Slavery

A detailed Summary of Slavery

In the early nineteenth century a black man could be whipped for no reason, he could be beaten, stripped or tortured for the entertainment of his master. A black woman could be sexually harassed, assaulted, beaten or raped at anytime without question. The institution of slavery was the most disgraceful and inhuman institution in the history of the United States.

Slavery had existed long before it had made its way to the Western Hemisphere, and had been a way of life in the South ever since Europeans had begun to work the land. Slavery by the nineteenth century had become an essential part of the southern culture as well as its economics.

The Southern economy was agriculturally based, most of its profit coming from the cotton production. The wealthy southerners had almost all of their money in their land as well as their slaves. Those who were not wealthy did not own slaves and the majority of Southerners, contrary to popular belief were not slaveholders, nor were they rich (Two-thirds of white Southern families did not own slaves at all). The Southern rich slave holders were the aristocrats of the South. These planters were powerful property owners who dominated the South's political agenda. Pa

rt of their agenda was to continue to nourish the institution of slavery.

Contrary to Douglas's point of city life over plantation life, Alan Brinkley believes otherwise. "African Americans themselves preferred to live on larger plantations, where they had more privacy and a chance to build a cultural and social world of their own" (Alan Brinkley pg. 383) This idea that the text book is supporting, does not seem wrong, Douglas's point that city slaves were better off than the slaves who lived on the plantations. The slaves did not want to live on the plantations unlike Brinkley in suggesting in the above passage. They did not prefer to be enslaved on plantations; they were forced into creating a society for themselves because of the inhuman institution that is slavery. There was more opportunity for the slaves to escape from the city that there was from the plantation where they would be gunned down for the attempt.

City slaves according to Douglass were "better fed, better clothed and enjoyed privileges altogether unknown to a plantation slave". Douglass claimed that the reason behind the more decent treatment of slaves in the city was because slave owners wanted to impress the public with their strong, healthy and "well" clothed slaves. A substantial difference from the frequent nudity of the plantation slaves.

"It was never too hot, or too cold: it could never rain, blow

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Approximate Word count = 937
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: History