Indentured Slavery: A Brutal Pillar of American History

298 Words1 Page

Indentured slaves, were people who’s hopes and dreams which were to go to the new land and live a free life. Were brutally shattered by the cold reality, that they weren’t. Every day reminded that they were nothing. These people were some of the most abused people in America. But through them, we shaped history. Before the horrid civil war, slaves, indentured servants or anything of the sort, were considered no less then pets and treated the same way as animals. What it meant to be a slave, was that you and all of your sons and daughters will either be inherited or sold. As horrible as this was, it was the truth. Your future grand son’s son could become a slave for nothing they did, but because you foolishly signed away your life

Show More
Related

  • White Man's Burden Summary

    1766 Words  | 4 Pages

    Slavery is the idea and practice that one person is inferior to another. What made the institution of slavery in America significantly different from previous institutions was that “slavery developed as an institution based upon race.” Slavery based upon race is what made slavery an issue within the United States, in fact, it was a race issue. In addition, “to know whether certain men possessed natural rights one had only to inquire whether they were human beings.” Slaves were not even viewed as human beings; instead, they were dehumanized and were viewed as property or animals. During this era of slavery in the New World, many African slaves would prefer to die than live a life of forced servitude to the white man. Moreover, the problem of slavery was that an African born in the United States never knew what freedom was. According to Winthrop D. Jordan, “the concept of Negro slavery there was neither borrowed from foreigners, nor extracted from books, nor invented out of whole cloth, nor extrapolated from servitude, nor generated by English reaction to Negroes as such, nor necessitated by the exigencies of the New World. Not any one of these made the Negro a slave, but all.” American colonists fought a long and bloody war for independence that both white men and black men fought together, but it only seemed to serve the white man’s independence to continue their complete dominance over the African slave. The white man must carry a heavy

    Read More

  • Indentured Servitude and Slavery in the New World

    1072 Words  | 3 Pages

    During the 1600’s people began to look for different types of work in the new world. As cash crops, such as tobacco, indigo, and rice, were growing in the South, there became a need for labor. This got the attention of convicts, debtors, and other people looking for new opportunities and money. Indentured servitude was vastly growing during the 17th and 18th centuries. Approximatively 10 million men, women, and children were moved to the new world. Women during this time found themselves being sold to men for these cash crops. A commonly used term during this time for these women was tobacco brides. Almost 7.7 million of the slaves captured and moved to the new world were African Americans. Slaves and indentured servants had it rough for

    Read More

  • The History of Slavery in the United States

    1435 Words  | 3 Pages

    Following the success of Christopher Columbus’ voyage to the Americas in the early16th century, the Spaniards, French and Europeans alike made it their number one priority to sail the open seas of the Atlantic with hopes of catching a glimpse of the new territory. Once there, they immediately fell in love the land, the Americas would be the one place in the world where a poor man would be able to come and create a wealthy living for himself despite his upbringing. Its rich grounds were perfect for farming popular crops such as tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton. However, there was only one problem; it would require an abundant amount of manpower to work these vast lands but the funding for these farming projects was very scarce in fact it was just about nonexistent. In order to combat this issue commoners back in Europe developed a system of trade, the Triangle Trade, a trade route that began in Europe and ended in the Americas. Ships leaving Europe first stopped in West Africa where they traded weapons, metal, liquor, and cloth in exchange for captives that were imprisoned as a result of war. The ships then traveled to America, where the slaves themselves were exchanged for goods such as, sugar, rum and salt. The ships returned home loaded with products popular with the European people, and ready to begin their journey again.

    Read More

  • Slavery Dbq Essay

    1183 Words  | 3 Pages

    Saiba Haque Word Count: 1347 HUMANITIES 8 RECONSTRUCTION UNIT ESSAY Slavery was a problem that had been solved by the end of the Civil War. Slavery abused black people and forced them to work. The Northerners didn’t like this and constantly criticized Southerners, causing a fight. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation was signed by Lincoln to free all the slaves in the border states. “

    Read More

  • Indentured Servitude in Colonial America

    1255 Words  | 3 Pages

    One struggle that indentured servants faced was adjusting to the unfamiliar physical conditions they met upon arriving in America. William Moraley, an indentured servant in Burlington, wrote a memoir about his many experiences throughout his servitude. One thing he remembered was the way civil leaders ignored his complaints against his master regarding the contract he signed in England. Moraley recalled, “The condition of bought servants is very hard, notwithstanding their indentures were made in England, wherein it is expressly stipulated, that they shall have, at thei...

    Read More

  • Indentured Servants In America

    214 Words  | 1 Pages

    The typical life of an indentured servant was not a convenient one. Their journeys to the Americas were miserable. The servants were packed into large ships carrying thousands of people as well as, tools, food, etc. Not only were the people densely packed, there were various diseases flooding the ships, and many people would die from them. “I witnessed . . .

    Read More

  • Slavery In The United States

    1484 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout this course we learned about slavery and it's effects on our country and on African Americans. Slavery and racism is prevalent throughout the Americas before during and after Thomas Jefferson's presidency. Some people say that Jefferson did not really help stop any of the slavery in the United States. I feel very differently and I will explain why throughout this essay. Throughout this essay I will be explaining how views of race were changed in the United States after the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, and how the events of the Jeffersonian Era set the stage for race relations for the nineteenth century.

    Read More

  • Difference Between Slavery And Involuntary Servitude

    514 Words  | 2 Pages

    To many people the terms ‘Indentured Servitude’ and ‘Slavery’ might seem to mean the same thing. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary (on-line), an Indentured Servant is a person who signs and is bound by indentures to work for another for a specified time especially in return for payment of travel expenses and maintenance. Slavery, according to The Free Dictionary, is the condition in which one person is owned as property by another and is under the owner’s control, especially in involuntary servitude. This paper will highlight how they are similar, how they are different, how both of them originated, and who was affected by them.

    Read More

  • Abolishing Slavery in America

    1262 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slavery today is a large concern to many people, just as it always has been. Any type of slavery is considered immoral and unjust in today’s society and standards. However, before the Civil War, slavery was as common as owning a dog today. Many in the United States, particularly in the South, viewed slavery as a “positive good” and owned slaves that were crucial to their business and income. However, the Civil War then changed the lifestyle of many southerners in a negative way.

    Read More

  • Slavery: A Cycle of Victimization

    560 Words  | 2 Pages

    Slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought and sold, and are forced to work. Slavery was cruelty at its best. Slavery is described as long work days, a lack of respect for a human being, and the inability for a man or a woman to have gainful employment. The slaves were victimized the most for obvious reasons. Next on the list would be the families of both the slave and slave owners. At the bottom of the list would be the slave owners. Slavery does in fact victimize slaves, slave owner and their families by repeating the same cycle every generation.

    Read More

  • African American Slavery Research Paper

    269 Words  | 1 Pages

    Slavery became the backbone of Southern economy. The growing number of enslaved African Americans began to outnumber slave owners/whites. Slaves began to gain some leverage over their owners, and developed bonds with other slaves. Slaves began to maintain aspects of their African culture, kinship networks, and religion.

    Read More

  • Research Paper On Slavery In America

    194 Words  | 1 Pages

    Jim shows the state of a slave. How they lack basic information because they have been deprived of a life filled with learning how the world works and learning basic social information, like how babies are made and how people get married. This is the current condition of a slave in America. This is very unfortunate. Jim thinks the only way he will have a wife is if he buys her. He thinks the only way that he will have children would be if he buys them. this, ultimately is not ture. However, if Jim were to have biological children they would probably be sold or remain slaves. The mere thought that Jim actually believes he must buy his wife and kids is very hard to comprehend. How could a nation as great as the United States treat people so unfairly?

    Read More

  • Slave Life In The 1800s Essay

    1005 Words  | 3 Pages

    1. Slave’s lifestyle in the 1800 was anything but enjoyable. They lived, breathed, and sweated work.Their hours were from sunrise to sunset. Not only did they live in poor living conditions, and work in undesirable conditions, but they also were often taken from their families, and had religion forced on them. To sum it up, the lives that slaves led were unfavorable due to the way they had to live, and the lifestyle that was imposed on to them.

    Read More

  • Slavery Argumentative Essay

    373 Words  | 1 Pages

    If I had lived in the 1850's, I would like to believe I would've been an abolitionist. I can not see myself willingly owning another human being. I believe that God has created us all equal and all one race. Because we are all created for the purpose of glorifying God, then when we abuse others in order to show our "superiority" over them, we are actually seeking to glorify ourselves. The fact that people owned slaves and were domineering over them while claiming to be devout Christians is laughable. God hasn't called us to keep one another in captivity but to serve each other willingly.

    Read More

  • Modern Day Slavery Essay

    1371 Words  | 3 Pages

    Slavery has been a part of human practices for centuries and dates back to the world’s ancient civilizations. In order for us to recognize modern day slavery we must take a look and understand slavery in the American south before the 1860’s, also known as antebellum slavery. Bouvier’s Law Dictionary defines a slave as, “a man who is by law deprived of his liberty for life, and becomes the property of another” (B.J.R, pg. 479). In the period of antebellum slavery, African Americans were enslaved on small farms, large plantations, in cities and towns, homes, out on fields, industries and transportation. By law, slaves were the perso...

    Read More

More about Indentured Slavery: A Brutal Pillar of American History

Open Document