Solomon Northup Argumentative Essay

Throughout history, slavery was the main issue that was ignored and many slaves that had to go through this horrible experience, never got their voices heard. A former male slave named Frederick Douglass, who just like Solomon Northup, were victims of slavery. Both of these male slaves got treated very poorly which is why they had to let their stories out for the whole world to hear. Both of them argued for their rights, are self-educated, and have escaped slavery. Another former slave who went through this is Harriet Jacobs. Jacobs is a former female slave who had to face the true horrors of slavery, but worse than others. She suffered the most because as a female she had to do whatever her master told her to do even if she did not want to.

Northup was stolen and sold into slavery which was very cruel since he had to leave his family behind. Northup had to go through so much due to being tricked into slavery; he was very outraged at his circumstances. Northup had a hard time working and facing all the barbarity actions of slavery. After being sold into slavery, Solomon Northup was immediately beaten and was treated brutally. Northup could not do much for himself since no one believed that he was free and when he would actually say something, things would only turn out worse. In the source where Solomon Northup's lifestyle is brought up, it provides what he had to go through, “Blow after blow was inflicted upon my naked body. When his unrelenting arm grew tired, he stopped and asked if I still insisted I was a free man. I did insist upon it, and then the blows were renewed, faster and more energetically, if possible, than before. When again tired, he would repeat the same question, and receiving the same answer, continue his cruel labour. All this time, the incarnate devil was uttering most fiendish oaths” (“12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup” 2014). Not only can the cruelty of slavery be seen here, but the way slaves were treated is unacceptable. Since Northup was stolen and sold into slavery, he was forced to live a barbaric and unruly lifestyle. He had to leave his family behind and was not able to see his children grow up. His master who

This is said because slaves brought profit to their owners which increased their economy. When slaves would be put to work they would work from early in the morning to sunrise. Slaves would produce many crops which would bring much profits to their slave owners. In the source called American History, it stated “Slaves provided the labor needed to produce products that were in demand. Sugar was one of these products” (“American History:Slavery in the South” 2012). The work that slaves would produce raised the economy. This made slave owners feel joyous and it also resulted in getting more slaves to work on the plantations. Along with having slaves, many crops or products were manufactured. If it was not for the slaves, many crops or products would not have been grown which could have resulted in having low income or profit. However, this was a lot of pressure towards the slaves because they had to work so many hours. If they were tired or did not want to work it resulted in getting whipped or beaten. No slave wanted to go through that, but sadly they had to since that was what slavery consisted of and they had to hold the