Pre Civil War Slavery Was A Cruel Crime

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Pre- Civil War slavery was a cruel crime, practiced by many in America. Arguably the worst forms of it took place in southern states, but some states toward the north also participated in it. Former slave Frederick Douglass (1995), in his autobiography, “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass,” expressed the terrible acts of the slave owners by explaining the cruel starvation, merciless whipping, and endless labor that the slaves were subject to. Starvation was a major way the slave masters made life hard on their slaves. Douglass communicated that many slaves became so thin and emaciated from lack of food that they couldn’t function well in doing their tasks. As a result, many slaves tried to steal food from their master’s garden or place the food was kept. However, the decision to steal often ended up in a whipping of the slave or another severe punishment. Also, while slaves went through the torture of hunger, the livestock were fed plenty of food to be healthy. The slave owner’s treatment of the animals better than other human beings shows the inhumanity and cruelty of the owner and of slavery itself (Douglass, 1995). …show more content…

Some masters were so evil that they would whip their slaves, even when the slaves had no fault in doing wrong. They would whip hard and tear up parts of slaves’ backs, shoulders, and necks until the point of incredible pain. It would also happen time and time again because slave masters would constantly search for offenses they thought a slave had committed. Sometimes, if a slave refused a whipping, the master would just shoot him. The master’s constant torment of the slaves made it physically challenging for the slaves to do their daily work (Douglass,

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