Slavery In The United States
Alvina Lai
Honours American History OL V1
Ms. Alison Jones
March 31st, 2015
Slavery in the United States
The United States has had a horrible and shameful history of slavery, and although many movements had been made to abolish the worst of it, so many deaths and torture had been caused in the time that it took for blacks to get the same rights as whites. Even now, we can see the horror that it wrought on the country. Black people are still being killed in their own homes, they are still being stared at suspiciously, and mistrust surrounds them like another aura. This is because their ancestors were slaves, and since most whites now are descendants of slave masters, it is easy to see where the sense of superiority comes in. But this is wrong; black and white are nothing more than a skin colour, and all humans are equal, or at the very least, they should be.
The roots of slavery in the United States can be traced back to when English settlers first established a trade with the Africans. Of course, there is no proper reason to justify slavery, but the colonists required people to form a hard labour force for them, and this is where the African slaves came in. Slaves were brought from Europe into the colonies in North America, and their main use at first was housework – cooking, cleaning, and working the crops. At this point, slavery was not a big problem, as only the rich landowners had them, but soon enough, opinion would be changed, especially as more and more settlers would make their way over to America. This would be the beginning of the slave trade, and more innocent people would be taken from their homes and forced to serve others for a lifetime.
The white citizens failed to see the pain of the slaves, and instead of viewing them as humans, they were seen as objects or property, which could be traded, replaced, or even destroyed. But what prompted slave owners to treat slaves so badly? The cause of this immoral attitude was because slaves were only of
Honours American History OL V1
Ms. Alison Jones
March 31st, 2015
Slavery in the United States
The United States has had a horrible and shameful history of slavery, and although many movements had been made to abolish the worst of it, so many deaths and torture had been caused in the time that it took for blacks to get the same rights as whites. Even now, we can see the horror that it wrought on the country. Black people are still being killed in their own homes, they are still being stared at suspiciously, and mistrust surrounds them like another aura. This is because their ancestors were slaves, and since most whites now are descendants of slave masters, it is easy to see where the sense of superiority comes in. But this is wrong; black and white are nothing more than a skin colour, and all humans are equal, or at the very least, they should be.
The roots of slavery in the United States can be traced back to when English settlers first established a trade with the Africans. Of course, there is no proper reason to justify slavery, but the colonists required people to form a hard labour force for them, and this is where the African slaves came in. Slaves were brought from Europe into the colonies in North America, and their main use at first was housework – cooking, cleaning, and working the crops. At this point, slavery was not a big problem, as only the rich landowners had them, but soon enough, opinion would be changed, especially as more and more settlers would make their way over to America. This would be the beginning of the slave trade, and more innocent people would be taken from their homes and forced to serve others for a lifetime.
The white citizens failed to see the pain of the slaves, and instead of viewing them as humans, they were seen as objects or property, which could be traded, replaced, or even destroyed. But what prompted slave owners to treat slaves so badly? The cause of this immoral attitude was because slaves were only of
Bibliography: "Slavery in America." History.com. A&E Television Networks. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. <http://www.history.com/topics/black-history/slavery>. Council on Foreign Relations. Council on Foreign Relations. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. <http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/civil-war-overview/slavery.html>. "History of Slavery in America." Infoplease. Infoplease. Web. 31 Mar. 2015. <http://www.infoplease.com/timelines/slavery.html>. "13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery (1865)." Our Documents -. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=40>. "Early Protests." Quakers & Slavery :. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2015. <http://trilogy.brynmawr.edu/speccoll/quakersandslavery/commentary/themes/earlyprotests.php>. "John Brown." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2015. Web. 04 Apr. 2015. Juzwiak, Rich, and Aleksander Chan. "Unarmed People of Color Killed by Police, 1999-2014." Gawker. Web. 4 Apr. 2015.