Slavery's Role In The Industrial Revolution

Beginning in the fifteenth century, the transatlantic slave trade refers to the process of trading goods for slaves. It was the practice in which African people were captured and exploited in labour, which provided mainly for the increasing consumerism of the developing new world. Africans were imported to America under the terms that they would benefit the uprising of America and the nation’s impression as a new colony in an international setting. However, conditions suffered by Africans through chattel slavery in America were inhumane and brutal, questioning whether the human cost of slavery was just by the means of the economic success of America. This argument will be justified through the study of the slave trade’s conduction, entitlement

The basis of industrialisation was dependent upon consumer goods, such as tobacco, sugar, rice and cotton, goods which were produced by slave labour. For an example the invention of the cotton gin demanded for the production of more cotton, which soon became the nation’s most valuable commercial crop (Dodson, 2003, online). Slavery enabled the input of sufficient hours of labour that provided for the availability of sources such as cotton (Appendix 5). Hence, the abolition of slavery led to the economic decimation of America’s south. Without the free labour to cultivate the fields, the former antebellum South fell into complete ruin (Smith, 2011, online). This was most likely why the abolition of slavery was so problematic, dividing America and launching the civil war. Although slaves themselves always protested against slavery, American supporters for the cause continued to grow. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln, the first republican president, pledged to halt the expansion of slavery, this led to the seceding of seven slave states in the south from the United States of America. Named the confederate states of America this new nation forced the rest of America into war. The civil war was ultimately won by the north bringing slavery to an end and handing slaves the freedom they sought (Meyer & Green, US Slavery, 2013, video).

Slaveholders reaped the benefits of free slave labour which was very cost-effective due to the maintenance cost of slaves not reaching half of the revenue they produced. During the nineteenth century slaves became a good investment as the prices for cash crops grew and the cost of maintaining slaves remained low (Digital History, Slave Trade’s Significance, 2016, online). Slavery in almost every aspect was profitable (CliffsNotes, Slavery, the Economy & Society, n.d., online). It should also be noted that slaves were responsible for producing much of the goods which made America a well-known nation in the industrial revolution. Opposingly, for the Africans involved in slavery, life was constant, extensive suffering. Slavery was coerced labour enforced through intimidation, brutality and dehumanization. Slaves were seen as property when in fact they were just people (Meyer & Green, US Slavery, 2013, video). Although slavery’s abolition saw freedom for slaves they still lived in poverty and relatively poor living conditions. The after effect of slavery resulted in racism, discrimination and segregation of African Americans. White Americans made conscious decisions to exclude African Americans from their everyday lives (English online, African Americans, n.d., online).