Slavery In Antebellum America

During the 1800’s, those who saw social prejudice or corruption started many reform movements to correct the difficulties in America. The Second Great Awakening really helped shape the United States into a religious nation and paved the way through the reform movements, while stressing individual choice that caused an uprising in denominations leading to followers by the masses. Antislavery abolitionism became a movement mostly because of influence from the religious revival that was taking place, and demonstrating to all of those religious that slavery is a sin. Reformists of the antislavery movement transformed their thoughts forward of equality to all people, no matter their race.

Slavery in America began in the early 16th century, and lasted through the late 19th century. There were many people that believed that slavery was tolerable, and there were others that believed that it was an unacceptable cause. One of the many abolitionist of slavery, Frederick Douglass, wrote and delivered The Hypocrisy of American Slavery Speech on July 4, 1852 to a assemblage of other abolitionists. In Douglass’ speech, he attempts to display that slaves are human beings and should be treated as such. He establishes a sympathetic tone to grasp the attention of the people who are allowing slavery to continue happening.

Many women fought during the war in many different ways. Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man to battle in the Continental army but was still honorably discharged and was rewarded with a soldiers pension. Other patriot women held goods off the market until their prices rose,contributed homespun goods to the army, and passed along information about the British army movements( Foner 232). Ester Reed and Sara Franklin Bache organized a Ladies Association to raise funds to assist American soldiers. The Ladies Association illustrated how the Revolution was propelling women into new forms of public activism.

The Reconstruction is the first thing I would talk about. I believe many people still have the impression that once slaves were freed in the South, that was it—all of a sudden everything was great for them, when in reality, they were essentially still slaves. I never knew about the black codes, vagrant laws, and sharecropping that took place in the South until this class. Slavery is covered as early as 7th grade, and I believe that the Reconstruction period following it is a significant enough event that it should be addressed sooner, perhaps in high school, so even those who choose to not attend college have the chance to hear about it.

After the American revolution many citizens experienced the growth of political power. However, women were excluded from several of these powers. While women were granted some rights after the revolution, there were no significant changes made concerning the status of women. It was at this time that Republican Motherhood became a core idea in America. It suggested that women should receive an education in virtue in order to instruct their sons on how to become upstanding citizens of Americaś republic.

Steven Wu Mr. Chu US history December 7, 2015 Frederick Douglass "Right is of no Sex – Truth is of no Color – God is the Father of us all, and we are all brethren. " This is Frederick Douglass’s motto, and what he believes. This text states a changing of era and the problem that the 19th century American was facing; human right, slavery and women right. During this time, American society was full of contradiction, which liberty is not use in every kind of people, so reformers and their thoughts had raise one after another.

During the American Revolution, slavery was viewed as a normal part of life. Very few questioned the lifestyle, as slavery was considered to be crucial in the development of the colonies. Founding fathers, such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and John Hancock owned slaves to labor on their households and fields. Even Benjamin Franklin, the pioneer of many modern inventions and a major political figure, owned two slaves, named George and King. He lived with these slaves and the belief that they were inferior to him until he traveled to Africa in 1763.

During the American colonial period, slavery was legal and practiced in all the commercial nations of Europe. The practice of trading in and using African slaves was introduced to the United States by the colonial powers, and when the American colonies received their common law from the United Kingdom, the legality of slavery was part of that law.

Slavery flourished in North America for nearly three centuries. Beginning with the twenty African Americans that arrived in Jamestown in 1619, fifty thousand slaves would be transported per year to America at the peak during the 1790s (Hine 29). The profits from the Atlantic slave trade, together with those generated from the tobacco and sugar plantation by the slave labor were used to support the development of England and fund the industrial revolution during the eighteenth century (Hine 29). Slavery was integrated into the economy of North America, and sensing an opportunity to make money, many businesses and people were involved to facilitate the slave trade.

Blues could not exist if the African captives had not become American slaves. Without African slaves from West Africa, there would be no blues music. The immediate predecessors of blues were the Afro-American/American Negro work songs, which had their musical origins in West Africa. It is impossible to say how old the blues are but it is certainly no older than the presence of Negros in the United States. The African slaves brought their music with them to the New World.

Even though the North, and South were part of the same country, both had specific needs, and held many differences between each other. One of the most prominent differences between the two was slavery. The North strongly believed that slavery was wrong, and understood that everyone is created equally. On the other hand, the South relied heavily on slavery. This is due to the economy differences within the country.