Why Is American Slavery Important

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American Slavery To think that the institution of American Slavery was a good-natured and acceptable act is beyond belief. On the other hand, it has been said that slavery is what made America what it is today. Slavery is a system, which people are treated with no respect and are forced to do hard labor(civilwar). Majority of slaves were African-Americans and many of the children and women were still forced to do harsh labor. When northern America was taken over by the Europeans, there was a shortage of labor. The Europeans decided to solve the problem by bringing in African slaves to do the labor(civilwar). The slaves were used on the farms and in the households. Slavery in the American colonies started in the early 1600s. For instance,…show more content…
Indentured servants were laborers that were under a contract with a master(ocf). The contract was to serve the master for a certain period of time. The reward of being a servant was that they received shelter, food and traveling across seas(ocf). In the colonial times in America many of slaves were not just African. Slaves were also Irish, English and Germans(ocf). These slaves came from Europe and the way they paid for their travel was to become a slave. Indentured Slavery then turned into chattel slavery. Chattel slavery is a type of slavery where the slaves were treated as property of an owner(wikipedia). The slaves were in chattels and were bought and sold. Treatment of slaves started off to be paternalistic but later became immoral. Families were separated and slaves were casually whipped as…show more content…
“Most of the Northerners did not doubt that black people were inferior to whites, but they did doubt the benevolence of slavery(civilwar).” Slavery was so cruel that many slaves had to figure out ways to escape it. For example, slaves would destroy farm machinery, fake sick and even commit murder but the most common act of the slaves was to runaway(civilwar). In the 1860s, the Civil War in America was the start of slavery becoming abolished. Slaves in the south escaped and went to the North, where Union generals made abolitionist policies. Many Northern abolitionists became aggressive. Frederick Douglas, escaped-slave, was furious on the institution and wrote to them. The most memorable act in this period was the Underground Railroad. This railroad was designed to help slaves escape the brutal slavery and to go to the north for freedom(civilwar). Later on in 1862, President Abraham Lincoln bestowed the Emancipation Proclamation(wikipedia). This document declared freedom for all slaves in the United States. Additionally, African-Americans were granted freedom and was able to join the army. Many black troops fought on battlefields and even won the Union victory in the war(civilwar). At the end of the Civil War the United States accepted the 13th Amendment to the Constitution (civilwar). The 13th Amendment finally ended slavery and gave African-Americans
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