Anti Slavery Movement - Essay Example

Module Module ID: Anti Slavery Movement Anti slavery movement 1800s serves as a turning point in the history of United States, which not only paved the way towards the introduction and implication of social justice and equality in various parts of the country, but also played the powerful and most formidable role in respect of decreasing and discouraging the ethnic, racial, regional and religious inequity and discrimination that had been in vogue for the last several decades, and was responsible for creating bias and prejudice within the entire social establishment at large. Though the statutes of Declaration of Independence as well as the US constitution, as drafted in 1776 and 1787 respectively in Philadelphia, provided equal status to all American subjects without discrimination, yet the black racial group and Red Indians had to undergo prejudiced behavior and hatred from the members of White Anglo Saxon Protestants (WASP). It was particularly the case with the African Americans, who had been brought in America as captive to lead the life of slaves in the service of the white population. The black slave people used to be tortured, humiliated and abhorred, and were kept deprived of all civil rights and privileges attributed to the free men. Consequently, they started launching a campaign against slavery by establishing the New York City Manumission Society in 1785, and the Pennsylvania Abolition Society in 1789 in order to raise their voice from these respective platforms. Thus, the struggle for abolition of slavery had started side by side the drafting of constitution by the last two decades of eighteenth century. Somehow, the afore-mentioned societies had been working at regional scale, without the national command altogether. His being an open oppose of slavery, and supporter of freedom of the slaves, people had maintained high hopes in the person of third US President Thomas Jefferson. However, he had kept several slaves in his service, so he did not take any important step for the abolition of slavery (Applebaum 318). However, it was during his era when New Jersey state introduced abolition of slavery for the children of the slaves in 1804 (Higginbotham 309-10). Consequently, slave trade was also banned within the country in 1808 in the wake of the division of the country into slave and free states. Since such a division was extremely jeopardizing one for the national unity and harmony, the necessary steps were taken to ensure the trade and trafficking of slavery all over the USA. Moreover, Captain Cuffe also launched an unsuccessful campaign in favor of the absolute eradication of slavery in 1815, though it ended in fiasco after his death in 1817 (Thomas 19). Similarly, a dauntless American Caribbean Denmark Vesey united the African slaves under one platform, and made a revolt by raising pikes heads, bayonets, and daggers. It increased tension in South Carolina and several blacks were arrested. Somehow, the whites acknowledged that the slavery would have no space in the country anymore. Since most of the slaves states belonged to the northern part of the country, there was an urgent need for the introduction of reforms in those areas. Consequently, the northern states recommended the gradual ban on slavery by early 1830s in order to seek its complete abolition within few decades. Actually, the slaves had been deployed in cotton ginning and other agricultural fields and industrial units, their immediate freedom could create serious labor vacuum, as well as possible setback for the national economy. It is therefore some of the politicians, predominantly Henry Clay and others, advocated and launched campaign during 1830s regarding the return of the African Americans to their native lands i.e. Africa (Nye & Morpurgo 208-09). However, New York state completely banned slavery in 1828 within its jurisdiction. Another important black leader Frederick Douglas launched one of the most effective anti-slavery movement in the wake of attending a black convention in Massachusetts in 1841, which was later to organize the black community against the cruelties of the majority population. Thus, the movement witnessed its climax in 1840s and 1850s, where the slaves made demonstrations, arranged protests and accepted to be sent to jails, but remained firm for their collective cause. Though most of the slave states had banned slavery in their respective jurisdictions, yet there was the need for a courageous and dauntless leader that could announce all slaves free from the shackles of slavery. It was really Abraham Lincoln, who came to power in 1861 to lay the foundation of America on the principle of freedom and equality. Though it was extremely challenging for Lincoln to get the act passed from the Congress in favor of abolition of slavery, yet he worked hard to get it pass in June 1862, which banned slavery from the federal territories, which paved the way towards passing of Emancipation Declaration in September 1862 eventually. Jones et al. have discussed the American Revolutionary War (1775-83) by elaborating significant role played the US allies against England. France, Spain and Netherlands stood by the thirteen states of America in order to provide her with moral and strategic support. Benjamin Franklin played decisive role in motivating the French Emperor to provide America with financial and military support; consequently, the French troops declared war against England in 1778 (Jones et al 163), and fought bravely from the American side. The same could also be observed by looking into the role of modern era US allies, where England, Australia, France, Germany and others have participated in the US campaign against Afghanistan and Iraq in 2003 and 2004 respectively in order to defeat the terrorists. The newly established United States had to undergo several problems at domestic scale soon after wining victory against England. One of the most challenging issues appeared during 1780s includes the internal conflicts that not only created hurdles in respect of drafting the constitution of the country, but also the forming of government also turned out to be a grave challenge subsequent to the War of Independence. In addition, the army also demanded its share in the governmental affairs against the services they had rendered for their fatherland (Jones et al 202). The similar situation also appeared in the USA after the terrorist attacks, where an overwhelming majority of the ex army personnel and the relations of military forces stood against the war ambitions of President George W. Bush, though he stuck to his passion for war, resulted into heavy losses in men and material experienced by the US-led allied forces. The newly established USA passed the Bill of Rights by 1790, which was ratified in 1791. According to the above-mentioned bill, all US citizens were declared to be equal without the color, race, ethnicity and region etc they maintained. It is therefore it is rightly viewed to be a remarkable era in the history of America, which laid the foundations of equality, liberty and freedom to all the masses without discrimination (246). The country also finds the example of similar developments during the second half of twentieth century, when the black population was declared to be equivalent to the white subjects after the famous bus incident of December 1955, where a black woman Rosa Parks was denied to have a sit at the situation when one of the white passengers was standing in the bus (Parks 23). However, the court declared all Americans equal in the eyes of law, and it helped the black people to launch their campaign against apartheid during 1960s and early 1970s. The USA had waged war on England 1812 because of growing tensions between the two on several disputed issues, which could not be settled peacefully. An important matter in this respect included the British refusal to pay submission to the areas that must have been annexed with America. Moreover, Britain had blocked the US access to France in the Mediterranean during Anglo-French Napoleonic Wars. The most distinguished feature of the Anglo-American War was this that military, naval and air forces were applied in the war. The modern era also had an example of such a warfare, which did not change the geographical location of the warring countries. It was the war between the invader America and invaded Vietnam, which lasted for two long decades from 1955 to 1975, resulted in the heavy loss of Vietnamese, though American had to secede the Vietnam land eventually after the strong and unflinching resistance made by the brave Vietnamese during the course of defending the national, geographical and ideological boundaries of their motherland. The Jackson Era is aptly viewed to be the horrible time for the indigenous Indian population of America, called as the Red Indians, who were forced to sell and vacate their lands in the wake of the land reformations introduced by the federal government in order to get the white settle in those areas that actually belonged to the indigenous Indian population since long. As a result, the Indians had to suffer a lot, due to this unjust decision made by the government. Hundreds of the Indians lost their life during their migration to other regions of the country. The Palestinians had to face similar situation in the aftermath of WWI, where the Jews had purchased most of their lands in Israel-Palestinian areas, which invited three fatal wars between the Arabs and Zionists in 1948, 1867 and 1973 respectively. The United States introduced several reforms in various parts of the country during 1800s; among these reforms, the rights and privileges granted to women maintain great significance in them. The feminist leader Elizabeth Cady Stanton had launched a campaign in 1848 to win the rights for women on the foundations of justice and equality. As a result, the women were granted the right to vote in 1928. The people of America obtained further rights during the last decades of twentieth century, where the illegal and illegitimate extra marital relationships and cohabitation have got acknowledgement in various parts of the country. Besides, the gays and lesbians had also obtained social status equivalent to the straight individuals in few states of the country. Jones et al. elaborate the famous Emancipation Proclamation made by Abraham Lincoln in September 1862, which not only abolished slavery, but also laid the foundation stone of the beginning of new era in the history of America. As a result, the blacks started leading a life of freedom and liberty free from the clutches of slavery. However, they would have to make another long struggle to win respect and human rights attributed to the members of white Anglo Saxon Protestant community. Thus, the had to win the right to cast their votes as well as participate in the elections as candidates. Though the journey was long and dreary one, full of obstacles and hurdles, yet the African Americans reached their destination in November 2008, when a member of the black community became the first African American President of the USA. American Civil War broke out in many slave states in order to get the Emancipation Proclamation implemented that had not been enforced as yet till mid 1860s. Started from 1861, the war divided the country between white and black on the basis of the color of the American citizens. Actually the slave states had revolted against the federal government and attempted to establish the Confederate states of America. Consequently, the US authorities had to deploy military and paramilitary forces in order to crush the rebellion by force. The same situation has been observed in many areas of contemporary world, where Iraq, Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and other countries had to undergo the similar situation of civil wars in their countries. Some of these movements were crushed, while some of them paved the way towards the change of government ultimately. Works Cited Applebaum, Herbert A. Colonial Americans at Work. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, Inc. 1996. Print. Bennett, Lerone. Before the Mayflower: A History of Black America. Chicago: Johnson Pub. Co., 1988. Print. Jones, Jacqueline., Woods, Peter H., Borstelmann, Thomas., May, Elaine Tyler., & Ruiz, Vicki L. Created Equal. A history of the united states, To 1877 Brief third Edition. New York: Pearson Longman. Volume I: 2007. Print. Nye, R.B. & Morpurgo, J. E. A History of the United States Volumes I & II New York: Penguin Books 1955 Print. Thomas, Lamont D. Paul Cuffee: Black Entrepreneur and Pan-Africanist Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press 1988 Print. Read More