Slavery Essay Sample: African Slaves to New World

Slavery in the U.S. is one of the most debatable topics in the current world because of the level of inhuman treatment of people of African origin. They could be treated harshly without the observation of the fundamental human rights and freedoms, with the only intention of gaining economically out of their brutal treatment. In 1619, the first African slaves were brought to the northern parts of the U.S. with the intention of using them as tobacco plantation workers. Therefore, the slaves were used with a single objective; provide cheap labor in the plantation farms, a strategy that could be utilized o boost the economic conditions of the new world. That is why they could not be given the fundamental human rights and freedoms because their bosses could not gain maximally from the trade (LaRosa and German 15). Because of the harsh treatment of the African Americans in the new world and their inability to enjoy the fundamental rights and freedoms, it was necessary for it to be abolished even if the whites gained economically.

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The economic activities in the new world had increased and by 1793, the cotton gin was invented, leading to high levels of production and the necessity of having a stable and reliable source of the workforce that could assist in the industrial production at a cheaper cost. By mid 19th century, Americas expansion program to the west and the birth of the abolition movement that had started from the north separated the nation into the north and the south, resulting in the civil war between 1861 and 1865 (Smith 30). After the union had eventually won the battle, leading to an end of slavery, more than 4 million slaves were freed resulting in a heated debate on how they could be assisted to start their life and free people. Therefore, the issues of slavery had taken roots and in the 20th century, some movements that were fighting for equality in the society were in place. Such movements include the civil rights movement and the emancipation.

In the 17th century, the industrialists relied on labor from the poor Europeans, but they could be paid well and all their human rights and freedoms observed. However, after realizing that they could get cheap labor from Africa, they diverted their attention and started importing slaves from the West African states (Neary 350). The poor Europeans knew their fundamental rights and freedoms, and even the industrialists considered them as equal, only that the wealth gap separated them. However, the Africans were considered as inferior to the whites and as people who could be bought and sold as a way of raising revenue for their industrial activities.

African Americans who were living in North America were used as slaves before even slavery was recognized and the West Africans considered the issue as a way of life. However, because of the greedy nature of the industrialists, they decided to use this concept as a trading activity, resulting in the emergence of the colonial slavery and trans-Atlantic slave trade. Many people of the African origin were not considered as human beings who deserved to be given their rights and freedoms (Hummel 50). The new masters (industrialists) only targeted at ensuring that they had gained economically from the trade, adversely affecting them. This resulted in the possibility of having a large number of blacks in the U.S. who could work as slaves forcefully. That is why it was not good for the African Americans to be treated harshly by the whites even though there was an economic gain from the new masters.

The Europeans had coordinated with a few wealthy African Americans in their quest to look for slaves from West Africa. This is the primary reason why the trade was successful even if the whites did not understand how they could manage to acquire the slaves at a relatively cheaper cost (Mathews 45). This means that the blacks were enemies of themselves as they could sell one another to the hands of the white masters. It was not good for the Africans to be subjected to all these troubles by even their colleagues who could assist the whites in the oppressive trading activities with the sole intention of gaining from it and being recognized as influential people in the society, who could freely interact with the white man.

The journey from West Africa to America had a lot of obstacles given that the transport was by the waters and had not been developed as it is in the current world. Because they were considered as inferior human beings, they could rarely eat during transport, and some even died. Therefore, apart from working in oppressive conditions in the industrial sector and the plantation farms, their social life was adversely affected, leading to their inability to express themselves. Additionally, there was a language barrier problem that made the industrialists and the plantation farm masters to train them on the basic English language. Therefore, slavery and slave trade will remain to be a heated topic of discussion because there were so many participants in the oppressive business. Nevertheless, the oppressive practice should never the seen again in the modern society even if there are those who can gain.

Works Cited

Hummel, Jeffrey Rogers. "Deadweight loss and the American civil war: the political economy of slavery, secession, and emancipation." Secession, and Emancipation (October 1, 2012) (2012).

LaRosa, Michael, and German R. Mejia. An atlas and survey of Latin American history. Routledge, 2014.Mathews, Donald G. Slavery and Methodism: A Chapter in American Morality, 1780-1845. Princeton University Press, 2015.

Neary, Janet. "Mining the African American Literary Tradition: James Williams's Fugitive Slave in the Gold Rush and the Contours of a" Black Pacific." ESQ: A Journal of the American Renaissance 59.2 (2013): 329-374.

Smith, Thomas Ruys. Southern Queen: New Orleans in the nineteenth century. A&C Black, 2011.