Impact of slavery on the lives of african americans during the pre-civil period - Essay Example

Impact of Slavery on the Lives of African Americans during the Pre-civil Period (1860) Introduction The history of the African-American in the United States during the pre-civil period (1860) has been shaped by “slavery” that not only shaped the lives of the African-American people but also the identity of the entire American nation since ‘slavery’ as a socio-political and economic institution and custom of the society was closely intertwined with the foundation of the nation. Slavery as a legal institution had existed in North America for more than one hundred years before the United States was founded in 1776. But it continued in the South until the 13th Amendment of the US Constitution was passed to abolish slavery in 1865. In the United States, slavery was first practiced in Virginia, one of the former English Colony in 1619. Slavery as Accepted in the US Political Sphere: The Slave Codes Slavery in the US Constitution The Abolitionists often claimed that the US Constitution (before the passing of the 13th Amendment) was “a slave document created by slave owners” (Berkowitz and Moran). Indeed the truth of the abolitionists’ claim was first revealed in the “Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787” published by James Madison. Madison’s documents show that US democracy during those years was orientated, not by any humanitarian interests, but by the core political interests of both the Northern and Southern States. The Three-fifths Compromise Since slavery was economically profitable in almost all of the southern States and the pro-slavery southern Delegates wanted to be benefited from “increased representation in the House and the Electoral College”, the southerners wanted the slaves to be counted for enumeration. Meanwhile the northerners partially driven the contra-slavery motive as well as the motive to reduce the southern dominance, wanted to count only the free inhabitants of the states. Thus the Three-Fifths Compromise came into being declaring that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted. The aftermaths of the Three-fifths Compromise were such that the southern delegates began to dominate the Presidency and the Congress until the defeat of the south in the Civil War. Such dominance of the southerners further allowed them to manipulate the judicial and political power to exploit the African-American labor and thus the conditions of the African-Americans deteriorated. The 1793 Fugitive Slave Act One of the most mentionable events during the Southern Dominance in the Congress is the passing of the “1793 Fugitive Slave Act”. Since according to this Act any state including contra-slavery northern ones was bound to return a fugitive slave to its owner, slaves lost even their last escape from the inhuman exploitation of the slave-owners. Though the consequent 18o8 Law stopped international slave trade, interstate slave trade within the national territory continued. The effect of the 1808 Law was in favor of the anti-slavery northern states. Though the subsequent Missouri Compromise in 1820 brought the balance of power between the antislavery and pro-slavery factions of the United States, providing the northerners with the opportunity to dominate the House of Representative, slavery continued in the south. Dred Scott Case in 1854 and its Impacts The Dred Scott Case in 1854 can be considered as a milestone in the history of the African-American slavery in the United States. A close analysis of this case render a picture how slavery had shaped the African-Americans’ lives. The final decision of the Dred Scott Case was: since Scott was a black, he was not a citizen and he did not have the right to sue his master in the court. Slavery: Racism, Discrimination and Second Class Status The Scott Case infers that slavery in the United States had shifted its basis from war to color and from indentured servitude to slavery as a constitution supported practice of discriminating and depriving a group of people from their rights in order to exploit their labor. Chief Justice Roger B. Taney’s decision on the Scott Case rather reflects the southern society’s racist view of African-Americans as slave. Since the socioeconomic structure of the southern societies left no other choice for the pro-slavery southerners except to exploit the African-American labor, creating the race-based superiority of the whites to the blacks was the most convenient resort of the southerners to justify their cause for slavery. Indeed remarking some groups of people as black was economically profitable in the South. The African-Americans were not white by birth, they would not have any rights and they were not citizens. Therefore they were deprived of any citizen-rights such as education, health, good food, and other basic rights. Kenneth M. Stampp comments on the master-slave relationship, “Without the power to punish, which the state conferred upon the master, bondage could not have existed. By comparison, all other techniques of control were of secondary importance.” (Stampp 121) In 1831 Nat Turner, a self-educated Negro, led a bloody rebellion against the whites. Nat Turner and his companions killed almost fifty men and women. But eventually he, along with other rebels, was hung and stricter laws were enacted all over the slave states that prohibited the slaves from learning. Slavery, Racism and African-American Culture and Identity The black in white’s view was grossly influenced by the stereotypical components that continually tend to characterize the black ethnicity within certain moulds. The polarity of both the white’s and the black’s perspectives on color-based racism and discrimination has its root in the history of America. This historical dichotomy of bipolar black-white racism is reflected in the following quote: “The discrimination, oppression and hatred experienced by Native Americans, Mexicans, Asian/Pacific Islanders and Arab Americans are forms of racism” (Healey, 2010, p. 288). Since the slaves were any constitutionally acknowledged citizen of the country, they were not protected by the judicial system of the country. Therefore they frequently became subjects to torture and cruelty. Killing a slave for any kind of defiance was very common. Economic Impact of Slavery Like earlier civilizations of human history, slavery in early America was based on war. Mostly the dominant white people held the blacks as slaves, though there were some white slaves who held by other competing European white colonies in the continent. In early America slaves were held primarily for economic purposes; but along the passage of time, slavery became an indispensable part of the colonizer’s economy and became socio-politically integrated into the early American society. Thenceforth, slavery began to shift its basis from war to color. Josef Healey (2010) says that “blackness” itself as an ideology was critical for the exploitation of the labor of the African blacks in early America, and it “provided the very source of whiteness and the heart of racism” (Healey, 2010, p. 288). This master-slave association greatly influences both the American’s view of the color-based racism. Conclusion Thus the African-Americans’ lives as slaves were shaped by the definitions of slavery adopted by different states at different times. During the years between 1619 and 1650 the African-Americans were being treated as indentured servants who enjoyed some privileges than the slaves, defined by the Slave Codes, did. Indeed with the increasing importance of the African-American as lucrative pool of labor in the US economy such as cultivations of cotton and sugarcane until the 13th Amendment of the US constitution, slavery began to take legalized forms on the basis of color and race. Works Cited Berkowitz, Claire and Moran, K. Board (15 March, 2011) “Slavery In The U. S. Constitution”, Worcester Women's History Project. Available at Healey, J. F. (2010). Hispanic American. Diversity and Society Race, Ethnicity, and Gender (pp. 201-304). Place: Publishers. Stampp, Kenneth M. (1956) The Peculiar Institution: Slavery in the Ante-Bellum South Survey. The Old South University of Wisconsin Press. Read More