Jasmine Franklin
Dr. Underwood
Wise History 202
May 1, 2011
Slaves Contributions to America Economically and Socially
If one sits and thinks about how America became established as a country, one will find that the slaves and their descendants contributed to America’s establishment. Slaves are the back bone for America’s growth economically. For example, the slaves were forced to work in plantations and to cultivate crops. The slaves having to endure hard labor, made the United States economically stable because of trading of crops and products to gain income and resources. Though slaves were put under harsh conditions under slavery, why was it crucial for the African slaves to work on plantations and aid in the Civil War in order for America to grow economically and socially? It became essential for the slaves to work on plantation sites and serve as supplements in American Civil War because without them doing so the American economy and its social structure would not be how it is now in the 21st century.
Before we began emphasizing how the slaves structured the United States economically and socially one must know some history of how the slaves got to this country. In the middle of the 15th century, African people began to see their country being taken over by the Portuguese.[1] During this time the Portuguese individuals wanted the African slaves to help expand the new world. Since the natives to the Western hemisphere, also known as the new world, were not capable of performing hard manual labor the European individuals had to find different people who could endure the tasks. The African people were deemed the best suited for the job and that’s when the European individuals began to forcefully take the Africans out of their country to work for them.
When the Africans were snatched from their homeland they were subject to the harshness of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. During the time period of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Africans were brought to the new world by the thousands to be sold off and work as slaves by performing duties of manual labor. While traveling to the Western Hemisphere, the African people were put into conditions that barely enabled their survival. According to Upshur, they were literally stacked side by side with little to no room to move or breath. Sanitation was horrible due to the fact that many of the people did not have a proper bathroom to use, so they had to release their waste on the same place as they laid.
Millions of African people died on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade due to the harsh conditions they were forced to endure. Many of the African were malnutrition because of the lack of food given to them while they were voyaging to the new world. They began to display signs of sickness from the middle passage because they were not use to those conditions they were being forced to endure. From it being crowded on the ship, “slaves frequently died of asphyxiation, thirst, and disease during the long Atlantic crossing.”[2] Some of the slaves committed suicide so they would not have to be subject to the wrong doing of the individuals who guarded the ship. When the slaves finally arrived to their destination they were used as workers in the plantation fields. Having to work in the plantation fields ultimately led to the growth of the American economy.
Why did the slaves actually get snatched from the homeland and brought to the United States? If one thinks about it, it is because the white individuals needed people who were strong and well fitted to do the job of tough manual labor. There was no other race of people who could do the job efficiently and cost less money when purchased other than the Africans. The people who brought the Africans to the United States knew what they were doing because it was just to bring in profit. For instance, “The slaves were on the plantations for hours … the crops exported brought in money,” this shows how the work from the slaves ultimately brought in money for the American people because exports from different countries brought in more funds for the United States.[3]
When the slaves arrived to the Western hemisphere, in places such as Portugal, Haiti and America, they were forcefully made to work of the plantation fields to cultivate a various number of crops. A large “majority of the slaves in the Western Hemisphere were used as agricultural workers on vast cotton, tobacco, or sugar plantations.”[4] These certain crops that the slaves had to cultivate were known as cash crops. As the name states, the crops certainly did bring cash. As production of the crops began to become more stable the European people began to bring in more slaves so that harvesting the crops can become more faster. Since it was cheap for the African slaves to be purchased, the white individuals did not have to worry about how they were going to make that money back. From the exports of the crops the Africans cultivated the value was far greater than the money being spent to purchase the slaves.
The African slave began to become profitable because it help the economy grow with the production of the crops. Once the crops were cultivated and harvested, they began to get exported out to different countries. Having the crops exported brought more money into the United States because it enabled them to receive more resources and inherit the income from the crops. It was essential to have the slaves because the plantation owners could not cultivate their own crops because it was too hard for them to do so. Thus leading to the conclusion of without slaves working in the fields to harvest crops for the plantation owners, America would not have been economically stable because the slaves were needed to bring in the profit.
While the slaves were busy working on the plantations in the southern states, the white individuals were able to focus on pursuing jobs. Having the slaves do all the work for the plantation owners allowed the white American to explore the new opportunities in life. For example, since the slaves brought in money from the crops, “More whites were able to pursue other interest like get jobs in cities.”[5] Since the white Americans were able to find more jobs it allowed the growth of the economy to flourish because new business and were being made which brought in more income for the United States as a whole. Without the slaves being forced to work on plantation sites, the white individuals would not have had the opportunity to interact with the new jobs that were being made. If the whites did not pursue more jobs because of the slaves the American economy would not have been so well structured.
As stated before, the plantation life of slaves is what helped America economically. Though each of those crops enabled America to successfully see economic growth, there was one crop that really put the United States on the map money wise. The crop that brought in the most value to the United States was cotton. It was the main product being made in the south and of course the slaves were the ones who ultimately had to cultivate it. Since cotton was a major supplier to the country, the slaves had to work extremely hard to keep up with the demand. It was essential that the African slaves word diligently on harvesting cotton because, ” by 1840, the South grew 60 percent of the world’s cotton and provided some 70 percent of the cotton consumed by the British textile industry.”[6] One can say if the African slaves did not pick cotton for the plantation owners, then the south would not be able to support itself economically. Since the south dominated the cotton trade due to the exploitation of the slaves, America was able to flourish with its economy.
When cotton became in the mainstream it was known as “king.” Individuals called the crop cotton king because not only was the south supported by it, the north was too. Cotton “supplied 100% of the North’s textile mills,” which drove the North’s economy.[7] It basically controlled almost every aspect of the American economy. Since there was a high demand for cotton, the invention of the cotton gin enabled more cotton to be produced faster. The cotton gin was a device that made cotton picking easier. It separated the seeds from the cotton making the whole process faster and more efficient. Though it made the process of picking cotton easier, the slaves still had to endure the manual labor that still came about from the invention. For example, because the cotton gin made cotton picking faster, the slaves were forced to work even longer picking and cultivating the crop. If the slaves did not pick cotton then neither the North nor the South would have flourished economically during this time period.
Although cotton became the country’s leading export, it began to see a decline because of the North and the South’s disagreement about abolishing slavery. The argument about whether or not to keep slavery became known as the civil war. The civil war lasted only four years from 1861-1865 and was fought between the confederacy which was the South and the union, which was the North. The civil war was not only fought by white Americans, slaves aided the North in the war. With the slaves help in the civil war the union states defeated the confederate states and the slaves were free from slavery. Since the slaves where used as filler to help with the civil war, it led to the victory of the North over the South; “As a direct result of the American Civil War, the United States witnessed the 13th, 14th and 15th U.S. Constitutional Amendments.”[8] With that victory America had to undergo changes that called for it to advance socially because of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment.
The thirteenth Amendment officially abolished slavery from the southern states. With slavery abolished, it allowed the slaves to move freely within the south not having to worry about being captured and sent back to their owner. Also following the thirteenth amendment was the era of reconstruction. The era of reconstruction was a time where the United States were going through radial changes within its society. For instance, “the Reconstruction era was under way in the South, the period during which the 11 Confederate states would be gradually reintroduced to the Union.”[9] Since the slaves helped the Union states to victory, it allowed both the North and the South to come together as one. Having both of them come together, helped America Socially because they were not separated anymore and the North and South were considered to be one country.
When the fourteenth Amendment came into place it granted slaves citizenship within the American government. The fourteenth Amendment also granted African Americans equal rights within the United States. With these new advances to the government it allowed America to expand and become more integrated among different communities. Integration was also demonstrated between the North and the South because “Southern states were required to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment before being readmitted to the union.”[10] If the southern states did not follow the fourteenth Amendment then they wouldn’t be considered about of the United States, that is why it was necessary for the slaves to fight in the war because it helped North and South to socialize with each other.
Also from the Reconstruction Era that took place from 1865 to 1877, came the fifteenth Amendment. With this amendment, it granted African American males the right to vote. This helped the American Social structure because it paved the way for getting more awareness about voting rights and it allowed more individuals to choose the next president. Without the slaves help in the civil war, the North would have probably defeated the South and without them winning the social structure of America would have been totally different from what it is today.
It is evident that the American economic and social structure depended on the African Slaves that were brought from their homeland. Without their contribution America would not be where it was then or where it is now economically and socially. The slaves brought great radical changes with the United States that permitted it growth. That is why it was crucial for the slaves to work in the plantation fields and aid in the civil war because this country would not be where it is today.
Bibliography
Bell, Karen. “Rice, Resistance and Forced Transatlantic communities: [Re]invisioning the
African Diaspora in Low Country Georgia.” The Journal of African American History 8,
no. 3 (2010): http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5323/jafriamerhist.95.2.0157.
Davis, Ronald “Slavery in America: Economic Overview.” Slavery in America. (2007):
http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_overview.htm.
Manning, Marable. Race and Labor Matters in the New U.S Economy. New York:
Columbia University Press, 2006.
Robinson, John. Advantages of Negro Freedom and the Benefits of Freedom, Morally,
Socially and Politically. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
Upshur, Jiu-Hwa.”Early Civilization in West Asia, Africa, the Aegean, and the Western
Hemisphere.” Chap. 1 in World History. 4th ed. edited by Clark Baxter, 15-54. Boston:
Wadsworth, 2005.
[1] Jiu-Hwa Upshur,”Emerging Global Interrelations,” Chap. 9 in World History, 4th ed. edited by Clark Baxter. 451-511. (Boston: Wadsworth, 2005), 492.
[2] Jiu-Hwa Upshur,”Emerging Global Interrelations,” Chap. 9 in World History, 4th ed. edited by Clark Baxter. 451-511. (Boston: Wadsworth, 2005), 494.
[3] Karen Bell, “Rice, Resistance and Forced Transatlantic communities: [Re]invisioning the African Diaspora in Low Country Georgia,” The Journal of African American History 8, no. 3 (2010): 43, http://www.jstor.org/stable/.
[4] Jiu-Hwa Upshur,”Emerging Global Interrelations,” Chap. 9 in World History, 4th ed. edited by Clark Baxter. 451-511. (Boston: Wadsworth, 2005), 494.
[5] Ronald Davis, “Slavery in America: Economic Overview,” Slavery in America, (2007): http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_overview.htm.
[6] Marable Manning, Race and Labor Matters in the New U.S Economy (New York: Columbia University Press, 2006), 37.
[7] Ronald Davis, “Slavery in America: Economic Overview,” Slavery in America, (2007): http://www.slaveryinamerica.org/history/hs_es_overview.htm.
[8] John Robinson, Advantages of Negro Freedom and the Benefits of Freedom, Morally, Socially and Politically (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 4.
[9] John Robinson, Advantages of Negro Freedom and the Benefits of Freedom, Morally, Socially and Politically (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 6.
[10] John Robinson, Advantages of Negro Freedom and the Benefits of Freedom, Morally, Socially and Politically (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), 9.
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