Slavery In America An Eyewitness History Essay

Slavery has played a major role in colonial America since European colonization. When Europe colonized America, there was a lot of work that needed to be done. With the vast land and lack of laborers, slaves were introduced to the new world. Dutch ships brought African slaves into America and started to use slaves as laborers. Slaves became the solution to the problem in hand. During the American Revolution, Slavery was an issue that was overlooked by the people and government. The people of America just wanted their independence and liberty from Great Britain. They did not see that slaves were people too and should have equal rights just like them. By the eighteenth century, America was influenced by John Locke’s theory of natural rights.

As slaves began to multiply in population, Slavery became a problem that alarmed the people. The founding fathers had to put new laws into the constitution about slavery, in effort of forming an American Union. Nevertheless, the founding fathers wanted to slowly abolish slavery but the southerners would not allow that to happen. Slavery was very important in the south because slaves were the laborers on plantations. The South had the most population of slaves and based their economy on slavery. On the other hand, there was less slavery in the North. Most Northerners believed that slavery should be abolished. Most Northern states were free states, while most Southern states were considered slave states. The North and the South were developing their economy based on different bases. With the opposing views between the North and the South, it was hard for the American Union to form

The Fugitive Slave Act was a very controversial law when passed. In 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was a federal law that stated runaway slaves should be captured and returned to their owner. If anyone were to interfere and help a runaway slave, there would be severe punishments for the interferer. The Fugitive Slave Act denied slave the right of trial by jury and any citizens who helped any slaves were fined. This act resulted badly in free states. In The Slave Catchers, the author informs the readers that the Act of 1850 imposed “ the possibilities that free Negroes would be kidnapped and sold into slavery posed a constant threat” (Campbell 175). Slave hunters or slave holders would go into free states and enslave free black men. One victim of the Fugitive Slave Act was Northup. Northup was a musician. He was mistaken for a runaway slave and was sold into slavery for twelve years. This act made the Abolitionist mad because the federal government was so quick in enforcing this law. They believed that if the government can enforce this law so quickly, other slave laws could be enforced too. Northerners tried every way to bypass this law and work their way around it. They would help the runaway slaves through various methods, one most famously known as The Underground Railroad. For slaves that started a new life in the North before the act was enacted, it meant