Comparative Analysis of Slavery by Stanley Elkins and Ordeal by Fire by James McPherson - Research Paper Example

Comparative analysis of slavery by Stanley Elkins and Ordeal by Fire by James McPherson Introduction Slave trade can be considered one of the worst case of abuse of human rights and the erosion of human ethics to that of animals. It is certainly an embarrassing undertaking that was so prevalent from the early 1800s. Men, mostly black men were sold like cows and forced to work on farms under humiliating conditions without pay and inhuman conditions. Indeed slave trade was a big shame to humanity around the globe. One would then as if all men were really created equal if at all, the Bible claims are the truth to go by. The difference in skin colour made a total difference in the perception of humanity that led to different treatment towards different people depending on their skin colour. Slave trade became a common phenomenon in America in the early 18th century with the onset of agricultural developments and industrial revolution. However, slavery in America can be traced back to the 16th century when the first slaves entered America, twenty of them, all blacks from the African continent. These were brought into America as permanently indentured servants leading to more Negros and Caucasians moving into America as permanently indentured servants. Slavery later on grew in the southern agriculture where three types of crops were grown: tobacco, rice and indigo as a means of providing cheap untrained labor [Jam82]. The farm owners who grew indigo felt devastated with the smell that was associated with it and did not want to touch it hence the need to have the African slaves to work on the production as they concentrated on the sales and the keeping of the income that was accrued from the enterprise. Two American writers Stanley Elkins and James McPherson became so bold to address the evil that was being meted out on humanity by their fellow humans. In a bid to advocate for the abolition of the vice, these writers sternly criticized the trade of slaves in America and pointed out the need to set them free as they held to the fact that all men were created equal and that the slave trade was an embarrassment to the American continent. McPherson notes that at the onset of slavery in the North America, slaves rarely worked on farms since most northerners only owned subsistence farms, slaves were therefore used as cooks, butlers, and house cleaners. These were more of light chores that did not humiliate the slaves. However, the dawn of agriculture-shifted things all together and the normal manual household chores were replaced with the forced farm labour. This left the slaves with no choice other than to admit and be receptive to the prevailing shift in working conditions. Macpherson’s protest began at the point when forced labour was entitled on the slave immigrants. Arising from this, he launched a campaign for the slaves’ freedom. He argues, “The industrial revolution's new inventions made northern slave labour uneconomical. Free labour replaced slavery in most northern states except for the border state of Delaware. Free labour emphasized the right of each individual to "sell" his labour to the highest bidder” [Jam82]. Thus, the sale of men in the American markets like goods moved McPherson to challenge the ethical implications of this. This according to him was a complete disregard of the human nature by her fellow humanity, to sell a person as a good in the market was an abuse to human nature “when the southwest opened up new cotton lands, after depleting the upper south's soils, the slave population again increased. Upper south whites bred slaves for sale in the lower south” [Jam82] Elkins on the other hand in his protest to call for the banishing of slave trade in America and questioning it ethics says, that it was time to consider human rights more important than a person’s view and interests “there is coerciveness about the debate over slavery: it continues to be the same debate. The same tests for the rightness or wrongness of slavery remain in use year in and year out” [Elk59]. Elkins in his argument inspired by the study carried out by Frank Tannenbaum on the slavery in North America and Brazil asserts that it was the right time to consider the morality of the slave trade and to come up with new methods of tackling the impeding vice in the land of America. It is worth noting Elkins wide knowledge of the world history when he draws comparative examples from across the globe to address the issue of the slave trade and to expose what he considered ‘unique’ in North American slavery. Like McPherson, Elkins also calls for a check on the powers of the slave owners in treating their slaves “during the emergence of slavery, masters had absolute power over the slave’s body” [Elk59]. He calls upon the central government, religious groups and the authority of the state’s laws to monitor how the slave owners treated their slaves as was done in the South by the Latin Americans. This thinking was inspired by the thinking that slaves were similar human beings just like their owners, and he says that the slaves in North America had been left without any manner of defense and protection from their harsh masters “in the United States, the slave’s “rights of personality ... were left virtually without defense” [Elk59] Elkins brings out the image of Sambo in the south and compares it with the manner in which slaves were treated in the north and comes to a conclusion that the slaves in the North had absolutely no rights and that they always had to adapt to the humiliating conditions they were exposed to by their Northern masters. Unlike in the south the same African slaves had some sort of rights and autonomy from their masters “Blacks had to adapt to a position of utter powerlessness under a totalitarian regime”[Elk59]. As a back up to the fight launched by the two against the slave trade and the humiliation of slaves by their American masters, the church came in to lend a hand in the fight. For instance, the Methodist church in 1784 unanimously voted to expel from the church those who continued trading in slaves and those who would not set their slaves free after one year since then. Other churches that joined in the fight were the Baptist churches in Virginia and Kentucky who voted to banish slavery in 1789 and 1791 respectively. Moreover, the Presbyterian Synods based in the New York and Philadelphia equally called upon her members to end the slave trade pronouncing it biblically unlawful “By 1815, Presbyterians declared the buying and selling of slaves inconsistent with the Gospel” [Jam82]. They resolved on the repatriation of the slaves to their former empires in Africa and as a result, some slaves were sailed back to Africa into the today’s country of Liberia. In conclusion, it is worth noting that the good fight that was begun by two people Elkins and McPherson bore fruit at last when the slaves in America were set free following the constant push and pressure mounted on the slave owners. For a fact, slavery was deeply rooted in the American culture to the extent that even President Thomas Jefferson after becoming the president of America could not do anything to curb the vice, as McPherson (1982) notes in his book “Ordeal by Fire”. In a more analytical manner, the two authors have therefore immensely contributed to the abolition of slave trade in America and as a result, restoring the almost lost good image of the united states of America as a liberal and democratic state whose good morals and high standing in dealing with the issues touching on humanity are admired worldwide. References Jam82: , (McPherson, 1982), Elk59: , (Elkins, 1959), Elk59: , (Elkins, 1959), Read More