Relationship Between Slavery And The American Revolution

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Slavery and The American Revolution

The agricultural new world demanded a very large workforce that was inexpensive, hardworking and strong. This resulted in slaves being brought from western Africa and brought to the New world as a workforce. Once the slaves are captured from Western Africa, their lives are forever changed; they undergo treacherous conditions while crossing the Atlantic Ocean on their ways to the New World. In the United States, slaves are sold and separates from their families to live on plantations in most cases, brutal conditions. Although some slaves did attain freedom, they were viewed as inferior and were not given the same rights as white americans. Internal slave trade continued, making white Americans believe …show more content…

Slaves were in large demand throughout the 1700’s, especially when Eli Whitney created the cotton gin in 1793. With the cotton gin, one slave could produce up to one thousand pounds of cotton per day rather than only around ten pounds per day; larger demands for corron soon lead to the increase of the slave population due the economic benefits of having more slaves. Emancipation was out of the question in the slave-rich South. Without slaves, the south would not be able to function in their usual agricultural ways, so they fought to keep slavery and refused to abolish it. The amount of slaves being brought to America after the Revolutionary war greatly increased. This was mainly because of money and demand in the North for products that can only be grown and produced in the South. It is states that, “Most of the Negroes shipped off from the coast of Africa are kidnapped.” The kidnapping was the main result of the requests for more slaves made by the southerners. After the Revolutionary war, slavery was fought against by some of the Founding Fathers, but the Southerners fought back. They explain that using slaves was their way of life and changing it would ruin the economy. The founding fathers losing the case led to almost all slaves returning to their normal lives. Due to the southerners focus on expanding and growing economically, emancipating …show more content…

It is unconstitutional and unjust that one group of people are being left out and deprived of every other humans rights. Slaves were owned and were not free, “As the institution of slavery gained strength in the South, congressional delegates missed several opportunities to abolish slavery or stem its expansion.” Americans allowed slavery to continue to grow, by increasing the amounts of slaves brought to America each year. They believed that they were giving slaves a better and more controlled life in America compared to their lives in Africa. This is a very one sided argument because in Africa, african americans were living with their families and although they may have had rough lives, many were much happier than they were in slavery. Southerners felt the need to defend slavery and became very cautious of the potential effects of life without slaves. They did not want slaves to gain rights and freedom because it would take away their source of labor. Their strong arguments continues the hold on abolishing slavery and completely making all men equal. The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, yet slave population was tripled between 1775 and 1825. There was no effort to make slaves people and not