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The Rise and Fall of Slavery in the United States
The rise of the slave trade in America was first noted in 526 as a result of Spanish explorers. The Spanish explorers kidnapped Africans during their explorations across the continent and shipped them to United States and England (Schneider & Schneider, 222).
United States had extensive plantations of cotton, sugarcane, coffee, tobacco and construction of rail. Thus, lack of enough human labor to increase productivity attracted their interests in founding cheap labor across the world. Africa and Asia was seen as a potential hub of fulfilling their interests (Schneider & Schneider, 53).
This was because, at these periods, these continents lacked institutional forms of government, poverty; hence it was easy to bribe or buy the confidence of the existing administrations with money or gifts. The strategy succeeded to a large extends, and thousands, mostly African slaves were shipped to the United States.
According to Thomas (670), in America, the slaves were held by whites but in some occasions Native Americans also benefitted in the trade. During this period, slaves were subjected to harsh conditions, this included; long working hours, less pay and lack of compensation, restriction of movement and freedom of association. This was to enrich the culture of fear and obedience to their masters.
However, the fall of slavery was a result of several factors. One of factors was the American civil war. One point prompting the American civil war was the evolution of abolition activities. The Northern parts of US were polarized against slavery (Thomas, 780). Sympathy started to develop for abolitionists and against slavery.
This coincided with the passage of Fugitive Slave Act by US legislature that made individual accountable for protecting slaves. The slaves also started to protest for an end to slavery. Slaves escaped to non-slave regions through the Underground Railroad systems which saw the creation of the free dominion states (Thomas, 654).
The victory of the slave union in the American civil war led to the declaration of illegality to slavery. Besides, the women rights and abolitionist groups lead by a liberated black, Fredrick Douglass and Williams Lloyds viewed the social issue and evil linked to slavery, hence; they organized antislavery movements to pressurized the government to end slavery (Thomas, 753).
The Effects of Slavery on the Political, Social, and Economic Structures
According to Donnelly (103) the vast plantations of sugarcane, cotton, coffee and tobacco in the United States required increased human labor. The increase in demand for human labor encouraged the Americans to trade in slaves to supplement this labor force.
Thus, slaves were able to work on the plantations effectively, working on a large area with limited time. This increased the profits earned from the crops and the mines.
The blacks’ slaves were active in manual labor, and since most originated from an agricultural background; they were able to handle better duties bestowed to them. They came with a rich understanding of tropical and plantation agriculture from their native countries (Donnelly, 304).
Besides, blacks were very strong and immune to tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. The high level of immunity to these diseases made African slaves very suitable for tropical labor.
The increasing intermarriages between the white women and the black men were facilitated by disproportionate in the ratio of the 3 African male to 1 African female (Eltis, 223). The intermarriages resulted to a homogeneous culture, and the strong influence of racial discrimination started to deteriorate.
The children who were produced from such a marriage were considered to be free, although the whites’ women were considered slaves. The common law which existed made Africans to qualify automatically to slavery. There were serious punishments for anyone marrying from a different race. Slavery led to the establishment of laws which declared the practice illegal.
Basically, the Americans believed in white supremacy and disregarded blacks as being inferior. This hypothesis still holds in some areas.
For instance, to instill discipline in blacks, they were forced to conclude that; the whites had greater powers, the blacks were created to be based on whites always, blacks should never disobey a white, blacks were to be treated sternly and blacks should always know they are below the whites in all aspects of life (Eltis, 207).
Works Cited
Donnelly, F William. American Economic Growth: The Historic Challenge, New York: Ardent Media, 1973.
Eltis, David. The Rise of African Slavery in the Americas, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
Schneider, Dorothy & Schneider, J Carl. Slavery in America, New York: Infobase Publishing, 2006.
Thomas, Hugh (1997). The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440- 1870, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997.
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