Summary Of The Long Emancipation By Ira Berlin

When analyzing the history of the United States, it is nearly impossible to assess accurately without examining the history of slavery. Slavery has grown and changed alongside America since the establishment of the colonies. Beginning in 1619 Jamestown, Virginia, the slave trade increased exponentially. Although the formation of American slavery is widely accepted, historians often argue about the process in which slaves were emancipated. Ira Berlin, a distinguished history professor at the University of Maryland, added to the discussion with his novel, The Long Emancipation. Berlin challenged the normal argument of emancipation by addressing the long process that ensued slavery, which included the influence of revolutionary ideals, like

Ira Berlin disagrees with this analysis; Berlin challenges this standard view by addressing emancipation as a long process. In addition, he establishes that one characteristic of emancipation that is vital to understand is the “centrality of black people”. Berlin argued that although white abolitionists and northern governments were a part of the process, black americans, freed or enslaved, played the central role. White abolitionists saw slavery as a destruction of society and democracy, but black abolitionists knew slavery to be a destruction of humanity and self. Berlin explains that for many black americans, slavery was an individualist struggle; many did not see complete emancipation as a possibility, so they strived for a piecemeal approach with the desire of obtaining small victories. On the plantation, slaves would attempt to slow down production as much as possible: many slaves broke tools and sang in a ritardando. Without black opposition, there would be no need to challenge slavery in the first place. Even though legally slavery did not end until 1863, black americans pushed against the oppression; even the free northern black population recognized that as long as slavery existed, the societally white dominated public would continue to connect slavery and skin color, thus they would be “denied the full right of Americans”. By putting

The black community utilized the documents of the United States to push abolitionists’ logic; white slaveholders, however, were able to counter the reasoning using the Constitution as well. According to many slavery supporters, the Constitution provided United States citizens with the “right to life, liberty, and property”, which meant that slavery was constitutionally sound if they saw slaves as human property. They did not see slaves as human beings rather as a labor force created by God to help increase production. Furthermore, slave owners created many other arguments to hold onto the roots of slavery. Some used the bible as a reason to continue enslavement; many believed that the impoverished status of free people and slaves was enough of a justification for slavery. A fair portion of slaveholders believed that the slaves needed slavery in order to survive. Black abolitionists refused to accept the opposing notions, and they fought frivolously for a chance for