Slavery: The Cause Of Racism

America is the land of the free and home of the brave, but has it always been? If someone were to reference old documents like The Declaration of Independence or even The Constitution they would think so, but American history itself says otherwise. During the mid 1770’s slavery was an almost unquestioned normality and women had no rights, however when The Declaration of Independence was written, the statement, “all men are created equal” appeared while Thomas Jefferson stated the natural rights of every human. This statement is clearly not true in the eyes of the men who wrote and edited this document, hence proving that the statement “all men were created equal” is hypocritical. In accordance to primary sources gained from this period of intolerance and recreations of it, it is clear that not only were the women not treated as equal, but the African men and women treated as property were also stripped of the three main rights and liberties the Declaration argues for.

However in 1865 the constitution finally outlawed slavery in the us. (13th amendment) The constitution stated that governments were prohibited from depriving a person 's life, liberty and property. Although slavery was abolished many African Americans were still deprived of their rights and were treated just as poorly as before. The reconstruction was not only a failure but was treated as a joke to all african americans. This idea is shown through laws against African Americans and the unfair way they were treated.

Racism and Slavery are a hand in hand subject, without Slavery, Racism wouldn 't have been a broad topic. Although modern day slavery is nowhere to be found in America, Racism is still an existing matter. Racism against African Americans was a byproduct of permanent and inhumane enslavement of the black population. Although slavery was not only among Afro- Americans, it was also towards white slaves, and indentured servants who all received the same treatment, were punished equally and worked the same hours. The need to solve economic and social problems drove the Colonists to strip Afro-Americans down from their basic rights and such, which rose to naming all blacks, slaves.

The Emancipation Proclamation needed a constitutional amendment to guarantee abolishment of all slavery in the United States since the Proclamation could not do that itself (Guelzo, 2005). In conclusion, Emancipation Proclamation did not free the slaves, but the slaves freed themselves. The Proclamation process was an essential step in the abolishment of the slavery in America, although it was not the reason why the slavery ended. The document motivated the enslaved individuals and freed African American people to join the Union, which eventually became a war for freedom. Determinations and preservation of the slaves across the country struck fear in the eyes of the Confederacy (Carnahan, 2007).

Slavery was allowed in New England but very few people owned slaves. The Northern Colonies decided to take the weakling way out. The Northerners slowly emancipated the slaves once America became a nation. Since the problem was down South they treated slavery as a peculiar institution. They tried to do their best to ignore it but unfortunately, it was impossible to ignore.

America was built on the backbone of othering, yet we are guilty of it ourselves. Although we have grown much, discrimination has had its roots in our history and continues to remain as we age. One of the most prominent examples of othering in American history is slavery. Slavery legally stood in America for 245 years is one of the most extreme forms of othering that America participated in. Slavery suggested that people of different ethnicity did not deserve rights and were only good to serve the white man.

While the constitution wished to end the slave trade in 1808, prior to that the constitution imposed a tax on imported slaves. While the Constitution wrote the wish to end the slave trade, it would neither take action at the time of ratification nor end slavery, only the importation of additional slaves. While the constitution did strive to limit slavery through ending the slave trade, the government still, “rested on human slavery as its corner-stone(329).” Being an integral part of society, slavery also influenced the constitutions views on slavery. Even though the constitution never expressly promoted slavery, the deep roots of slavery were dug deeper than first viewed at the surface of the

Because of this, the only ruling in the Constitution that dealt with slavery was the Fugitive Clause which enforced Free states to help recapture runaway slaves who had escaped their masters' states. However, that only further benefited Slave states. Slavery was disputed again when Northern states wanted the government to have complete power over trade with the other nations. Southern states depended heavily on trade and feared that the North would get enough votes to interfere with their slave and agricultural

The ratification of civil rights legislation created only a beginning of a change because the Emancipation Proclamation failed to free all slaves, Whites did not view Blacks as social equals, and most Southern Whites would not cooperate with the new laws. Despite the hardship and the tortures of the American slave system, Blacks continued to move forward, innovate, and trailblaze a new path to make America more

Reconstruction was an ineffective attempt to make the nation content and equal. Racism was a gigantic problem in the 1800’s and still is today, yet in a less significant manner. Because slavery existed and Southerners supported it to such an extent, it became difficult for the Union to create equality for all of America. Even today Americans strongly suggest racism is still a relevant concern. An NBC News poll found 52% of Americans believe racism against black people is an "extremely" or "very" serious problem.