Slavery and It's Effects on the U.S. Today

There has always been hostility between different groups of people, in the 17th-19th centuries this was no different. This was the time of slavery in the New World. During this time people from Africa were enslaved and brought to the colonies of North America. They were then forced to work under harsh conditions. Although this is a painful memory in our country's past, without it we wouldn't be the country we are today.

America is an advanced country with a great government, however during our history there have always been down sides. Like the enslavement and trade of African to the Americas during the 17th-19th centuries. This trade between Africa and the New World colonies was called middle passage. This was a very dangerous and often deadly trip. The slaves were densely packed into dirty boats and shipped to the colonies with little food or water. Most of them died on the way to the New World from malnutrition, disease, and fighting amongst the other slaves. Those who survived didnt have much more to look forward to other than death. They were forced to work for colonists. The colonists made them work on their farms doing anything they didn't want to do, such as pick cotton and other crops. The cotton had sharp barbs which would cut the hands of the slaves, this didn't matter to the slave owners. The slave owners treated their slaves as if they were animals, not people. As long as the job got done correctly they were fairly nice to their slaves, if not however they would be whipped. This is just another example of how much the colonists dehumanized these people. Of course, there were always those who thought that slavery was immoral and fought to free them.

Some colonists who owned slaves treated them with kindness, instead of beating, punishing, and mistreating them they kept them well fed, healthy, and comfortable. There were also slaves who escaped their owners and helped to free other slaves. Many of these people were captured and punished, but those who escaped paved the way to the freedom for all slaves. One of these people was Harriet Tubman, she was once a slave herself but escaped with the help of a member of the anti-slavery society. After freeing herself from slavery, Harriet Tubman returned to Maryland to rescue other members of her family. In all she is believed to have conducted approximately 300 persons to freedom in the North.(nyhistory.com) Tubman was determined and driven in her efforts to free the slaves from their owners. One example of this is a story of her threatening to shoot anybody who thought of turning back.(nyhistory.com) This may sound cold hearted, but she had her reasons. If she allowed anyone to turn back they could be found out and the whole operation would be a waste. Her efforts gained her the nickname "Moses", because to the slaves she was their savior. Thomas Garrett was another aid in the anti-slavery movement. He was a white quaker who had turned his own home into the last station on the underground railroad.(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk) He strongly opposed slavery and did everything in his power to help those who were running to freedom. In his lifetime he helped roughly 2,000 slaves find their way to freedom, because of this there was a bounty of $10,000 on his head.(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk) He was finally arrested and in trial he admitted to being guilty of aiding a runaway slave, he also said that he would continue to do so. When he died January 25th he demanded that his casket be carried by freed slaves and that they should attend the quaker service.(www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk) Another great person that helped blacks have just as many rights as whites was Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln is said to be one of the most important people in the destruction of slavery. He knew that slavery was popular and that most people would not be too happy with the idea of it being abolished. For this reason he decided not to abolish it all at one time, but instead keep it from expanding. He issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which stated that all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be free. (www.archives.gov) However, the proclamation was limited; it only included states that had already separated from the Union. The biggest problem is that the only way it would work is if the Union won the Civil War.(www.archives.gov) However, with all of of its faults the proclamation did change the outlook of this civil war. Because of the Emancipation Proclamation the Union started to accept more blacks troops, and because of this the slaves that had become free were now freeing slaves themselves. Many others helped to free the African Americans from their terrible lives as slaves as well. They are the reason that minorities