Slavery

Slavery is something that should have never happened, but unfortunatly it did. This

project is about the history of slavery in America, and the terrible unfair reality that slaves had to

deal with.

When the Meso American, or the Middle American natives first encountered the Europeans, they were very familiar with slavery. Among the most advanced civilizations in

Central America was the Aztecs and Maya. In these places slavery, although not necessary, was

common. The Aztec used the the same methods for getting slaves as other cultures. Slaves were

prisoners of war, criminals, debtors, and poor people selling family members into slavery. The

most common reasons for becoming a slave was poverty, or not being able to pay taxes to the

empire. Slaves in Aztec were not mistreated and were fed, housed and clothed by their owner.

Slaves could marry, and have their own property, just as others could.

In Aztec, slavery was a reversible condition and if you were once a slave you could

become a normal citizen again. Slaves could gain freedom by running away from their masters

at the market, and if they made it to the rulers palace they were freed. No one could stop the

slave or they themselves became a slave. Also they could buy their freedom, or marry their

owner. Slaves were often used in sacrificial ceremonies. The removal of the heart was a

practice of the Middle American civilization, the most common of their sacrifices. The Maya was a civilization who were known for architecture, artwork, trade networks, writings, mathematics, and the calendar. Like the Aztec, the Mayans aquired slaves in the same

ways. In Maya, slavery was hereditary, the children of the slaves would automatically become

slaves themselves. Slaves preformed hard manual labor for households. They carried merchandise on their backs, paddled canoes, gathered supplies, and pampered their masters. The

slaves of an important person who died may be killed and buried with the owner to become his

slave in the next life.

Two separate economies developed in northern and southern America. In the north, where there are many small farms and mills, slave holdings were small, and most of the slaves

were domestic servants in coastal cities. In the south there was a cash-crop economy based on

plantation. The north was creative in the development of the southern ec... ... middle of paper ...

..., in the war that would abolish slavery in America.

The southern states of America formed their own Confederate in 1860 and the issue of

slavery was at the top of the agenda. The states that were for slavery wanted to have the right to

choose if they wanted slavery. However, the newly elected president

Abraham Lincoln was

against slavery. After a long period of debate the Emancipation Proclamation came into effect in

1863. This freed slaves in the Confederate States. The Union Army had to conquer southern

territory for the slaves to feel liberated.

All the free blacks joined to fight in the war as they had in the previous ones. Altogether

half a million fought, and thirty-eight thousand died in the war. Soon after, the Confederate

Army surrendered. In 1865, the United States passed three constitutional ammendments that

abolished slavery and finally gace the black slaves equal rights as citizens. People have enslaved others of their own nations, races, religions, and families for many

years before us. Even slaves owned slaves, and in these cases not once has it been right.

Thankfully, from events in the past, we enjoy equal rights and freedoms for

everyone.