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White Americans In The 1800s Essay

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It is surprising that after all of the obstacles that were put in the way of those that were helping the slaves escape and the runaway slaves that such a high amount of people were actually able to escape enslavement and lead on better lives. Some historians believe that as many as 100,000 slaves escaped via Underground Railroad between the years of 1800 and 1865 alone. While this seems like an extremely high number, in the 1840’s there were over 4 million slaves living in the south. Of those that attempted to escape, a majority of them were caught and returned to their owners. Unfortunately, the number is constantly debated because there were no records that were kept by the slaves or by those helping the slaves during this time for fear …show more content…

first was the aristocratic class, the big slaveholders,... the second and third classes were servants to the first class… the second class included the small slaveholders, the overseers, managers and clerks… the third class was composed of poor, ignorant dirty whites… the first and second class looked down upon the poor white trash…” The slaves were brought up being told to hate the third class, the poor whites, so in return, that caused the poor whites to hate the slaves. This then caused tensions between the slaves and the poorer whites who lived among each other in some cases. The tensions led to stereotyping other races based on the appearance of each other. Another account of a slave says, “After Lincoln took office, a chill settled over many of the plantations of the South. “The white folks begin to treat us different,... they seemed to be strange towards us. Been treat us like we’s one of the family till they got talking about Lincoln and the abolition.” This controversy between the slaves and their owners continued for a majority of Lincoln’s Presidency. Only then, did it subside after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued. “Certainly most Northern whites, in the 1850s, were still racists (particularly by modern standards), and many of them thought about slavery only to the extent that it kept black people in the South and away from them.” This is something that we do not regularly hear about

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