Question 2
Forms of slave trade resistance
Resistance to the slavery act was put in a number of ways, all of which led to the abolition of the slavery as an institution in the American system during the second half of the 19th century. The slavery resistance was confronted on two main arms of resistance. The first arm is the slaves themselves. The second arm consisted of the abolitionists, who persistently called for the slave trade to come to an end in a more louder and forceful way within the last two decades of the 18th century.
The Africans showed resistance to the slave trade in a number of ways. The first way that the Africans adopted was defensive measures which they established in their own villages in order to elude the process of them being captured by the slaver (Nunn & Wantchekon, 2009). Secondly, the Africans launched attacks on the team aboard slave ships. Such reports on slavery indicated that there were more than 400 attacks of that nature on the slavery with the scholars believing that such attacks were so many. Third, the Africans escaped by running away from the slavers and at times, they established Maroon communities. The Maroon Communities, for instance, the ones in Jamaica and Suriname, and he Republic of Palmares in Brazil, warred with the white settlers all through the 17th and 18th century. Fourth, the African slaves were revolting on lands on which they were enslaved. The very first African slave revolt occurred on the island of Hispaniola in 1522. Like just most
Historical forces behind slave trade resistance of similar revolts that followed in the next 250 years, this very first one was quickly put to a halt by the slavers. There was a high increase in the number of slave revolts in the late 18th century, especially form the French Caribbean. The Haitian and French Revolutions which started in 1791 and 1789 respectively, brought a huge inspiration to the organization and execution of other revolutions (Douglass, 2010). The two revolutions were fought on the frontiers of equality of men and natural rights; ideas were not lost on those individuals who remained enslaved in the French colonial world. The French government initiated the abolition of the slave trade even though it never lasted for long, as slavery was further reinstated during Napoleon’s reign. The slaver revolts kept on and on into the 19th century in the Spanish Caribbean and British colonies. A revolution that happened on the British-guarded island of Barbados in 1816 happened to involve over 20,000 slaves from more than seventy plantations.
Effects of slave trade
There were a number of immense negative effects of the international slave trade on the Africans. This is evident on the personal, communal, family and continental levels. Besides the millions of able-bodied Africans captured and transported to be slaves in the foreign land, there occurred several death tolls and environmental and economic destruction as a result of the wars and slave raids (Inikori, 2012). There was enormous famine as the energetic were ferried to foreign lands to work as slave leaving behind the old, and children who could not work hard in the farms to get anything for themselves to eat, thereby leaving the old and children behind to starve.
Moreover, there were a number of lives that were claimed as a result of the slave trade due to forced matches of the captives over the long distances. A good number of those enslaved were destined by the enslavers to remain in Africa while other were transported across the corridors of Sahara to the north and this heightened the effects of slavery on the African continent. This led to the African population stagnating until the end of 18th century (Douglass, 2010).
Additionally, there a lot of disruptions as relationships between religious communities, ethnic groups, castes, subjects, rulers, peasant and soldiers, the enslaved and the free, and various kingdoms were transformed. In other decentralized societies, individuals evolved new styles of leadership that led to a highly rigid, hierarchical structures, which were thought to better provide protection against slavery.
Furthermore, slavery and the general African resistance to slave trade resulted in profound political and social changes across the different communities (Thomas, 2011). The traditional values were subverted while the social relations were restructured. Slavery further led to stagnation or regression, as well as the development of predatory regimes. A number of communities relocated to areas far away from the routes of the slave trade. During this time the economic and technological development was barred as the individuals concentrated their efforts in hiding and defending themselves.
Question 3
Why slavery was questioned during Revolutionary period
The revolutionary period was exhibited with individuals who propelled the anti-tax movement and championed the American’s right to have control over their own property. Even though the revolutionary agents reinforced eh American commitment to slavery, but on the other hand, the revolution also hinged on the radical ideas of equality and liberty which led to changing the slavery’s long tradition of excess human inequality.
The notion of slavery began to change during the revolutionary era. According to Palmie (2015), the questioning of the slavery act was a challenge posed from different frontiers in the revolutionary era and its various sources. This was partly from the revolutionary ideals, also from the new evangelical religious commitment which stressed the commitment to equality of all humans, and partly due to the decline in the profitability of tobacco in the most significant slave region of Virginia and adjoining states.
On the same note, in the north and south there were different groups who championed against the slavery. The evangelist championed the abolition of the slavery arguing that every human being was equal before God and should be treated with dignity. Moreover, after the revolution, the Northern and Southern slave institution experienced changes as the war had ended and there was no bigger issue that came into the public attention (Douglass, 2010). This left the public to draw the attention on the matter of the slaves. More so, at the end of the war some slave masters began fighting for the rights of the slaves hence they freed the slaves since they could not fight for the independence and abolition of the slavery when they themselves kept slaves. One of the people who is known for freeing his slaves on the basis of fighting for their rights is William Whipple.
In addition, the slave institution changed in South and North after the revolution war as the black soldiers who participated in the war were scattered all over the continental Army where they were assigned different duties. Some of them were given the roles to cook for the army, others were recruited as the army while others were waiters and artisans. These phase of change brought a lot reforms in the slave’s institution in these two regions.
Question 4
The oppression from the agents of slave trade and the humanity incorporated from the undertakings of slavery triggered the slaves to find a sense of forming a formidable force that they would use to champion their rights and provide a platform to agitate for equality of all human beings. Therefore, there emerged common culture and ethnic identity as race emerged to be the dominant form of identity within the American society in which it functions to stratify the societies’ social systems. Achieving the common culture and ensuring ethnic identity among the slaves and was a phenomenon triggered through a process of trying to achieve self-identity among the African slaves. The common culture was build on the framework of an African American emergence in the United States. The process involved increasing pressure from civil rights movement to uphold a society of equal, chances, opportunities and rights to every member of the society.
The emergence of African-American culture was a great boost to the movement to curtail the elements of the international slave trade. When the immigrants get to the new land, most of their old ways of life die. The values, customs, tradition, language, artistic forms and religious beliefs they came with along the Atlantic are reshaped by the new realities of America, consequently adding to its fabric. The combination of British colonial experience and the rich traditions of African created a new ethnicity –African American. This emergence created a great leeway to the eradication of slavery as there was a relentless force to abolish such inhuman act from the African Americans themselves and other proponents of anti-slavery. The first African Americans were just merely enslaved mentally, spiritually and physically to retain a given level of independence despite several external oppressions. Irrespective of whether the political control being held by the Dutch, English, French or Spanish, the African Americans still found enough autonomy and cultural leverage to impact on the development of the new American way of life (Thomas, 2011). The burgeoning of the African-American culture created a huge impact on the way the African American were regarded in the American society, thereby created an inevitable bargaining power on the aspects of championing their plight. African American became a huge social and political platform to channel the campaigns for equality and fair treatment of all the Americans irrespective of ethnicity or any other form of alluded prejudice.
Question 5
The North failed to initially to advocate for the destruction of the slavery because the majority of the people in the North were not able to afford slaves before the civil war hence they have just acquired the slaves and were not willing to give them their freedom as fast as such. On top of that, the poor Northern people show that when the slaves were given freedom they will create stiff competition for jobs thus making the jobs to be cheaper. This meant that most of the employers would only employ cheap labor from the slaves hence leaving the Northern residents without jobs. Again, the plantation owners were directly depending on the slaves for their farm's operations (Thomas, 2011). Therefore, releasing the slaves would affect and wither the their business hence they were forced to support slavery by all means so long as their jobs and farms would be secured. Another fear that made the Northern not to allow the abolition of slaves even after civil war was the notion that the slaves were better off than Northern factory employees in terms of skills, experience, and living conditions. The slavery was also very crucial for the maintenance and running of the genteel. Hence, they wanted the slavery to continue even after the civil war. Additionally, some of the Northern were traders. Freeing of slaves meant that the slaves could possibly start engaging in trading activities ousting the residents out of the market. This was because some of the slaves had a lot of experiences in trading as their master took and trained on various business they were practicing. This made the Northern to disagree with agitation of freeing the slaves thus they practiced the slavery even after the civil war.
Despite the fact that people stood against the abolition of the slavery, after the civil war, there was a high rise of agitation of the abolition of the slavery and giving them their freedom. This majorly brought by the rising sectional tensions. Many sectors of the economy were willing to bring reforms, for instance, the education sector focused to bring social improvement that involved freeing the slaves (Douglass, 2010). Moreover, the security sector after the war they realized that the slaves were just people like any other hence they joined hands in the fight against slavery hence making an end to the slavery. Furthermore, the political reforms brought by different leaders such as Lincoln ensured that after the civil equality was brought in the society.
Question 6
If during the reconstruction, the plantations and the farms of the South would have been portioned to the former slaves and the ability to farm the plots the American history would have a total view. This is because the slaves would have thrived and succeed leading to their dominance in the economy. This would mean that the state would be ruled by these ex-slaves. More so, the giving of lands and plots to these people would have created a stiff competition between the original owners and the ex-slaves and this could have properly led to war (Inikori, 2012). Again, when such a thing could have happened, it means that the society would have been equally served, and racism would have been dealt with in the earliest years.
Despite the high demand for freed slaves supported by other leaders to be given a land, general land in the South was never implemented by the government especially federal government. This is because a large number of the Southern people were farmers and giving portions of land to the ex-slave individual would have brought a war between the original owners. More so, the allocating of land to them could have caused a serious disruption in the in the agriculture sector thus affecting the economy (Nunn & Wantchekon, 2009). Due to these, the federal government was not ready to engage the residents in a war against the African Americans. The government also feared the negative impacts such action was going to bring to the economy.
References
Douglass, F. (2010). Narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass, an American slave. Random House Digital, Inc.
Inikori, J. E. (Ed.). (2012). Forced migration: the impact of the export slave trade on African societies (p. 23). London: Hutchinson.
Nunn, N., & Wantchekon, L. (2009). The slave trade and the origins of mistrust in Africa (No. w14783). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Palmie, S. (2015). Slave cultures and the cultures of slavery. Univ. of Tennessee Press.
Thomas, H. (2011). The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade: 1440-1870. Simon and Schuster.
