Slavery's Demise

Max Greene

10/20/06

HUSH

Mr. Delaney

SLAVERY'S DEMISE

Abraham Lincoln has always been known as the "Great Emancipator." People think he was solely responsible for freeing the slaves, yet the resolution of the slavery issue came about as a result of the Civil War. Lincoln's emphasis on the restoration of the Union as a result of the Civil War made slavery a less important issue, but nonetheless the Civil War also resulted in slavery's eventual extinction.

This demise of slavery was caused by two main factors. The first factor was the aggressive and repressive reaction of the slave owners and their governing bodies to the efforts of slaves rebelling against their living and working conditions. The second factor was the developing belief in the North that slavery was morally and philosophically wrong and should be outlawed. This conflict increased sectionalism between the pro-slave South and the abolitionist North, eventually leading to our country's first and only civil war.

Slavery existed in our country long before the Civil War. Slavery was present in England long before the first settlers coming to America. What did change about slavery in America was the economic dependency upon it that grew over time. When slaves were first brought to America, they were thought of as aides to their masters. While these slaves did not have their freedom, generally, they were treated with some respect. As the country's economy moved forward, slaves began to be considered almost machines, not people. Slave owners would force their slaves to wake up as early as possible, and work them all day long. Slaves were also often beaten horribly. One slave recollected, "I myself, and three or four others, have received two hundred lashes a day and had our feet fettered." This treatment existed almost entirely, although not exclusively, in the South because of the prominent cotton industry, which required slave labor. Economic dependency on cotton existed in the South. Years passed, and the slaves became increasingly frustrated with the unjust treatment they were receiving.

Slaves took two main approaches to resolve this situation. The first approach was rebellion, which was never truly successful because slaves just didn't have the weapons and other items needed to execute a successful a revolt. While not successful in overthrowing their masters, the rebellions were successful in increasing the sentiment to abolish slavery, or "abolitionism". The second approach was escaping to the North, where most states granted freedom once a slave touched the soil. This journey north was called the "Underground Railroad," a process of moving from house to house owned by abolitionists and eventually arriving in the north. As more and more slaves became free, their negative thoughts on slavery spread through the North, opening the eyes of Northerners. Many people living in the North already supported these ideas and gave added support. As this division was building between the North and South, a man came to the forefront who would change our country forever. Abraham Lincoln was a statesman from Illinois who acted as the trigger, in not only the Civil War, but in the ultimate destruction of slavery. With the attacks on Fort Sumter, the Civil War began, as did the demise of slavery.

The slaves themselves, through rebellion and escape, took the first steps to freedom. Many slave rebellions have been documented. One of the best-known rebellions was Nat Turner's Rebellion. This rebellion occurred in Southampton County, Virginia in 1831. Nat Turner was a slave who was known as a Prophet because he would receive, what was called, "visions from G-d". In one of Turner's visions he was told to lead a slave rebellion against the white owners. "Turner...gathered about seventy slaves, who went on a rampage from plantation to plantation murdering as least fifty-five men, women, and children...Turner and perhaps eighteen others were hanged" . As a consequence of this rebellion, Virginia increased their slave repression, creating a militia to fend off future rebellions. Henry Tragle came to an interesting conclusion about Virginia's reaction, saying: " During a period when neither the State nor the nation faced any sort of exterior threat, we find that Virginia felt the need to maintain a security force roughly ten percent of the total number of its inhabitants." Most other southern states followed in this reaction to the slave rebellions

These rebellions played an important role in showing how the slaves themselves were feeling about slavery. In the North, slave rebellions would grab the attention of well-informed men and women, and raise slave awareness. In the South, it could cause increased slave overseeing. The effect of the clamp down on slavery brought on one of the darkest times in our country's history. On one plantation in Louisiana, "Over the course of two years a total of 160 whippings were administered (Whippings were the act of whipping a slave), an average of 0.7 whippings per hand (or slave) per year." Slave owners attempted to dehumanize slaves by beating them senseless. The slaves countered against these horrible acts by using songs and storytelling to keep up their humanity and their spirits. Look at the words taken from the famous slave spiritual, "Let my people go", "When Israel was in Egypt land, Let my people go, Oppressed so hard they could not stand, Let my people go..." The slaves would use these artistic indulgences to help them get through the difficult times. However, as treatment became more unbearable, slaves would resort to escaping.

Escaping from the bondage of slavery became necessary for many slaves, after the southern slave owner's treatment of the slaves reached an unbearable level. Freedom from slavery was the goal about which the slaves dreamed. Many slaves could not bear to be dominated by their owners, so they resorted to rebellion. Other slaves, who were smart enough to realize that rebellion was an unrealistic way to gain freedom, chose escaping to the North as a better option. Escaping became more difficult as more slaves attempted this approach, so the "Underground Railroad" was established to help slaves get to the north by giving them a set of checkpoints in which to hide until they reached free soil. Along with the Underground Railroad itself, there were "Conductors" who served as guides to help slaves escape North. Harriet Tubman, one of the most famous Conductors, led over 300 slaves to the North,