African Americans In The 19th Century Essay

In the 19 century the world began to change. Countries like America began industrializing, and new machines were being invented. The world of politics and society began to change too. The United states was divided between the slave states in the south and the free states in the north. However, the lives of free black Americans in the north was no utopia. Free and enslaved black Americans alike faced discrimination in their limited social, economic, and political rights compared to white men.

The economic rights of free black people were frequently violated when they were kidnapped and sold into slavery. One of the many inventions of the 19th century was the cotton gin. The cotton gin made production of cotton much more efficient, boosting

All of this was for the profit of their enslavers. To go from freedom, where they can earn a wage and work more reasonable hours. to slavery is robbery of their hard work and an encroachment on their economic rights to be paid for their labor. This rise in the enslavement of African Americans can also be seen in statistics. An educational chart labeled “Growth of The African American Population” shows a number of black people in America in different decades of the 19th century and what percentage of them were enslaved. According to the document, 87% of African Americans were enslaved in 1840. By 1860, this number jumped to 89% There is a small yet noticeable rise in the ratio of enslaved people to non-enslaved. Perhaps this increase could be caused by the kidnapping of free men and women. Not only are the people already being enslaved not being paid like their white compatriots, but so are people that were illegally sold into slavery. Both of these situations show a clear difference in the economic rights of black people compared to white men. Even for free black people

In “Chart of States that Abolished Slavery Prior to 1850,” another educational document, it lists 15 out of 30 states. These states abolished slavery between the years of 1777-1820. Vermont being the first and Iowa being the last. Before the civil war, there were free states and slave states. One thing the 15 free states all had in common was that they were all in the north, specifically above the Mason Dixon line. While black people in the north still faced discrimination as was stated earlier, they did have many advantages over those in the south. One of these was that they were not enslaved. It was illegal for someone to own slaves in half of the United States by 1850. The debate over slavery was a huge issue economically, socially and politically. This political tension between the north and south would eventually lead to the American civil war. Free black Americans also didn’t receive the amount of protection from the northern state government that they deserved. They may not have been enslaved, the government did little to protect them from being kidnapped and sold into slavery. In 1839, the anti-slavery Almanac published a paper entitled “A Northern Freeman Enslaved by Northern Hands.” It told the story of a free black man in New York who was, “kidnapped by Tobias Boudinot, E. K. Waddy, John Lyon, and