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The importance of slavery in America
Influence of slavery in american history
The importance of slavery in America
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Document 13-2 is a journal based on plantation rules for slaves all in a journal written by Bennet Barrow on May 1st of 1838. He named his journal, “Highland Plantation Journal” so he could reference back to his rules he told his slaves working on his plantation. Barrow wrote this journal because he wanted his slaves to follow a guideline of rules and regulations so they know what their master expects, and in this case, their master would be Barrow. The first few lines indicate that all men and women of colored skin should have these rules and regulation imposed on them. Barrow in his journal his very straight forward and gets to the point, he states, “No negro shall leave at anytime without my permission.” Just by this statement, one can jump to conclusion of the amount of grief and sorrow a slave goes through on a daily basis just by this one out of many rules. Larger historical themes that relate to this document would be the treatment and living conditions slaves in the southern part of United States went through on a daily basis. Within the journal, Barrow described the pay and incentives slaves received on a yearly basis. …show more content…
Slaves working on the plantation would only receive two pairs of shoes for an entire year and only received two pairs of clothes per year they worked. When slaves felt ill, they had to ask their master if they could leave work early, but oftentimes slaves were rejected to go home and were forced to work. Food was also rationed within the slave community and only bits and pieces of meat was available per year. The treatment and living condition of slaves on plantations and farms relate to other parts of the chapter by, in the document 13-3, “Fanny Kemble Learns about Abuses of Slave Women,” it is a diary of how a women married a slave master, and saw the amount of grief and torture slave women experience on a daily basis. Fenny Kemble married Pierce Butler, plantation and slave owner, but soon divorced after Kemble saw how Butler treated African American slave women. In her journal, Kemble stated, “Having told her that he’d tie her up and flog her if she did not get it done” was about an African American slave woman who did complete her daily job task. If women did not finish their daily duties, they were whipped and often times did not get food till the next day. Another way the theme of African American slave treatment and living conditions on plantation and farms relate to other part of the chapter by, in the document 13-5, “The Proslavery Argument” is it a letter to an English abolitionist describing why slavery is beneficial to society written by James Henry Hammond.
Within the letter, Hammond states, “You will say that man cannot hold property in man” justifying that slaves are considered property. In the 1800’s slaves did not have rights to the constitution, and were considered basic property. Although the slave would be breathing and living human being, they were treated like property, resulting in gruesome living conditions and treated like garbage on the side of a street. All in all, the treatment and living condition of slaves on plantations and farms were not civilized and
inhumane.
One of the ways that life was not completely equal between black and white is when runaway slaves/servants are involved. An example of this that Breen and Innes talked about dealing with the degree of equality between white men and Negros was when seven men, six white indentured servants and one black slave, tried to escape the servitude of a ‘Mr. Reginolds’. All six of the white men received a branding, whipping, shackling, and added time to their servitude. Emanuel the Negro received 30 stripes, which was a great amount even in early Virginia, a branding, and shackling. Unlike his fellow white runaways, Emanuel the Negro was not given extra servitude time.
Hammond had a longing for complete power and authority over his slaves. He wanted “total domination” (Faust, 72). He tried to control the way they thought, worshiped; everything. In time, Hammond created a “carefully designed plan of physical and psychological control intended to eliminate the foundations of black solidarity” (Faust, 72). Obviously the slaves did not like this. They weren’t used to a master being so obsessed with power and authority. The slaves rebelled and acted up. Some of them even tried to run away. Hammond decided that he needed to “break in” these slaves. “Those who performed unsatisfactory labor, left the plantation without permission, or in any other way challenged Hammond’s authority were lashed, in a public display of the consequences of refusal to comply with the master’s will” (Faust, 73).
In his work “James Henry Hammond Advocates Slavery” he compares the southern slaves and northern slaves of this timer. He believed that the southern slaves were happiest because when they were purchased it was for life and their masters would provide them with everything they needed to survive. Unlike those in the north these slaves would never have to experience starvation, begging, or the search for employment. In the North slaves were bought for a short time period or day by day, they aren’t cared for properly which results in them experiencing tremendous pain. Hammond also criticized the North for allowing their slaves to vote. He believed that it would only cause harm if the slaves ever had the power to overpowering
While Phillips may be criticized for his racial beliefs and lack of interest in the social dynamics of slavery, in this book he is a product of the times. The fact that he wrote in the interest of scholarship, attempting to produce a work based upon historical evidence makes this book very valuable and is still useful in its basic descriptive findings.
Slavery is a term that can create a whirlwind of emotions for everyone. During the hardships faced by the African Americans, hundreds of accounts were documented. Harriet Jacobs, Charles Ball and Kate Drumgoold each shared their perspectives of being caught up in the world of slavery. There were reoccurring themes throughout the books as well as varying angles that each author either left out or never experienced. Taking two women’s views as well as a man’s, we can begin to delve deeper into what their everyday lives would have been like.
African American slavery was used to grow economies in the North and South before the Civil War. Although the North and South had different styles of slavery, they still had an owner/slave relationship that remained demeaning when a person owns a person. Narratives of interviews with Charlie Smith and Fountain Hughes are discussed as the slaves share their memories of their life as a slave.
In sum, all of these key arguments exist in “The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” because of the institution of slavery and its resulting lack of freedom that was used to defend it. This text’s arguments could all be gathered together under the common element of inequality and how it affected the practical, social, and even spiritual lives of the slaves.
This Narrative gives one a new perspective on the evils of slavery and the terrible way it affects every one who is involved. The ignorance and physical abuse of the slave is the essential means by which this practice survived for too long. Douglass gives us proof of this in his experiences he endured in overcoming these obstacles and makes us aware of the power that knowledge holds, of both freedom and slavery.
The issue of Slavery in the South was an unresolved issue in the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During these years, the south kept having slavery, even though most states had slavery abolished. Due to the fact that slaves were treated as inferior, they did not have the same rights and their chances of becoming an educated person were almost impossible. However, some information about slavery, from the slaves’ point of view, has been saved. In this essay, we are comparing two different books that show us what being a slave actually was. This will be seen with the help of two different characters: Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the life of Frederick
To understand the desperation of wanting to obtain freedom at any cost, it is necessary to take a look into what the conditions and lives were like of slaves. It is no secret that African-American slaves received cruel and inhumane treatment. Although she wrote of the horrific afflictions experienced by slaves, Linda Brent said, “No pen can give adequate description of the all-pervading corruption produced by slavery." The life of a slave was never a satisfactory one, but it all depended on the plantation that one lived on and the mast...
The "American Slavery" Book Review This book achieved its goal by reflecting on the past and history of American Slavery. We can see in much detail what America was and has become throughout the era of slavery. It was the Colonial era that America began to see what true slavery would soon become. The author, Peter Kolchin, tries to interpret the true history of slavery. He wants the readers to understand the depth to which the slaves lived under bondage.
In the south it was illegal for slaves to receive an education, to many, to vote, to own property, to testify in court were even to burn their freedom through their work and the have 15 minutes break a day and to eat, slaves were given megger rations mostly of corn meal pork and the last season’s, and every year slaves received one new said winter and summer clothes and a new blanket, most slaves share their small cabins with 10 to 12 people and slept on straw piled on a dirt floor. The lives of slaves who work on tobacco plantations were filled with ending hardship suffering and poverty. Slave woke up at dawn and spend all day working on rice plantations. One of 100s out of 1000s f African-Americans that were enslaved and forced to spend their lives. Because of the racism and segregation, they faced, slaves soon develop a unique culture found nowhere else in the world. Slaves often sang spirituals to express political or religious beliefs, these songs could also contain directions for runaway’s slave. Slaves owner permitted the singing because they believed it helped slaves work faster. Slaves didn’t get to choose
In his narrative, he states that slaves were compared to animals by the way the slave owner treated them because slaves were considered as property and not as human beings. When slaves came into the new world, they were sold and given new names and over time were supposed to assimilate to the American culture. Since slave masters did not think slaves could assimilate to the American culture, slave masters kept them as workers; therefore, slaves were not given an education, leaving them illiterate, and thereby leaving them without any knowledge on how the American political system works. Slave owners thought that if slaves would become literate, that slaves would start to question the rights they have. Frederick argues that slaves lose their identity by accepting the fact that being a slave is the way life is and that there is nothing else to look forward to in life. “
In the book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, by Frederick Douglass, he tells us through his narrative his self-transformation from being an object to a free human. Through the process of becoming a free man, he describes his experiences and of other slaves to shed a light on slavery during the nineteenth century. I will give a background history of Frederick Douglass, the content of that period, some hardships and themes like, ignorance and knowledge that are mentioned in the narrative that connect to the period.
In this book, Douglass narrated the life of a slave in the United States into finer details. This paper will give a description of life a slave in the United States was living, as narrated through the experiences of Fredrick Douglass.