How Did Slavery Impact The United States

Long ago, there was different views on the topic of slavery. While some deemed it a necessity to live a good life, others saw it as unconstitutional. Back then, life was very different than how it is now. As time goes on, we have found a way to move forward, but Americans will always remember the period of slavery. Slavery impacted the United States by bringing social tensions to people in the north and south, and by creating federal policies that forever changed the concept of slavery.

Not only did slavery impact the United States, but the slaves as well. Dunmore's

Proclamation of 1775 stated that all slaves who escaped their masters to join the British cause, could earn their freedom after they fought on the battlefield. This proclamation

Thousands of slaves received their freedom, and British military transported them to places all over the world, from Canada to South Africa. Though they were free, they still faced restrictions on land ownership. Due to this new change in life, many northerners passed emancipation laws. Some southern states revoked the idea and had slaves back in captivity, but this only fueled the fire for the anti-slavery movement.

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A political reason on why slavery impacted the U.S. was because of the new-found tension caused by free blacks. By the time of the Civil War, over 500,000 blacks were free.

Many slaveowners in the south were angered because they wanted their slaves back. "Slaves worked the plantations owned by whites planted mainly to cotton, the main export (50%) of the south" (Fontanilla, par 2). Though African Americans had their freedom, they were still restricted and given limitations due to racial prejudice.

Slavery also impacted westward expansion greatly. With the advances of slavery compromises, the north and south grew further apart in terms of economy and society. Though the south relied on slavery, the north found it suitable for immigrants and African Americans

Talk about the future of slavery stirred up problems, so Representative David Wilmot of Pennsylvania introduced a possible solution. "...Neither slavery or involuntary servitude shall ever exist in any part of said territory, except for crime, whereof the party shall first be dully convicted" (Wilmot par 4). But due to unwilling southern politicians, the Wilmot Proviso never passed because it was deemed unconstitutional. Although the Wilmot Proviso was never seen through, just four years later, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. This new act allowed the citizens of those two states to determine the fate of their states. With pro-slavery citizens and abolitionists going at it, this violence in the west would soon spread, causing slavery to impact expansion at a very fast rate.

As life and business continued, slaves in the southern states were what the people relied on. Southerners believed slavery was the foundation for their economy. In the north, slavery had proven unprofitable by the end of the American Revolution, due to the invention of the cotton

[Last Name] 3 gin. White southerners and most northerners fought against each other on the issues that slavery brought. Northerners deemed slavery useless, while southerners believed it was a