Slavery between 1800 and 1865 and the the development of the American South - Essay Example

Slavery is interesting because there are many economic, political, social and cultural implications, which will be covered during the course of this essay. Social and Cultural Slavery The main social implication of slavery is that there will always be one ruling class and one formed of slaves. In the case of the United States, people were born into slavery and it was very difficult to escape, unless you could escape to the Union states and begin a new life, something which was not always easy.

This led to black slaves being seen as inferior and finding it very difficult to move up the hierarchy into becoming landowners. This led to the culture that the United States has only recently (debatably) escaped, which is thinking that black people are somehow inferior. After the abolition of slavery, black people still found it very difficult to be treated equally to the white European settlers, simply because the cultural and social stereotype of slavery was left behind. Slavery in Economics Economically, slavery was more positive.

There were many available sources of labor which could be bought for a one-off price and then used until the slave was no longer fit for work. This was particularly important in cotton agriculture, because a large number of field hands were required for every harvest. The economics of the situation are impressive because actually, cheap or free labor is something that still occurs in the modern age and has been very useful to many companies over the years. This facet of slavery is interesting because if you take it apart from the other problems, it seems to make the situation seem almost positive, something which cannot be said of how slavery affected people themselves politically, morally and socially.

Slavery in Politics Political interests in slavery have been wide-ranging and varied over the years. The Civil War occurred between 1861 and 1865 and was essentially a war waged between two sides (Union and Confederate) that could not bring themselves to agree politically about the topic of slavery. The Union side favored abolition, and was the side that eventually won. Politically, most people today would agree with the Union side, perhaps because of this victory and perhaps because of the burgening social interest in equality between races.

The Confederate side believed that slavery was an essential part of the lifestyle, and necessary to keep the cotton (and other) crops being grown and harvested successfully. Slavery was part of the way of life, with slaves being incorporated into nearly every family, with the number of slaves a household possessed being a generally accepted measure of wealth. This ties in well with the social and cultural implications of slavery, which essentially suggested that the American South required slavery to continue being the prosperous land that it was.

Slavery and the Development of the American South Slavery is something that affected the development of the American South greatly. As previously mentioned, slavery was a great part of the culture in the South prior to the Confederate states losing the American Civil War. Every respected household had black slaves up until (and past) the point at which it was illegal. The American South is still famous for having a higher level of racial inequality than the North, and this may be something of a hangover from