Kellie Peters

Hist. 1700-507 F17

10-20-2017

Part ll History Paper 1 on Slavery

Slavery was a big issue in America, it divided the Nation in to two. The North and the

South which had two different views on slavery. The North wanted to abolish slavery and the

South was a defender of slavery. On large Plantations slaves created small families in a way to

deal with the oppression of slavery and cruelty of their masters. Slaves began to rebel and find

away to fight for their freedom.

The outlook on planters paternalism was that they thought of themselves as kind masters

and hid the brutality of slavery. In return, the slaves would be taken care of by their masters.

They bought and sold slaves and thought of them as property and not as human beings. They also

didnt want to end slavery, but they did want to end the oppressive part of slavery.

George Fitzhugh, a lawyer and an author in the South, was a defender of slavery. He stated that

a negro is like a grown-up child and his master was like a parent or guardian. He welcomed a

free society and was in favor of a community with masters and slaves. 1 He believed that

whites were superior to the negros and that the whites were doing them a favor by subjecting

them to domestic slavery which relieved them of a far crueler slavery in Africa.

Many believed on the south that god created masters to be masters and slaves to be slaves. And

some used the Bible as a defense for slavery, slaves must obey their masters. They also

1Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty: An American History, Fourth Edition George Fitzhugh, "The Universal Law of Slavery"
(1850)
believed that slaves were not smart, and they were best at the unskilled jobs such as cotton

picking. The Northerners thought the everyone should be created equal, even slaves. They

wanted to abolish slavery. The North was more industrial then crop lands so the North didnt

depend on slavery like the South did.

Slaves were shipped over to the Americas on ships under harsh conditions and a lot of them did

not always survive the journey. Once they arrived in America, they were auctioned and sold in

southern ports. Families were separated, mothers taken away from their children. They were

treated like animals. 2

Ten to a dozen slaves lived in huts. They had no furniture or beds. Their beds were straw thrown

in a pile on the floor. On the big plantations that were the cotton belts and the sugar fields were

considered gang labor with an overseer that which kept his whip going all day long. He rode on

horseback armed with bow knife, pistol and several dogs. The slave population outnumber the

white population, so the overseer had use harsh measures to keep the slaves from revolting.

Under the overseer, there were drivers who were slaves. They wore a whip around their neck and

were forced to whip other slaves if they got out of line. Other slaves worked on smaller farms

and they were considered task labor which they had daily tasks. Women mostly worked inside

the home, cooking, cleaning and taking care of anything else they were told to. Many of the

female slaves were raped by their master.

Many slaves created their own secret families. They also created their own religion which was

Christianity but not white Christianity. They would hold secret meetings. This was one way they

2 Slavery Separated Families, Documentary Film, DivisionAmerica: The Story of Us, A&E 2010
were able to survive the oppression that white people had inflicted on them. They also had their

own music.3

There were many ways slaves resisted slavery. Some of them were day to day resistance and

silent sabotage where they would break tools, do poor work, and other things that disrupt the

routine of the plantation. Some slaves even ran away to the North to escape slavery. Fredrick

Douglas was well known in the abolition movement. He was able to escape after several tries.

When he was little he would trade food for education. He was one of a few slaves that could read

and write. He became one of the main leaders in the anti-slavery movement and wrote an

autobiography. He was famous in the black community.4 Harriett Tubman, also known as Moses

Tubman, was also a slave that managed to escape and became instrumental in helping other

slaves make it to freedom. She was part of the underground railroad. Many abolitionists in the

North helped with the underground railroad. 5They would open their homes and hide slaves till

the slaves were ready to move on to the next station. Some of these attempts were successful

which would lead to many slaves becoming free.

REFERENCES
3 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty: An American History, Fourth Edition George Fitzhugh, "The Universal Law of Slavery"
(1850)

4 Fredrick Douglas, Documentary film, DivisionAmerica: The Story of Us, A&E, 2010

5
Underground Railroad, Documentary film, DivisionAmerica: The Story of Us, A&E, 2010
Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty: An American History, Fourth Edition George Fitzhugh, "The
Universal Law of Slavery" (1850)

Slavery Separated Families, Documentary Film, DivisionAmerica: The Story of Us, A&E
2010

Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty: An American History, Fourth Edition George Fitzhugh, "The
Universal Law of Slavery" (1850)

Fredrick Douglas, Documentary film, DivisionAmerica: The Story of Us, A&E, 2010

Underground Railroad, Documentary film, DivisionAmerica: The Story of Us, A&E, 2010