Looking Back at the History of the United States

8/6/2019 Looking Back at the History of the United States

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Gunnar Johnson WC:661

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19 th Century Slavery

Looking back at the history of the United States, slavery has always been perceived as both

controversial and integral in the shaping of our modern society. Slavery left a deep imprint on the social

groups of the south and their sense of personal honor, while at the same time Northerners became

more and more convinced that slavery had cut the South off from progress. This division on the issue of

slavery led to the forming of abolitionist groups, who were primarily northerners, and pro-slavery

southerners.

In the eyes of southerners, their practice of agriculture rendered the South a more comfortable

and therefore progressive place than the factories of the Northeast. Since the labor force for southern

planters consisted of mainly blacks, the vast majority of southern whites concluded that this prosperity

depended on the use of slaves. The presence of slaves also fueled the notions of personal honor that

southerners felt because of their ascendancy over blacks (Boyer 382). Prejudice against blacks was

deeply engrained in white society throughout the United States and even though by the 1820 s slavery

had largely disappeared in the North, laws still penalized blacks. At the same time Southern clergymen

emphasized the Christian responsibility of masters towards their slaves. As an attempt of easing the

experiences of slaves, some masters strived to be benevolent towards their slaves. Although this made

some difference to blacks, at the basis of the institution was the fact that masters bought slaves to make

a profit on their labor. This allowed southerners to point to the adequate health and affection of some

slaves for their masters as evidence of their contentment, and therefore justifying the proslavery

argument.



Since the gradual disappearance of slavery to the beginning of the nineteenth century,

antislavery organizations, or abolitionists, began to develop. The main antislavery founded between

1800 and 1830 was the American Colonization Society, which proposed a plan of gradual emancipation

where the freed blacks would be shipped to the African nation of Liberia (Boyer 314-315). Although this

plan was intended to aid blacks, its fallacy was in the fact that the proponents of the plan assumed that

blacks were a degraded race and that few southerners were willing to free their slaves with a growing

demand for cotton. By the 1830 s, antislavery activists began to advocate for an immediate end to

slavery and equal right for African Americans. Some more radical abolitionists such as John Brown

resorted to attempting a large-scale slave insurrection. Although the attempt was quickly foiled by the

Virginia militia, Northerners began to view actions such as Brown s as admirable, despite an outraged

white South. The North s newfound viewpoint towards slavery and the actions of abolitionists can be

seen in William Lloyd Garrison s speech where he states that, if you believe in the right of assisting men

to fight for freedom who are of your own color then you must cover, not only with a mantle of charity,

but with the admiration of your hearts, the effort of John Brown at Harper s Ferry (Garrison). Despite

initially shocking both Northerners and Southerners, slavery began to be viewed as an evil institution by

the North and the attempts of radicals such as John Brown as heroic. Actions such as this and of

antislavery groups fueled the sentiment that slavery needed to be eventually done with in the United

States.

Although Northerners did not have an immediate solution to the dispute of slavery, the

workings of abolitionists and antislavery groups were early attempts at emancipating slaves. At the

same time the Southerners belief that slavery was a needed and justifiable institution was enhanced by

the sense of honor they received by their ascendancy over blacks and their perceived sense of the

contentment of slaves. At the same time both sides viewed the other as deviating from the march of



progress among society and in the world, and it is this division that will lead the United States into the

Civil War.

Bibliography

Boyer, Paul S. The Enduring Vision: A History of the American People . Vol. 1. Wadsworth: Suzanne Jeans,2009. Print.

Garrison, William Lloyd. "Garrison Justifies John Brown's Raid." Liberator (16 Dec.).CourseReader . Detroit: Gale, 2010.

Documents

Looking Back at the History of the United States