The US had a huge break and economic boom, from the time of the revolution through the time of the reconstruction, however the great success which mainly emerged from cotton and tobacco plantations in the 1700s has dark history behind it, written in death, blood and tears. For it was on account of brutal acts of slavery. Due to there being a shortage of workers specially in both James town and gorges town it became very much case of supply and demand. Since there was plenty of European people wanting to sail over to the new world who didn’t have enough money, farmers would often paid for their passage in exchange of them signing a seven year contract which entailed giving up their freedom and providing labor services on the farmer’s plantation, after those seven years ended these individuals would be free to leave and begin a life of their own, but once these indentured servants were free, the farmers once again had a shortage of workers, so this system as you can image began to become less and less popular amongst the plantation owners. They then looked onto a new form of quality work which would never involve freedom or pay, slavery. The slaves life was a sad humiliating life that more often than not lead to death or near death punishments, like anyone who is tortured and oppressed the slaves came up with revolutions of their own which would slowly improve treatment for them. This would all eventually lead to a division between the North and South which had more to do with slavery than many history books lead us to believe.
The life of a plantation slave was a sad one of forced labor, poverty and on going humiliation. Under the law slaves were considered to be property just like farm animals. You could be sold at any time, families were torn apart, it was on going misery. Many ran away but if and when caught they would brought back to the plantation and given gruesome and humiliating punishments such as being whipped, or being forced to wear an animal like metal collar with bells on it. In the south it was illegal for slaves to receive an education, marry, own property, vote and even to testify in court. There was house slaves which took care of home duties and child raising. While field slaves, worked from sun raise to sun down. Most shared sleeping areas with a multitude of people. Yet despite all the awful treatment they received from the plantation owners the managed to unite amongst themselves and make the best of the awful situation they were in. Their stories, culture, music, art and religion helped them stand strong during these times, because it was all that couldn’t be taken from them.
Now as time went on these harsh punishments and humiliating daily experiences lead the slaves to revolt against the plantation owners. Now revolutions for the slaves were extremely dangers things to be involved in because if things didn’t go according to plan the consequences for were never light. Hundreds of slaves were lynched simply due to rumored revolts. There are many very important slaves to helped lead powerful and successful revolutions. For example Madison Washington who was considered a fugitive for escaping. Nat Turner who lead multiple attacks on slaves masters with fellow fugitive slaves. Harriet Tubman for example who used the Underground Railroad to escape slavery which was a series of homes leading north where people hid slaves and helped them get to the north to escape slavery.
The civil war’s largest reason for battle was slavery. The North or the Union soldiers believed in a new America where we didn’t need sadistic slavery in order to prosper where as the south or confederate soldiers believed in an America where slavery was the main economic boom. The northern plantation owners were widely benefited by slavery since it was free labor and service. The north of course wanted to preserve the union because if the south won the country could potentially fall apart. However the union soldiers were mainly motivated to make slavery extinct. The struggle of emancipation was also very much still being disputed so many who morally disagreed with the institution viewed this war as a chance to settle it once and for all. While the south felt the federal government could pose a potential threaten their state’s sovereignty, also states individual rights highly motived the south to withdraw from the union, these are some of the reasons many Southerners felt that Lincoln and the federal government would threaten their life style and alter the social class rank that even the poor whites held above the slaves.
In conclusion, slavery was one this countries biggest mistakes which helped push the economy forward, specially the South’s cotton and tobacco plantations and industries. Slaves lives were very difficult, harsh and humiliating, being considered property and less than the whites, on account of this many brave leaders which we learn about today which fought to help their people. To name a few people such as Madison, Harriet and Nat. The division of southern and northern colonies took place which we know of today as the civil war and along with it brought many benefits for the people. So we can clearly see just how large of a role slavery play from the time of the revolution through the time of the reconstruction.
