Comparing Slavery of the South and North

1600 Words4 Pages

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………2

Initiation of slavery in America………………………………………………………2

Preferences of African (black) slaves…………………………………………………3

Similarities between the states towards slavery…………………………………….....3

Differences…………………………………………………………………………….4

Northern states position………………………………………………………..4

Southern states position………………………………………………………...5

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...6

Comparing Slavery of the South and North

Introduction:

The Americas (north and south) was referred to as the new world since they had recently been discovered by the Europeans. The Spanish, Portuguese and the Dutch resolutely instituted slavery in the Americas by the 1600s. Slavery refers to the practice of holding a person in bondage for labor. Nonetheless, slavery was not new to the Native Americans; it was a common practice with its root in the world’s earliest civilizations. Similarly, slavery evolved and took various forms in history. For example, there were societies in which slaves worked as domestic servants in households of rich families. In others, slaves were working in mines and fields. People were enslaved when they were captured in battle or sold to pay off debts. A number of societies treated slaves with respect; indeed, they were even allowed to marry and own property. Slaves’ children were allowed to go free and were entitled to all rights enjoyed by other citizens. Nonetheless, slavery started to change with the advent of sugar plantations.

Initiation of Slavery in America

From as early as 1100, Europeans employed the services of slaves to grow sugar in the eastern parts of the Mediterranean. During the 1400s and 1500s, Portuguese and Spanish introduced sugar farming on islands in the easter...

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... in fields while their wives worked indoors. Some slave owners were interested in male slaves only while others bought child slaves.

Conclusion:

At the early stages of slavery, both the south and the north embraced slavery but differences in resource endowments, needs and interests lead to varying view of slavery. The north developed a modern money economy that required little inputs from slaves thus the economic importance of slavery diminished. Eventually, slavery was abolished. On the other hand, the southern states were reaping huge returns from agriculture (a labor intensive industry) therefore slavery was critical to the economic well-being. Slavery was only outlawed in the southern states after the civil war after the confederates (southern states), who wanted to secede from the federal republic, were defeated by the union (north states).

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