...Atlantic Chattel Slavery Through the progression of slavery, we see a gradual but dramatic change the way people viewed slaves. Many factors aided the deterioration of treatment towards slaves from a people to property mindset. Whether it was the beginning of the African Slave Trade, the economic driven cash crops, British laws passed to control slaves or the development of British Low Country each factor belittled the human aspect of a slave. To understand how one gets labeled as “cattle” we must understand where it came from. We first look at the beginning treatment of slaves to gather a comparison on how it differed from Atlantic Chattel Slavery. Slaves in the early east Africa were generally war captives of conquering dynasties. Islamic religion helped to maintain the humanity of these war captives. They were accepted as a member of the family (nation) but the lowest ranking one. Islamic members who owned slaves had obligations to educate and convert them to Islam. They also made it illegal to sell children from their parent which in turn was a cultural device to bring outside people into the society. After two generations of slavery these families were accepted into the society. Slaves during this time would also live to the same standards as their owners. This means a slave owned by a wealthy person would have a better lifestyle (clothes, food, etc.) than a poorer one. Slavery was still not a positive experience but when we compare to the lifestyle of Caribbean/America...
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...African American culture. I will also examine how the African culture is so rich in the American world and changed many aspect of the everyday life in the new world. Slavery predates back to the 18th century from when African Americans were enslaved. People of color were bought, sold, and used to work on farms, and in the household of their white masters. The progression of African American culture has progressed by leaps and bounds since the1800’s. It took a long time for slaves to be given their freedom. Although they were free, the reconstruction plan was a starting point, which in turn allowed former slaves to become freedmen. Freedmen who were allowed to own land and become upstanding citizen just like their white counterparts. The freed slaves went on to become prominent business owners and family men. They were still some racists who were appalled that they were allowed to go free. Slaves were not allowed to learn how to read and therefore could not read the bible. It was a way for the salves masters to protect themselves from the slaves getting a silly notion of equality from the bible. Religion became a big issue within the African American community. Black churches were established to allow them to come, worship, and not be segregated from their white counterparts. Even during slavery, they would sing their songs while working hard in the field, praying to god he would see them through their trials and tribulations. Big afros and bell-bottom pants were in...
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...Slavery is one of the worst things that has come about in American history. Throughout North American history Blacks have been mistreated, and although negative attitudes towards African-Americans has decreased they are still seen as unequal to their white counterpart. African-Americans have survived slavery, segregation and the threat of being black in America. There is still a long ways to go before true equality, but we as a society have far progressed past national racism. Africans were brought to North America as indentured servants and slaves. Europeans made trades with Africans for slaves, but the Europeans had a more brutal take on slavery that Africans were unaware of. There was slavery in Africa, but the slaves were able to marry, own land and they only served for a set period of time. Also, the work was not passed down through generations, and there was no mindset of master and slave. Slavery in the Americas on the other hand was harsh and inhumane. Slaves were treated like possessions that were only for profit instead of like a person. The masters forced the slaves to work unreasonable long hours for no...
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...and through the years we’ve seen advances and also a decrease in its progress. In one aspect we’ve seen this go backward and forward with is freedom. Freedom is very important to the American people, as this is something we’ve fought for as a nation. The United States of America is considered the best Nation world wide, but how is that possible if history is repeating itself? The history is repeated as we still have issues with our freedom between the two genders, race, and slaves. We’ve seen the progress from all three unfortunately we’ve seen the decrease made by them as well. Territory is very important for a country to be successful, the more land equals more power the country will have. In relation, developing countries need all the help they can get to expand their country to be as successful as they could possibly be. In The Life of Olaudah Equiano, the natives of Africa as they are being taken away from their home to a place they are not familiar with is discussed throughout this passage. The freedom of these people are being taken from them as they don’t have a voice in what is happening, and later auctioned to be sold off. Stealing children from their parents and...
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...History is an imperative, open-ended subject with a multitude of perspectives to view with every topic and time frame it consists of. One such topic and period of time is the Reconstruction Era and the following decades leading up to the Industrialization of America. As with any other period in history, there are different ways to view this specific span of time. Interpreting this period of one as social unjust and injustice is one option. Conversely, it can be distinguished for significant progress in various aspects and the overall prosperity that came as a result of industrialization. Focusing on one method or the other may better guide in understanding this period. For starters, both of these components were clearly present in this duration...
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...We can infer that Paine stood as a liberal and revolutionized new ideas, through the lines, “I bring reason to your ears. ” He’s giving newly heard treasons to people such as going independent. This connects back to the theme of liberty as word needs to surface onto the people of America for the pursuit of liberty and prosperity. We can also infer that Paine being apart of some notorious army or group of people who will go to serious ways to fight for liberty. Through the lines, “new army at both ends of the continent is recruiting fast.” This connects back to the theme of liberty as the author includes army’s in recruitment (America and Great Britain) and signaling war between the two to reach liberty appears, with, “both ends.” Showing a new emergence of parental and hopeful feeling as the future America will succeed. People would fight for their right and succeed in the future highlighting the viewpoint on the theme as needing new feelings in order to succeed and pursuit prosperity. The Crisis, by Thomas Paine was written back in 1776. In the piece the central theme is Liberty and has a extremely colossal significance in the text. It reflects and shapes the various literary devices and structure. So, Paine supports the theme of liberty through the constant usage of symbols,...
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...In America, there is a very large gap between the fundamental values embedded in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution and the discriminatory practices that have occurred in the past and are currently being presented today. If these documents are supposed to preach egalitarianism, liberty, and “all men are created equal”, how is it possible we have allowed the existence of things in America like slavery, racial discrimination, and gender discrimination? These documents for centuries have sculpted the ways in which we have progressed socially, however, what they stand for represents a progression that has lead our country down the wrong path. The fundamental value and most expressed statement in the Declaration of Independence is, “all men are created equal; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”. This document preaches for equality and is the backbone for our set of American values, but yet discrimination has existed throughout our entire history and still continues to this day. These values are taught and learned by the American people through such documents as the Declaration of Independence, however these documents are embodying an idea that us as people do not seem to possess. Not only is this document extremely hypocritical, especially when it is looked at and compared to discriminatory practices in our country, such as: slavery, racial discrimination, and gender discrimination, but it is written by people who had practiced discrimination...
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...In today’s society it is arguable whether the migration of the population within 1750-1901 was a beneficial progression. however, this complex matter isn’t a simple black and white issue. Slavery existed in North America for 245 years and deteriorated the physical and emotional state of many African slaves. On the other hand, free settlers who travelled to Australia were presented with numerous opportunities that could enhance their lives. In 1619, the Dutch brought the initial captured slaves from Africa to America and instigated the inhumane and severe mistreatment of Africans that stemmed from the slave system. Slavery spread throughout American colonies and it is estimated that there were more than 6 to 7 million Africans that were thrown...
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...nationalism. The social tensions between the North and South caused a great divide between the two. In one letter, Thomas Jefferson believed that the Missouri Compromise (Document F) would be the demise of the nation, since slavery was one of the causes of sectionalism. This compromise only added onto the differences between the North and South, and by admitting Missouri as a slave state, it helped with the progression of...
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...fluctuations and developed a hunter-gatherer culture. Native Americans had thriving communities with highly sophisticated political, economic and social systems that emerged and were practiced. The Spanish were the first Europeans to actively pursue exploiting the New World. European explorer nations of Spain, Britain, France and Holland were looking for a western route to Asia. Instead they discovered the Americas and found unlimited fertile lands and natural resources, and they competed fiercely for domination of the Americas. Many persons of European descent came to settle in the New World for varied reasons, i.e. religious freedom, land ownership, opportunity for a better life. When American colonist decided to fight for independence from Britain, they probably had no idea that this would lead to the formation a democratic government unlike any seen previously in modern history. The founding document, the Constitution of the United States of America has become a model for democratic republics all over the world. After the Revolutionary War, the United States of America would have another encounter with the British military in the War of 1812. The...
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...Journal March 19, 2011 I just finished reading Booker T. Washington’s autobiography called “Up from Slavery.” In his book he gives a firsthand account about what it was like to be a slave and even more interesting, he talks about what it was like to hear that President Lincoln had freed the slaves. His book covers his life from slavery to his founding of the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. I could not put the book down. It is a must read for every African American. When Destiny and Demetrius come to stay with me for Easter break, they will be required to read it while they are here. They need to know the history of our people and this book will give them some insight about how African Americans ended up in this country and what they had to endure. Unlike other ethnic groups, African Americans are the only ones who did not come to North America of their own free will. There was no migration, emigration, immigration. We were brought here in chains and enslaved for many years. We were not seen as human, only property. We had absolutely no rights and no way to return to Africa. I would imagine that many of the slaves tried to hold on to some of their African traditions but I am sure that was hard to do. According to what I have read, slaves were forbidden to carry on the traditions they had in Africa. They were even given American names in an effort to make them feel disconnected from their homeland. Because the slave trade continued for decades, the number of Africans grew...
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...Over the course of American History, there have been a lot of events that shaped America to the way that it is today. However, one of the most famous events that had happened was the Reconstruction Amendments, particularly the 13th Amendment. The 13th Amendment was one of three Amendments of the Reconstruction, along with the 14th Amendment, which was focused on citizenship and passed in 1868, and the 15th Amendment, which was focused on voting for African-Americans, and passed in 1870. The premises of the 13th Amendment was to abolish slavery. It was passed by the Senate on April 8, 1864, by the House on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, abolished slavery as a legal institution. But at first, the 13th Amendment had a different purpose. It was to guarantee the legality and perpetuity of slavery in the slave states, rather than to end it. This caused complicated sectional politics of the antebellum period, and a futile effort to preclude Civil War. Under presidential war powers, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1,...
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...century, credited to John O’Sullivan who used the phrase in a newspaper article in 1845(Brumidi et al., n.d.). This expansion brought success and progression to the future of the United States, however there were many moral drawbacks, negative effects on the environment, and political disputes that came along with the expansion. In April of 1803, the United States made a deal with France, purchasing “828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River in exchange for $15 million”(National Archives). Around this time, the United States for the most part, was populated east of the Mississippi River, split into two regions, the north and south. The North...
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...Disunion delves into the controversial topic of the causes of the Civil War and the secession of the states that eventually became the Confederate States of America. There are many accounts that point to defending states' rights as the primary cause of the Civil War. However, most people believe that slavery was the main and primary concern the deep South cited for seceding from the Union to form their own separate country focused on individual liberty and the progression of slavery in those states. Dew makes the point that searching for the cause for the Civil War is a search that continues to be debated today among historical scholars. Therefore, Apostles of Disunion and Charles Dew ask the reader to ponder and answer the question: “What was the cause of the Civil War?” Dew focuses his primary support for answering this question by looking at speeches and letters from men termed Commissioners. Commissioners were men appointed from each state to go to each of the slave-holding states in the South and present the state Congress with their home states thoughts on secession and slavery and the new Republican national government. These men were charged with the task of convincing the other states' governments to side with the soon-to-be unified South in her desire to ward of Northern aggression and plans to eradicate slavery in the Union. The best and brightest orators and politicians from each state were chosen for this daunting task which required much travel and much persuasion...
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...The United States of America is a great and powerful nation. It is made up of a country of fifty states covering a large continent. The United State Armed Forces is the most powerful military force in the world, with 1,369,532 active servicemen, the largest navy including, its twelve aircraft carriers and the second largest stockpile of nuclear warheads. Its economy produces almost a quarter of the world's wealth. Citizens of the United States are among the most hard-working, affluent, and generous in the world. There is no debating the significance the United States has played on the global stage and as an international superpower. Almost every single American citizen believes that the United States is an exceptional power. The truth is, it...
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