident that a high bargaining power was used to score individual slaves higher than others. These Slaveholders had just turned black people into products. Traders made thresholds for ideal slaves. The quality of work and submission of their masters was given priority. Kinship ties were broken without any regrets. A buyer who buys many slaves could be given a bonus slave.
Slaves who were too white would cost cheaper than the dark skinned slaves. This is because skinned; light slaves could easily escape since they would be mistaken for whites. Johnson describes that at times a slave would be returned to the seller if the buyers’ expectations on the slaves are not met. In the plantation farms, slaves were subjected to long working hours. Corporal punishment was the order of the days. Disease control was not put into consideration. In fact, the slaves had an average life-span of up to 7 years. most slaves had retarded growth due to reduced standards of living.
The institution of slavery became the dominant source of controversy in this era. It is noted that slavery was the only source of cheap labor in the cotton of Virginia and tobacco plantations. The Slaveholders made wide profit margins out of this trade. It thus so follows that despite the campaigns against this illegal trade, such stakeholders fought back justifying how slave trade was of benefit to the whites. The institution of slavery was the center of national controversy as it was dehumanizing to trade in human flesh just like other legitimate commodities.
This slavery led to increased income per capita in industries. The USA amassed a lot of wealth that was used to set up more industries. The cotton and tobacco industries serve the best embodiment of this. Slavery culminated to the emergence of wealthy merchants such as the Lloyd and Barclays Brothers.
The black people were perceived as lesser human beings during this time. The whites regarded themselves as a superior race to the blacks who deserved to be enslaved. It is also denoted that the whites traded on the blacks without caring for their welfare regarding health, education and rights. The slaves were given poor housing facilities. Most of them died of diseases. In summation, the Stakeholders cared much with what they earned from the slaves more than what the hardships that the slaves experienced.
