Since the beginning of slavery in the 1500’s to the emancipation of the slaves in the 1860’s, violent and nonviolent tactics were used to fight against the tight clutches of their masters. According to Nonviolent Social Movements, violent tactics and strategies rely on polarization and dualistic thinking that require people, like the slaves and the masters, to divide into the good versus bad. They have to assume neat, rigid little categories that are easily answered from the barrel of a gun.
Nonviolent tactics on the other hand, allows for complexity that is inherent in the struggles and requires a reasonable acceptance of diversity and appreciation from common ground (Zunes, 1999). In this paper, I will start by looking at the history of slavery, why it came about, and how it led to the slave’s resistance. Then I will look at violent tactics as well as nonviolent tactics to see how the tactics helped the slaves or hurt the slaves. I question if there is a role for violence in social change, if violence should be a last resort, and when violence is necessary.
I will also look to see if power concedes anything without a demand. Slavery in American began during the 1500’s when enslaved African Americans were brought to the new world on the Middle Passage. By the 1700’s, approximately 25,000 Africans had been enslaved and transported across the Atlantic Ocean. Slaves were used to satisfy the American need. Sugar plantations were hard to maintain, and the American’s could not do it alone. Sugar planting, harvesting, and processing were tiring, hot, and dangerous work.
The plantations required large numbers of workers whose work habits could be coordinated and controlled. However, slaves were needed because there were not enough settlers to satisfy the labor requirements for profitable sugar plantations. The slaves were worked endlessly. Sometimes, they worked 18-hour days, overseen by people with whips. The work was backbreaking, cuts from the tools were inevitable, and many died from using the machines, as well as other factors. The production was coercion. Slaves were controlled by threat or use of deadly force.
Some were able to escape, but many died. American’s believed that slavery was needed. White people depended on slaves to keep homes and plantations running smoothly (West, n. d. ). Although cruel, slavery was at the center of the triangle trade. Slaves would use sugar to make molasses, which was transported elsewhere to be distilled into rum that would be exchanged for more slaves. Eventually in 1808, buying slaves from across the Atlantic was made illegal, but that didn’t mean that slaves weren’t still traded and sold within America.
Eventually, the expansion of the sugar plantation led to the prices falling, which reduced the profitability of the plantations. Even with sugar no longer profitable, tobacco and cotton, as well as other crops could still make money, and slaves were still needed to keep families rich (West, n. d. ). Yet, it was not until the American Revolution that the slaves realized what they were missing. Slavery greatly affected the course and tone of colonial politics. The American Revolution was deeply implicated in growing concerns about American liberty.
During the 1700s, American’s demanded rights and liberties that they believed came from God. Although the government was only trying to raise money to pay off the debts from the Seven Year’s War, the people saw the taxes and regulations as encroachments on their rights. According to Slavery and the Making of America, slaves participated with the whites in protests and proclamations of “No taxation without representation” (p. 49). The irony of the American’s cry that they would “not be the slaves of England” was not lost on the slaves (p. 49).
The American Revolution was the movement that began the push for the emancipation of the slaves. African American slaves were not the only ones who felt America was contradicting them. James Otis, a Massachusetts lawyer, recognized the hypocrisy in America’s professed commitment to freedom. He also believed that liberty was a God given right and that the government had no right to tax without consent. He felt that African Americans were included in this. “Slavery must be ended because all men, white or black, were by the law of nature, free born,” said Otis (p. 9). Nathaniel Appleton also pointed to the inconsistency of white Americans demanding freedom for them while denying freedom to other human beings (Horton, 2005). The slaves tried to petition for general emancipation and sent claims of being illegally held in bondage. Their legal and political strategy chipped away at the legal foundations of slavery and slavery trade. Among the first to urge abolition were the Quakers who supported the slaves who were free and could not support themselves. The Quakers believed that slavery was incompatible with their faith.
Slaves cloaked their own protests in humility and the rhetoric of Christianity. Their plea was for freedom. It was the same plea that the Americans were demanding from England. Slaves offered the same argument as well, saying that the freedom was a right to human beings and God’s will. Benjamin Rush published some of the strongest antislavery statements. He stated that Africans had the same moral and intellect as that of the whites. Rush argued that slavery brought on the mental and moral deprivation that had been mistaken for racial inferiority.
If the African American was freed, the slave could be educated and become useful citizens. America would be become the beacon of freedom that it professed to be (Horton, 2005). Abigail Adams said in Slavery and the Making of America, “…We are daily robbing and plundering from those who have as good a right to freedom as we have. ” Historical figures in the 1800s voiced their concerns, which influenced the slaves to speak up as well (p. 53). The slaves believed that their best hope for freedom was the Revolutionary cause. Americans did not equate freedom from the British authority as the same freedom American slaves sought.
Eventually, African Americans saw England as the land of liberty. During the time of war, African Americans slaves were permitted to fight. The slaves were serving the American cause, but the South feared insurrection should the slaves gain access to guns. Usually the slaves were paid for their service, but would have to give the money to their masters. The British saw the strategic advantage of offering slaves their freedom and a small payment for their cause in the war. The loss of slaves to the British convinced the Americans to see the wisdom of freeing slaves.
Slaves were more likely to serve long enlistments compared to white Americans. The end of the war brought freedom to thousands of slaves, most of those who fought with the Americans. Many white Americans, particularly in the northern states, had become convinced that slavery had no place in the new nation being built on principles of freedom. Although the Revolution had not begun as an antislavery crusade, it nonetheless brought freedom to a vast number of slaves and planted the seed of wanting freedom into the minds of the slaves (Horton, 2005). The commitment to freedom exhibited by slaves in colonies gave rise to umors of violent conspiracies. Although common enough to generate white fear, African American slaves used other forms of resistance. Nonviolence was more common, subtle, and less dangerous means of resistance. The frequency of violent revolts was limited by the remote possibility of success and unbridled brutality of the whites. To keep millions of African slaves in bondage, the south required a virtual police state. The southern society came to tolerate and even honor a military social climate that accepted violence as a necessity to keep the slaves in line.
The right to human property was guaranteed by the constitution and protected by the military force of the U. S. For the slaves to have successful uprisings, they would have to defeat local white volunteers, state militia, and the U. S. military. This was an improbable occurrence. Violent confrontations most likely were spontaneous outbursts resulting from specific situations. The whites used violence against the slaves, but had to be cautious because violence would create stubborn and difficult slaves (Horton, 2005). Slaves relied on their knowledge and understanding of masters and the slave system for their survival.
They understood that effective and practical resistance could not be traced back to the perpetrator, which made violent tactics less reliable. A slave’s world was much more complicated than most slaveholders understood. The slaves created a system to communicate by singing. The songs could be used to pass messages about possible routes to freedom, upcoming revolts, or other impertinent information to help the slaves. The songs were also used to determine the pace of work or to placate suspicious masters. Forms of resistance could be group action or personal protests.
The slaves formed resistances that did not involve open defiance or violence. Resistance in this form was mistaken for submission, but still enabled the slave to maintain his sense of personal dignity and sense of worth (Horton, 2005). There are many examples of violent and nonviolent tactics used by the slaves. One of history’s most notorious rebellions is Nat Turner’s Rebellion, or the Southampton Insurrection. It was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia during 1831. Led by Nat Turner, the slaves killed 55 to 65 white people.
The rebels traveled from house to house, freeing slaves and killing all the white people they encountered, intentionally terrorizing and alarming the whites. The uprising did not last long before the whites took back control. In the aftermath, there was widespread fear, and white militias organized in retaliation against slaves. New laws prohibited education, restricted rights of assembly and other civil rights for free blacks, and requiring white ministers to be present at black worship services. This is only one example of a failed rebellion. Their violent tactic only led to more restrictions and less freedom.
From a different perspective, the violence did instill fear. Whites implemented more laws to keep the slaves in their place, because they were afraid of losing their power to the African Americans. Although not all rebellions failed, perhaps nonviolent tactics would have been better suited. African Americans believed they should be free. Nonviolence has proven to be more successful. This type of resistance can include anything from learning to read illegally to running away along the Underground Railroad. They might commit suicide, work more slowly, or just act more stubborn.
Using nonviolence allows people to fight for what they believe in without using physical force. They use two hands, one to take and one to calm. They use the pressure of defiance to fight, but they also use the pressure of respect (Zunes, 1999). The slaves who were nonviolent were willing to say that they did not want to fight, but were not going to back down either. They had faith that better choices could be made. While a slave, an African American could not lawfully learn to read or write and, those who did were rebelling nonviolently. An educated African American was unheard of.
There were other nonviolent tactics as well, such as the Underground Railroad. This railroad was not below ground, had no tracks or trains. Instead it was a network of houses, barns, shops, and churches along the path to freedom. In the late 1700’s, the north banned slavery. The slaves that ran away were not fighting physically, but still had hope that freedom was possible. People were willing to help the slaves to freedom by providing housing, meals, and safety. Slaves were considered property that could be bought and sold. Yet, the slaves and those who assisted them saw them as individuals who deserved more (Waxman, 2011).
Decisions to attempt escape were never easy. The road to freedom was often obscure and a fugitive needed information about routes, people who were willing to help, and what to expect in way of weather and social climates beyond the plantation (Horton, 2005). Slave resistance could be individual or group efforts. Even one person could make a change. Harriet Tubman was an African-American abolitionist and humanitarian. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made more than thirteen missions to rescue more than 70 slaves using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses along the Underground Railroad.
In 1849, she escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives out of the state, and eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. Large rewards were offered for the return of many of the fugitive slaves, but no one then knew that Tubman was the one helping them. When the southern-dominated Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, requiring law officials in free states to aid efforts to recapture slaves, she helped guide fugitives farther north into Canada.
Tubman was a great example of how one person can make a change. She was never violent, but helped to fight back against the south, along with the individuals who provided housing and safety to the runaways. One person stood up against the south, and made a statement that slaves wanted their freedom. Tubman was a very influential person during this time, and helped many slaves to their freedom. Later she joined the Union in the fight against slavery as a cook, a nurse, and finally as a spy. People are capable of using both violence and nonviolence. For Harriet Tubman, violence was not necessary.
She earned her freedom and is one example of how there is a role for nonviolence in social change as well as violence. Nonviolence worked better for the slaves, even though the whites fought back. The southern reaction to these tactics was to implement tighter control to prevent slaves from hearing about freedom. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was one of the first laws to keep the South in power. Later there was the Compromise of 1850. It cooled sectional tensions, but tried to make all Americans slave catchers including the Northern states that abolished slavery in the 1800s.
In the late 1850’s, the south seemed stronger than ever. Their economic power had become so great that it could not be ignored. Cotton was still America’s most valuable export, more valuable, in fact than everything else the nation exported to the world combined. The worth of slaves increased correspondingly so that on the eve of the Civil War it was greater than the total dollar value of all of the nation’s banks, railroads and manufacturing. The southern economic power gave them their political strength. The south feared its ability to protect slavery was in danger.
The influence of the abolition movement was growing, and many southerners began to call for secession from the U. S. The south felt that being an independent nation was the only way to protect slavery and the southern way of life (Horton, 2005). One hundred and fifty years ago, the Civil War in America was started and fought with the express primary purpose to abolish slavery. It was not long before hopes of a short war and easy reconciliation were dashed. The Civil War had economic issues at heart, but was bound with the issue of human bondage.
During the war, America began to see that to maintain slavery, they could not be a country of freedom. On July 17, Congress authorized the acceptance of black into the Union Army and soon after passed a measure freeing all slaves in those areas of the south where the northern armies had won. When people began to question the rationale of the war, it became a moral crusade that provided Union soldiers with a compelling reason to fight. Towards the end of the war, the south began to loose spirit. On May 26, 1865, the Civil War ended but the fate of the slaves remained a question.
Nearly 180,000 black soldiers had joined the Union cause. Although full citizenship would not come until the next century, the slaves had earned their freedom. Chattel slavery was abolished with the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1865. The constitution stated that, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (Brinkley, 1998). The Civil War shows that power does not concede anything without demand.
The war was the struggle between those for and against slavery. Neither side wanted to cave and both were demanding for their own beliefs. The south lost, therefore giving up its power because of the demand. The south was forced into giving up slavery. Obviously violence should not be a last resort, but in certain circumstances is necessary. The slaves were able to do more by nonviolence than with violence. However, violence does have a role within social change. Nat Turner’s rebellion was one of many that proved that the slaves were not happy with the way things stood, and that they were willing to fight against it despite the risk.
He instilled fear into the whites that thought that they were superior. Tighter rules and regulations were meant to force the blacks back down into submission. This only resulted in the nonviolent tactics. Slaves rebelled without physical violence by learning to read and write. They ran away with the help of others along the Underground Railroad. Many would have said that slaves were needed. America prospered because of them. Others disagreed, because they knew it was wrong. First, buying and trading slaves across the Atlantic became illegal. Then, the North banned slavery that made it a safe haven for the runaways.
From the very start, violence and nonviolence slowly made an impact that would lead to their emancipation. There is a role for violence and nonviolence to make social change. Both were necessary while African American’s were enslaved. Finally, power will not concede anything without a demand. Through violence or nonviolence, the demand for freedom was made. The slaves wanted the rights that they felt they deserved. The south feared losing power and pushed back, not wanting to concede. However the slaves demand, as well as the abolitionist’s demand, brought about the emancipation of the slaves.
References
Brinkley, D. (1998). American Heritage History of the United States. Penguin Group. Horton, J. O. , and Horton, L. E. (2005). Slavery and the making of America. Oxford University Press. Waxman, H. L. (2011). How did slaves find a route to freedom: And other questions about the underground railroad. Lerner Publications. West, J. M. (n. d. ). Sugar and slavery: molasses to rum to slaves. Zunes, S. , Kurtz, L. R. , and Asher, S. B. (1999). Nonviolence social movements: A geographical perspective. Blackwell Publishers.
