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How did slavery shape the colonial nations?
Although the incidence of slavery has existed in the colonies of American since 1619, the slave labors did not represent any significant segment of the overall labor force, until the final quarter of the 1800s. the number of slaves in the colonies grew exponentially after this. By 1776, the African slaves comprised approximately 20% of the populace of 13 mainland colonies. In the network of global slave-trading, North American mainland was a minor destination. Less than about 4% of total African slaves were sent to North America.
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Despite the largest percentages of slaves being found in the Southern regions of the US, slavery existed in the Middle and Northern colonies as well. In New England, the overall percentage of slaves was only 2-3%, but in cities like Boston and Newport about 20-25% of population consisted of the enslaved laborers. Some other large cities like New York and Philadelphia had also supported significant enslaved populations.
During the time of the American Revolution, the slaves comprised approximately 60% of the total South Carolina population and about 40% of Virginia's. By 1750, 1/3rd of the population of all low-country consisted of slaves, with South Carolina organizing units with more than 50 slaves. The men and women were considered to be slaves during day time when they worked for their masters. However, they were considered free people during night time when they could spend time with their community. It was this ability of sharing their views and plights with each other that laid the foundation of the pre-revolution, when awareness about their human rights had just begun to form in the minds of the slave population .
Once the slaves in the colonies began rising up and opposing being considered slaves and the institution of slavery itself, it was very hard for the white masters to deny basic contradiction that the slavery established. Widespread owning of the slaves had several noteworthy implications. In 1760s and 1770s, during battles with the British armies, American nationalists argued that imposing taxes colonies without attaining their prior consent brought colonists down to the status of slaves. As people grew more aware of this contradiction, the perceptions towards slavery began to gradually change in the sight of Americans. Should Americans opt to persist in their use of slavery and the enslavement of black people, they would need a concrete and novel argument that would justify this continuance. At this point in time, arguments over the African American’s innate racial lowliness arose to defend the institution of slavery .
Liberty and pursuit of happiness did not result in the abolishment of slavery. It somehow managed to survive the revolutionary era, however, some great changes were brought into the concept of slavery. In Philadelphia, the first anti-slavery society was founded in the year 1775 by the Quakers – heralding the anti-slavery revolution. By 1788, thirteen clubs were known to exist in colonies of America. There were innumerable slaves who achieved their freedom during the revolution without formal emancipation. The British army was eager to debase colonial economy, which freed many slaves as they moved from American South. Many of the slaves in the North were granted freedom if they agreed to fight for the Union’s cause.
Although a clear majority of the American slaves remained in bondage, free black communities growth in America was fostered by war for the independence of American. In 1807 revolutionary sentiments were led to the banning of import of slaves. In America, the slavery did not end overnight. Before any beneficial reform happened, people needed to recognize the economic benefit vastly overshadowed by overwhelming repugnance and the inhumanity of slavery .
What could be considered as the future of a reconstructed nation’s economy? In simple terms, Abraham Lincoln’s observation that a house which is divided cannot stand was translated into policy. However, impoverished and credit starved, the previous confederacy was integrated back into the financial set-up, birthing the inspiration for the long term emergence of the leading dynamic industrial economy within the world. African slaves would never be enthralled or appointed to a separate economic standing, nor would the African Americans as a group be given any resources with which to contend.
One must acknowledge the simple yet extraordinary developments in year 1867. The Military Reconstruction Act and therefore the Fourteenth Amendment were created to be distinctive among trends in slave societies once it gave the power to vote to former slaves who had eventually been liberated. In other geographies such as Brazil, Haiti and Jamaica, virtually no former slaves were enfranchised. Within the U.S, former slaves and their former masters competed for political power 2 years after the conclusion of slavery.
Another development of Reconstruction was the transformation of credit in the southern system. Before the civil war, Southern systems credit had rested ultimately on the trade of cotton with British traders. The southern planters borrowed against the forecast earnings in the cotton. This technique of credit was shattered by civil war. Also, the South region became very credit poor for many years and it took a long period to come back. While the white landowners had land, they had no money to pay the laborers; the former slaves could provide the labor but had no money or any credit for buying the land. As such, the system of the shared cropping emerged within the South which enabled the landowners to secure the labor and the staff to secure access to land. Very little money was exchanged within the system during most of the cropping season. It was only after harvesting, when the cotton had been traded to earn profits,, did both, the landowners as well as laborers received any income.
In this new economy, in addition to the vital supply of credit, there emerged a localized store of agricultural products and food could be purchased by local vendors. Hence, the British cotton traders were no longer the only source of credit. This lent more stability to the economy and illustrated the need for the nation to be self-dependent. As a result, the native merchant’s credit source was only the American banks, which currently had to satisfy the national standard set by Republican policies.
The South was very effectively brought into the national system with the credit and labor problems being resolved post the Reconstruction. The “Free” labor, instead of coerced labor prevailed within region. Neither thrall nor socio-economic class could replace slavery. The southern landowners, freedmen whether or not they wished to, were incorporated into national markets of credit.
Some questions arise on how effective the end of slavery was at this point. On which basic terms nation can reunite? Briefly, on the national terms, the property was neither taken nor decentralized within South. Reforms those were obligatory on South—Amendments fourteenth and fifteenth, for example—applied to complete nation. What implications civil wars have for the citizenship? The Amendments fourteenth and fifteenth depicted beautiful expansions of citizenship rights to the former slaves. Throughout the depths of the era of Jim Crow within the early of twentieth century, the white supremacists never achieved success in returning the citizenship to pre-Civil Wars boundaries. The African Americans particularly insisted that they may be deprived of their rights once the civil war was over. However they would neither give nor did they lose their claim on those rights .
Works Cited
Brundage, W. F. (1996). Freedom's story: teaching African American Literature and History - Reconstruction and the formerly enslaved. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from TeacherServe: http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/freedom/1865-1917/essays/reconstruction.htm
US History. (2013). Societal Impacts of the American Revolution - 12a. The Impact of Slavery. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from US History: http://www.ushistory.org/us/12a.asp
Zagarri, R. (2013). Slavery in Colonial British North America. Retrieved December 15, 2013, from TeachingHistory: http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/ask-a-historian/25577
