The word slavery cannot only be defined in which one human being is owned by another human being, but it is also known to be one of the greatest contributions to the American history. A slave was considered by law as a property, and was deprived of most of the rights normally held by free persons. Hence, slavery transforms human beings into things or objects that only powerful or rich people can only buy. Moreover this thing called slavery mistreated so many people by destroying their lives and their happiness, which they do not deserve.
Slavery is very cruel and inhumane; it degraded the lives of humans and hindered their right to life and liberty that they all deserve under the Constitution of the United States. In addition, slavery brought a lot of fear, especially to the African Americans. In 1619, a Dutch trading vessel sold twenty Africans as indentured servants in the New World at Jamestown, Virginia, which started the slavery throughout the American colonies. The violent transportation in the slavery of at least twelve million men, women, and children from their African homelands to the Americas changed forever the face and character of the modern world.
Despite the different races of slaves in America, it was the African Americans who were discriminated the most. They were also the easiest to become slaves since they offered the best labor and they were very cheap. The slave trade was very brutal and gruesome, and the enslavement of Africans was cruel, exploitative, and dehumanizing because they are still humans after all. Nevertheless, the transatlantic slave trade laid the foundation for modern capitalism, generating immense wealth for business enterprises in America and Europe.
Slavery existed in all of England’s 13 Northern American colonies which are, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island, and the Caribbean. In addition, Slavery was the foundation of Virginia’s agricultural system and is essential to its economy. The variety of food crops, livestock, and sugarcane production usually kept slaves busy especially growing tobacco; this is why planters usually have lots of slaves to raise tobacco for export.
Slaves worked on tobacco plantations and large farms. Also, since the cultivation of tobacco was extremely labor-intensive, African slave labor was used. Therefore, as a result of this, slaves had to work in any temperature conditions, sometimes freezing, and sometimes very warm. Moreover, slaves were punished by being whipped almost to death, and worse is black women were forced to have sexual encounters with their masters. Immediately following the Revolutionary War, abolitionist laws were passed in most of the Northern states, and an effort to abolish slavery.
As a result, they abolished slavery at the end of 18th century. On the contrary, after the invention of the cotton gin, British and New England textile mills demanded for more cotton, which resulted to the rapid expansion of the cotton plantations in the southern states. With the huge demand of cotton, so did the demand of slaves increase. Moreover, the southern states’ fortune depended on slaves, and that is why tobacco planters from the north sold their slaves to the cotton planters in the south.
There was a point that the importation of slaves got prohibited, because of this, there was an illegal smuggling of slaves since the demands were really high. At this point, free-labor agriculture transformed the North’s economy, but the South had an opposite development, which is entangled with slavery. To stop the terrible crime of having slaves, a Civil War and Reconstruction period in the south that followed the war had to happen to guarantee the equality of former slaves. The Civil War turned the southern states upside down, and slaves were freed as a result of this.
The Emancipation Proclamation transformed the Civil War from a war against secession into a war of “a new birth of freedom,” as what Abraham Lincoln said. The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution that was passed on January 31, 1865 formally stopped the slavery. A colony is an area of land that is under the political control of another country. The controlling country is usually far away from the place of colony therefore; other colonies were founded in hopes of creating new trade opportunities and profits for investors.
In addition, religious leaders or groups looking for religious freedom founded most of the colonies since they are driven with a variety of factors such as religion, nationalism, and economics, or God, Glory, and Gold. Particularly with what happened with England and the 13 American colonies, Queen Elizabeth wanted to establish colonies in the Americas in order to grow the British Empire. They wanted to find wealth, new jobs, and create trade ports along the coast of America.
As a result of this, the United States of America was formed from the 13 colonies in 1776. The original 13 colonies were divided into three geographic areas consisting of the New England colonies, the Middle colonies, and the Southern colonies. They also had specific economic, social, and political developments that were unique to their regions and locations in Colonial America. Moreover, trade and export is the main thing in the American colonies; colonial work and jobs were dictated by the theory of Mercantilism and the Triangular Trade.
There were many different types of work and jobs, the climate, geography, and natural resources determined the work and jobs needed in the different regions of the 13 colonies. The New England colonies include Massachusetts, which was established on 1630, Rhode Island and Connecticut, which were established on 1636, and New Hampshire, which was established on 1638. The geography of these colonies consisted of mountains thick with trees, rivers and poor rocky soil that farming was difficult to grow crops.
As a result of this, these colonies were mainly dependent on the ocean by fishing cods, mackerels, herrings, and other more; whale oil was a valuable resource during that time. They had mild summers and long cold winters but they got lesser diseases than in the warmer southern colonies. Moreover, New England colonies dominated by the Puritans, they followed strict rules and were intolerant of other religions; they were dominated by church and people were given consequences if they do not attend or if they speak against the Puritans ways.
Singing and celebrating holidays were among things prohibited in Puritan New England. Lastly, the system of government in New England were democratic; they elected their legislature, had a governor and a court system. The Middle Colonies include, New York, which was established on 1626, Delaware, which was established on 1638, New Jersey, which was established on 1664, and Pennsylvania, which was established on 1681.
The geography of the Middle Colonies had fertile soil and land that was suited to farming; large agricultural farms grew numerous kinds of crops like grains, oats, wheat, and corn. They also had livestock that includes beef and pork; also some timber, furs, coal, and iron ore which was an important natural resource. In addition, the Middle Colonies had a mild climate with warm summers and mild winters, which is why it is ideal for these colonies to have farms and coastal harbors for shipping.
Furthermore, religion in the Middle Colonies was diverse; no single religion seemed to dominate the entire region, and some of these were Quakers, Catholics, and Jews. They had different kinds of government, some had a Royal Colony, and some had Proprietary Government. The Last colonies are the Southern Colonies, Virginia, which was established on 1607, Maryland, which was established on 1633, North and South Carolina, which were established on 1663, and Georgia, which was established on 1732.
The geography of the Southern Colonies included fertile soil, hilly coastal plains, forests, and long rivers. Crops like rice, indigo, tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton were grown on large plantations since they were entirely based on farming. They had warm climate with hot summers and mild winters, but the warm weather spread diseases to the people. Moreover, they had a religious freedom and their religions differ from each colony, some were Catholics, Baptists or Anglican.
Lastly, the government in the Southern Colonies were also Royal and Proprietary Government. The three colonies all had the same goals and reasons in coming to the United States of America; they wanted to be free and get away from the percussions and religious intolerance in England. The colonies were separate and diverse from each other since it depends on which territory or part of the country they were in. Overall, they all cherished a new start in life, their own religion, religious tolerance, trade and acquisition land away from all the restrictions.