The Changing Place of Slaves and Slavery in the American Nation from 1607 to 1865 - Essay Example

The changing place of slaves and slavery in the American nation from 1607 to 1865 Introduction Slave trade and slavery were major social and economic factors in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries. American merchants in the early American society shipped slaves from different parts of Africa among other parts of the world and sold them to millions of plantation owners who used the slaves in their farms. Later in the years as the economy of the country developed especially during the industrial revolution, the once a source of labor and an economic activity would become a major social factor and a deterrent to the development of a cohesive American society. The development of the country relied on social cohesion, which required the constitution of the country to safeguard the interests of all Americans (Blassingame, 1977). The period between 1607 and 1865 thus witnessed the development of the trade, its abolition, intense discrimination and subsequent development of a progressive American society that would later form the foundation for the development of the greatest economy in the world to date (Child, 1833). The discussion below portrays the development and the challenges faced in the course of the transition. The 1600s saw the development of the trade in the country. After the British colonization of the country, the colonizers needed labor in order to intensify production in the country. The British colonizers intensified food production especially when they introduced the large-scale production of tobacco, cotton and sugar cane in different parts of the country. The rapid development of plantation promised to revolutionize the country’s economy but the greatest impediment to such rapid development of the country was the evident lack of labor. Apparently, the British had used slave labor back in their country a feature that expedited their adoption of the same strategy in the United States. The adoption of the trade in the United States coupled with the large spread of large-scale plantation in the country resulted in rapid economic growth while raising vital human rights issues. As such, slaves were products just as any other in the market (Davis, 2003). Slave owners in the country were wealthy farm owners who used the slave primarily for labor. The political and economic factors in the country favored the white men with the society portraying a chauvinistic attitude in the governance of the society. White European women had no political rights and did not therefore take part in voting. Additionally, the women did not enjoy any property rights in the country since they were part of the property belonging to the man. However, the men treated their women favorable only denying them the chance to either own property or participate in the country’s politics. The Europeans treated their slaves inhumanely as they exposed them to varying humiliating and inhumane treatments. A slave owner had absolute rights over the slaves often beating them and using them to intensify their productivity in the plantations (Child, 1833). Slave trade on the other hand was a bureaucratic trade that employed hundreds of entrepreneurs and was a major sector in the early American economy. The trade had several intermediaries who coordinated with their colleagues in Africa and other parts of the world where they captured the slaves (Ezell, 1963). After their arrival in the United States, the slaves were part of their stock that they took to different markets thereby changing ownership with appropriate corroborating documents to prove transfer of ownership. Things therefore changed from the early 1600s to the 1800s when revolutions and pushes for the freedom of the slaves and eradication of slave trade began taking effect. The American society has developed progressively in structure as the country carried out vital constitutional amendments and referendums that improved the state of both the country’s women and the African American group who were either slaves or slave descendants. The 1960s as described above were harsh times for the slaves who faced immense mistreatments as they were like goods owned by their owners who either would use them in their plantations or sold them as part of their assets. The distinction between the whites and the African American slaves in the country was distinct with some state passing laws to govern the relationship. In 1664 for example, passed laws that prohibited marriages and any form of intimate relationship between African men and white women. In the same year, the state would later pass lifelong enslavement for all African slaves in the country (Hesseltine, 1936). Several other states including New Jersey, New York and Virginia later passed similar laws. The legislations implied that all Africans who were slaves at the time of formulation of the laws would serve as slaves all their lives. As incriminating as it sounded, the whites embraced the laws thereby widening the slave trade industry in the country. The laws would later worsen in later 1600s with different states formulating laws that did not only support the slave trade but also sustained the discrimination between whites and the African Americans. In 1670 for example, the state of state of Virginia formulated laws that forbid free blacks from keeping white servants. Apparently, there were free blacks who had economic among other minimal social freedoms. The laws by the state of Virginia thus sought to clarify the relationship that such Africans had with the whites in the country. Later in 1674, the state of New York passed a more stringent law that state that no African slaves who converted to Christianity would not be freed. After staying in the country for several years, the Africans had begun converting to Christianity; the doctrines of Christianity christen fairness and equality two vital features that would discourage slavery and slave trade in the country. The law therefore sought to clarify on the type of relationship that existed between slaves and their masters. The situation remained the same in the 1700s with the trade manifesting itself in more parts of the country. The slaves proved efficient laborers and the industry was a major source of income to many. Slave trade intensified commerce in the country and the white government thus sought to safeguard the trade often formulating laws that would safeguard the interests of the whites. The situation did not change for the white American women either. They remained passive members of the society often lacking political representation and without the rights to own property. Their position was clear back at home where they washed and raised children the lucky ones ran remained home supervising female slaves who worked in their homes as servants. In 1786, during the drafting of the American constitution the white governors ensured to incorporate slave trade in the constitution with the view of safeguarding their interests. Among the fundamental provisions of the constitution included section 9 article 1, which safeguarded the longevity of the trade. The provision forbade the government from banning the “importation” of persons that the state laws would consider “proper to admit”. The provision sought to protect the position of slaves and the trade in the country since it implied that the federal government could not ban any form of importation of persons including slaves in respective slaves. While the clause did not mention the importation of the slaves from other regions into the country, it in deed safeguarded slave trade among the states. This mean that the trade would continue provided the merchants had the consent of their respective state laws. All the white merchants and slave owners had to do therefore was to influence the formation of the laws of their respective states. Other fundamental articles in the draft were article five, which sought to prevent the government from amending the provisions of section 9 until 1808. The strategic clause therefore safeguarded the trade increasing its longevity by twenty years a time within which the merchants sought to capitalize on the trade besides fostering the racial animosity between the African American slaves and the whites. To protect the interests of the slave traders further, the delegates included yet another strategic clause in the draft. Article four section two of the draft prevented state governments from freeing slaves who ran to other states. This implied that a state would remain a slave regardless of the state. Anny slave who escaped into a different state would be returned either to the original state or to serve as a slave in the new slave. Such sections of the constitutions thus protected the trade ensuring that slave trade in the country continued for at least the next twenty years without legal opposition. However, in an interesting and equally ironical twist James Madison a delegate from Virginia ensured that the draft incorporated other populations including the African American slaves in the country’s population. His clause sought to provide for a way of determining the factual population of the country by including slaves during census. Besides the drafting of the constitution, other fundamental legal changes that had begun occurring at the states were equally radical. Slave trade had negative reputation in different parts of the country with numerous humanitarian and religious groupings banning the trade in different states. In 1776 for example, the Society of Friends, a social movement in the states of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania banned forbade its members from holding slaves. Such was a manifestation of the instigating social change in the society that would later champion for the official recognition of the rights of both the black minority and women (Albert, 1991). In the same year, Delaware banned the importation of slaves a move that would curtail the development of the trade in the region. Other fundamental legislations within the decade included the move by Vermont in 1777 to ban slave trade thereby franchising all males being the first among the thirteen British colonies to do so. The state of New York would also pass the same legislation in the same year thereby franchising all free previously propertied men despite their colors. In the subsequent decade, several other fundamental changes occurred thereby liberalizing many slaves. While the American constitution safeguarded slave trade until 1808, several radical changes had begun especially in the northern states thereby resulting in the freedom of many slaves in the region. However, while the number of slaves and the intensity of slave trade diminished in the north, the demand for slaves increased in the southern states especially when cotton became a cash crop in the region. This created a conflict as most humanitarian campaigns in the northern states continue to curb the prevalent while the demand for slave labor in the south continued to create demand for slave. The trade therefore intensified in the south during the final years of the decade following the large-scale plantation of cotton in the regions. Most slaves toiled in the cotton plantations especially during the picking seasons. In 1808, the government of the United States banned the importation of African slaves into the country. This marked a momentous legislative change in the country as the country began to curb slavery and slave trade in the country. However, with the growing demand for slaves in the south states owing to the large-scale production of cotton smuggling of slaves into the country continued in the country despite the formal prohibition of the importation of slaves into the country. In 1822, slave revolutions began in the country thereby expediting the freedom of slaves in the country owing to the growing animosity often resulting in bloody slave rebellions in different parts of the country. The first slave revolution occurred in South Carolina in 1822 resulting in the execution of thirty participants found guilty of causing bodily injuries, destruction of property and skirmishes in the state. While such punitive punishments sought to deter similar movements in the future, they motivated other slaves to revolt with the aim of freeing themselves. As the abolitionist campaigns intensify, Nat Turner, a slave preacher from Virginia led a two-day revolt against the whites in the city thereby killing sixty white Americans. The state government reacted spontaneously by creating a militia to quell the uprising and begin a manhunt for Turner (Rosen, 1997). They captured Turner after two months thus executing him. The uprising resulted in the southern states formulating laws that are more stringent including the expulsion of all abolitionists from the states, banning mailing of anti-slavery propaganda in the states and other punitive laws to contain any form of uprising. The states forbade the slaves from harboring any thoughts of rebellion of escape since such individuals would face the punitive punishments. In retrospect, the two centuries were characterized with myriad social structures that defined the position of slavery and slave trade in the society. Motivated with the need for increased labor, different entrepreneurs engaged in slave trade thereby making the trade on humans one of the largest economic sectors in the in the American economy. However, the position of the African American slaves would change albeit slowly within the two centuries from the abject maltreatment to the full simulation of Africans into the American society, as is the case in the current society. While the emancipation of the slaves occurred after 1965 when Abraham Lincoln becomes president, previous years experienced progressive changes and revolutions that necessitated the emancipation. References Albert, O. V. (1991). The House of Bondage Or Charlotte Brooks and Other Slaves. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Blassingame, J. W. (1977). Slave Testimony: Two Centuries of Letters, Speeches, Interviews, and Autobiographies. Louisiana: Louisiana State University Press. Child, L. M. (1833). An appeal in favor of that class of Americans called Africans. Boston, MA: Allen & Ticknor. Davis, W. (2003). Look Away! A History of the Confederate States of America. New York: Free Press. Ezell, J. S. (1963). The South since 1865. New York: Macmillan. Hesseltine; W. B. (1936). A History of the South, 1607-1936. New York: Prentice-Hall. Rosen, R. N. (1997). A short history of Charleston. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press. Read More