Research Paper on Slavery in the 1800

Slavery in 1800s

African-American slavery was started in 16th century and it ended till the end of the Civil War in America. Black Americans' existence is marked by Fort Monroe, Va. and it served as the source of their freedom too. The Fort continued to be used as an operating military base defending the harbor known as Hampton Roads for more than four centuries. Fort Monroe has been more than a Cape Coast Castle or Gorée Island of America as it is a place which marked the beginning as well as ending of slavery. Today, it is suggested to be declared as a National Monument by many Americans. In 1619, the first imprisoned Africans held by ship were brought to this place which had been an outpost of the Jamestown colony in that era. The ship carried a cargo of 20 Africans enslaved by the first English colony in North Virginia. It is said to be a singular and noteworthy coincidence that this spot ended the concept of slavery in the Civil War era when southern states' slaves began to escape from the Confederate army to northern states.

The Confederate army was formed from people who were slaves and ordered by their masters to fight with the Unions from south side. These men were even threatened to be shot if they made an attempt to run toward north for Union. Southern countries of Virginia near Fort Monroe invaded by Union had been denser with plantations and slaves as compared to that of northern countries of Virginia. The Confederate people were seen as loyal gentlemen of Virginia and their slaves had built the munitions without getting wages for their work. Such gentlemen and their work were appraised by the Confederate General Pierre T. Beauregard in an official report on the battle at Bull Run. The General mentioned in the report that without any doubt, the constructions by those slaves had not only saved and parted with the white volunteers from that laborious and arduous military service but also gave them more time to train as soldiers. Confederate military apotheosis was revolved about this strategy as they had wanted a valor army of white men backed by the unsalaried labor of African American slaves. Similarly, the Union Army also had a fresh understanding of the importance of slave labor to the war in the wake of Bull Run. As reported by the soldiers, thousands of slaves had been working for the Confederate. Some Neo-Confederate writers have argued that African Americans volitionally worked and fought for the Confederacy by referring it in a selective manner from some enslaved men's stories who worked for the Confederacy. Some of those slaves narrated with confidence that their owners deliberately and forcefully made them fight with the Union Army. The Confederates committed to give them money for their efforts and hard work, and promised to free them after the defeat of Unions. The promises of southern considered fake by the slaves and they just fought for the cause of Confederate as they had no other option. On May 23, 1861, some Virginians cut and ran from the slave-owner who was a Confederate colonel, and looked for shelter and security at the Union-held bastion. These slaves had been forced to work for their Confederate master in constructing rebel fortifications. Some escaped after the Confederate leaders left for war and some joined Unions after their arrival at south. Later, the owner of those slaves was refused to get their slaves back under fugitive-slave laws as the Union Gen. Benjamin F. Butler stated the escaped men being contraband of war, and declared it a legitimate seizure. For that reason the slaves were classified as conquered goods which had been used for military purposes by the opponent in war. The first black slaves broke away from their owner giving courage to others to take the same step toward freedom and within days more than hundred African Americans flew from south and arrived at the Fort for safe harbor. The fort soon began called as Freedom's Fortress by the escaped slaves. Butler's decision of capturing them had been sanctioned as official policy by Congress and the Lincoln administration soon. After that these refugees set out to be known as contrabands and they started to serve for the Union cause infinitely. They even joined the federal troops to fight against the Confederate.

Slavery in United States had not been the issue during the Civil War. Its beginnings have been pertained to the time far before that era. Mostly black people were enslaved by whites in the beginning of slavery in America. However, some Native Americans and free blacks also had slaves. A small number of whites held as slaves as well. Slavery was banned with the adoption of new Constitution in 1787 by the time of the American Revolution. By 1808, the founders agreed to end the importing of slaves into the United States which had become a part of the compromises that allowed the Constitution to be written and adopted. However, African American slavery was once again became an expanding institution by 1800 or so, especially in the Southern United States. In early 1800s, America faced growing demand for cotton commodities which led many plantation owners to move to west in search of desirable and worthy land. In this case, one of the basic reasons for the reintroduction of slavery was the invention and rapid far-flung adoption of the cotton gin. Different invention took place regarding methods of efficient plantations which caused development and boom in cotton economies in the Deep South, and also well suited to the climate of South. For the purpose of growing cotton crops, a large supply of labor were needed to tend the fields in order to remove the seeds from the cotton fibers as growing cotton had been very labor intensive. This labor supply was provided by African American slaves. However, it is significant to consider the fact that not all slaves worked on large cotton plantations. African American slaves also worked in growing other types of agricultural products such as tobacco, hemp, corn, and livestock. Many of those slaves also worked in southern cities as skilled as well as common laborers.

This boom led to a large scale movement of slaves westward and southward. According to estimates by historians, approx one million slaves were migrated westward and southward between 1790 and 1860. Most of the slaves developed from Maryland, Virginia, and Carolina, where demand for slaves because of changes in agriculture. Before 1810, the slaves moved to destinations at Kentucky and Tennessee. But after 1810, they started migrating toward Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.

This forced migration was called by the historian Ira Berlin as the "Second Middle Passage" as this was horrible to the same extent as the transportation of slaves from Africa to North America which was given the name the "Middle Passage". The Second Middle Passage of was so large that it broke up many families and caused much hardship. Another historian, Peter Kolchin indicated that this large scale migration repeated horrible circumstances of the Atlantic slave trade by breaking up current families and pressuring slaves to move far from everyone and everything they were familiar to. This had been characterized as the "central event" in the life of a slave between the American Revolution and the Civil War. According to Berlin that despite the concept that the slaves were directly eradicated or lived in fear that they or their families would be moved against their will, the monumental expatriation and transportation shocked black people, both slave and free.

Professors Franklin and Moss (2000) have described in their book named "From Slavery to Freedom" the time and causes of beginning of slavery, and the development of a distinguished and discrete culture among slaves and free blacks. The historians analyzed the role played by blacks in the nation's wars, the rise of an articulated and ungratified free black community by the end of the 18th century, and the growing opposition to slavery among segment of black population which had been increasing.

This was really strange for the slaves working in the cities to get free by giving money demanded by their owners. Southern and many North cities in fact, had heavy population of free black. A slave usually worked for long hours of physical labor in a day and for working in field, the slaves worked from before dawn to well after sunset, and frequently with a two hour break for the lunch. White farmers worked for long hours too but they could control their time of work as they worked for themselves. African American slaves did not have such control and they worked under constant pressure by owners and even threatened to get physical punishment by their overseers. The conditions had been mostly abrasive for the powerless slaves, and the absence of freedom made them helpless victims of their owners and the slave system.

The slaves were even forcefully used for military purposes. This situation of slavery invigoration was ended by the Civil War era with the declaration of the President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation.

Works Cited

Berlin, Ira. "Generations of Captivity: A History of African American Slaves" (2003).

Franklin, John Hope; Moss, Alfred A. "From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African American" Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group (2000).

Frazier, Edward Franklin; Platt, Anthony M. "The Negro family in the United States" University of Notre Dame Press (1939).

Goodheart, Adam. "The Future of Freedom's Fortress" Fort Monroe, Va., 2011. The New York Times Company.

Masur, Kate. "Slavery and Freedom at Bull Run" The New York Times Company (2011).