Slavery

In the nineteenth century, cotton replaced sugar as the worlds major crop
produced by slave labor. This change also affected the United states in a crucial way. The
southern part of the U.S quickly became acquainted with cotton market and Threefourths of the worlds cotton were supplied by the southern parts of the U.S. Slavery was
therefore essential to the southern economy, slaves were used on plantations to pick
cotton under brutal circumstances. The main business districts of southern cities
contained the offices of slave traders and auctions occurred at public slave markets.
Slaves were considered property and they had no rights, they could not gather in a group
without the presence of a white person, they could not leave their plantations without
permission and they were prohibited from learning how to read or write.
In order to justify slavery and ensure its continuity, some white southerners
resorted to concepts such as paternalism and hierarchy. Paternalism was deep-seated in
slave society and it allowed slaveowners to think of themselves as kind, responsible
masters even as the purchased and sold their human property. Proslavery argument also
relied on the notion of white supremacy, slave owners believed whites were superior to
blacks and used slavery to keep this notion in check, slaveowners also used the bible
christianity to validate slavery. Another argument was that slavery was essential to
human progress, slavery supporters usually referred to history to justify this claim.
In order to combat slavery, slaves and abolitionist employed different tactics.
Slaves often ran way from their plantations and masters, about 1,000 slaver a year
escaped, with most coming from the upper south. In the deep south, fugitives slaves

escaped to southern cities , to mix with the free black population. Abolitionist used a
railway system known as The underground Railroad to help slaves escape, Harriet
Tubman, an escaped slave used underground Railroad to lead many slaves to freedom.
Slave revolts also occurred occasionally, in 1811 a slave uprising occurred in Louisiana,
slaves marched towards New Orleans killing two white people in the process, the uprise
was shut down by the militia. In 1831, Nat Turner and his followers marched through
Virginia, attacking white farm families. About eighty slaves joined Turners cause and the
united to kill about sixty whites (mostly women and children) before the militia shut
down the rebellion, Turner was captured an executed for his actions. In October 1859,
John Brown a radical abolitionist who despised slavery seized the United Staes arsenal
at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. It is widely believed that he attempted to arm slaves for a
rebellion, Brown was later captured and executed. Abolitionist like William Lloyd
Garrison employed peaceful tactics, Garrison used his news paper, The Liberator to
speak against slavery and created The Americans Anti-slavery Society.
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