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Slavery In North America Essay

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“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character” (Martin Luther King Jr). As thousands of people stood around the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC and listened to the famous "I Have a Dream” speech delivered by Martin Luther King Jr little did they know they were experiencing a part of history that would live on for years to come. Thankfully we live in a world today where racism is mostly frowned upon in American society. In North America, we have never been closer to equality than we are right now. Except, it hasn’t always been this way. Inequality and segregation in the United States has been a deep rooted problem for …show more content…

This is evident through the long battle with slavery, white supremacy groups such as the Klu Klux Klan, and the extreme degree of segregation African- Americans and other minority groups faced. All these important aspect of history allow today’s society to truly understand the motives behind the civil rights movement. Slavery in North America started back in the early 1600’s and was practiced all throughout the United States; concentrating in the Southern regions. Millions of African- American slaves were used to build up the country’s economic status. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the 13th Amendment was put into place that states "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States” (13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Abolition of Slavery par 1). Other amendments were created that allowed African- Americans to vote and become citizens, but these laws were often ignored and not enforced. The slavery in the United States was a brutal time in history. Despite slavery being abolished, the African- American citizens still struggled with protection of these new rights on a federal level. The idea that the country thrived at one point through the sweat and tears of slaves was a major contributor to the motives of the civil rights

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The Civil War settled the fate of slavery. The victory of the Union assured the freedom of enslaved African Americans. “The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution granted freedom, citizenship, and equal protection of the law to all born in the United States, and declared that the right to vote could not be denied because of race or color. In effect, these amendments grafted the Declaration of Independence onto the

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With the creation of the 13th Amendment, slavery was prohibited in the United States. Ratified in 1865, it stated, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime… shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction” (Document A). African Americans were officially free after this amendment was Ratified in the Constitution and the newly Freedmen were officially viewed differently in society. Instead of being held as slaves and viewed as property, now African Americans were viewed as Americans and could participate in public life. Therefore, Reconstruction was a success because slavery was one of the main reasons for the Civil War occurring; but with Reconstruction, the issue of slavery was resolved.

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Three constitutional amendments altered the nature of African American rights, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude.., shall exist in the United States…”(Section 1 Document D). “All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subjected to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens,”(Section 2 Document D). “The right of citizens of the United states to vote shall not be denied,”(Section 3 Document D). Slavery was abolished, they were becoming citizens, and gained the rights to vote. Although these amendments seem great, the whites still found a way to torment free slaves.

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Prior to the 1860s, before the end of the Civil War, African Americans in the US were generally treated as inferior citizens by the Whites. After the Civil War, however, slavery was abolished everywhere in the US. New laws were established, which were meant to end the slavery and to guarantee freedom to the freed slaves. The Thirteenth Amendment, which was ultimately enacted in 1865, was meant to end slavery in all states in the US. The Fourteenth Amendment, which was enacted in 1868, was meant to ensure that all citizens of the US,

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In 1865 the 13th amendment was passed and slavery was illegal. Then in 1868 the 14th amendment was passed and gave African Americans citizenship. The final amendment to pass for a long time was the 15th amendment in 1870; it gave male African Americans the right to vote (Wikipedia. “African-American Civil Rights Movement”). The African American slaves were finally freed after over 100 years of treated horribly and being enslaved.

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The Civil War ended slavery and three Constitutional Amendments altered African American rights. The 13th Amendment abolished/discontinued slavery in all territories and states. The 14th Amendment gave equal protection to all males regardless of race and prohibited states from depriving them of this right. The 15th Amendment allowed for African Americans males to vote. With these amendments being ratified, it became a requirement for southern states to be readmitted into the Union.

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Slavery ended in the year 1964 by Abraham Lincoln passing the 13th amendment. The 13th amendment was passed on January 31, 1864, and was officially ratified by the end of the year on December 6th. About three years later the 14th amendment was passed on July 9, 1868. This amendment gave all citizens born in the United States the rights of life, liberty and property. The 15th amendment was passed on February 3, 1870, stating that any black male wanting to vote would not denied the rights All of these amendments were huge to the African Americans.

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These efforts often took shape in the form of legal reform. During the mid-nineteenth century three key amendments, known as The Reconstruction Amendments were made to attempt to legally acknowledge the rights of blacks in America. The first was the 13th amendment that was ratified on December 18, 1865 and is associated with the abolishment of slavery. However the 13th amendment states that slavery is not allowed “except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted” (“Primary Documents in American History." 13th Amendment…).

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“ I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self evident: that all men are created equal.” Dr. King also states that one day he would like his children to be free as whites were. “ I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character.” Dr. King uses his own words to describe what he wants the nation to look like in the future. “ I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”

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For a multitude of years, African Americans were considered purchasable property, not people. When the United States ratified the Constitution and they had established their government, slavery had not been abolished. It was not until the period after The Civil War that the United States government passed the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments and African Americans had gained their long-awaited freedom and civil rights. These Reconstruction Amendments gave African Americans the right to live the American Dream. The Reconstruction Amendments helped African Americans build an American Dream by promoting their general welfare, giving them liberty, and assuring justice for all people of color.

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Slavery was practiced in America from the 17th century through the 19th century; Africans were brought over through the middle passage and were sold as chattel to southern plantation owners. Despite the South’s immense support of the institution of Slavery, Northern states opposed it and their opposing views resulted in the South’s secession from the United States and the beginning of the American civil war. From 1861 to 1865, the Union and the Confederacy fought over the south’s secession and the institution of slavery and in 1865, the Union won the war against the Confederacy and they passed the 13th amendment which officially outlawed the institution of slavery in the United States. In 1868 the 14th amendment made all slaves U.S. citizens. Even though the Union’s victory gave millions of Blacks their freedom, Blacks faced challenges and injustices; the legacy of slavery and anti-black sentiments continued to influence American society and its poor treatment of Blacks.

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Slavery began long before the colonization of North America. This was an issue in ancient Egypt, as well as other times and places throughout history. In discussing the evolution of African slavery from its origins, the resistance and abolitionist efforts through the start of the Civil War, it is found to have resulted in many conflicts within our nation. In 1619, the first Africans in America arrived in Jamestown on a Dutch ship.

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Over the years from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, slaves were not only transported to just the United States, but to all around the world. They were sold and traded to many different countries which meant that their cultures went with them. As they would grow and multiply in an area, they would repopulate in others. Forced labor migrations contributed to globalization because when slaves of different ethnicities were shipped to other parts of the world, they took their culture and history with them. When the term “Slave trade” is used, it has a negative meaning and usually a negative context behind it, but by seeing what the slave trade actually did for not only America, but for the world, the meaning behind it can be viewed from another angle.

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