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Essay: Slavery in Antebellum America: Economic Boom, Cultural Tensions & Political Fight

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  • Published: 26 February 2023*
  • Last Modified: 22 July 2024
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  • Words: 976 (approx)
  • Number of pages: 4 (approx)
  • Tags: Slavery essays

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The institution of slavery during the Antebellum of American Society, was a sponsor for those who lived in the South- that was able to be taken advantage of. Southern States benefited economically during the Antebellum Society, producing mass tons of cotton, and earning profit from selling slaves, but culturally the South was traditionally a white regime. In Northern states, slavery did not pose too much of an economic “boom”, but instead it was more diverse culturally, slavery was not a common thing in the North. Politically slavery was a huge issue in the North, but an necessity for the South.

Slavery during the Antebellum Society shaped the South’s economy immensely. The South was profiting from Cotton with the help of the newly created cotton gin- the Cotton Gin created by Eli Whitney which made it easier to pull out the seeds instead of doing it one by one or by hand, which in turn created the Cotton Kingdom. The Cotton Kingdom is referred to the high sales of cotton.With a high demand for more cotton, the higher the demand for slaves. Slave prices became more costly at auction houses, but also selling slaves became more common as others took this demand for slaves to their advantage. Slave merchants would begin to travel to the North to kidnap freedmen, and would sell them under the Fugitive Slave Act, lying about their backstory.

Solomon Northup is an example of how slave merchants took advantage of slave laws. Solomon was born as a freeman, to a free mother and his father, an emancipated slave. He was a brilliant violinist who entertained many in rural parts of New York. Northup was proposed by two merchants Merrill Brown and Abram Hamilton, to play for an event in New York City. Following his performance in the city, they convinced Northup to tag along with them to a circus in Washington- at the time slavery was completely legal in Washington. During the trip, Brown and Hamilton drugged Northup, kidnapped him, and got rid of him- his identity.  They renamed Northup to Platt and eventually sold him to James Birch, a slave trader. After 12 years of living as a slave, he was saved from Samuel Bass, who sent detailed locations of his exact location to his family, and once free wrote of his experiences as a slave.  This is just one detailed event of how Southerners would kidnap freedman and profit of their skin, there are plenty more.

Slavery heavily, and positively shaped the economy of the South, but culturally it became worse for slaves, while strengthening Southerners’ pride. Racism was something freed slaves had to deal with on a daily. Even if a Southerner did not own a slave, it still boosted their moral knowing somebody was under them, and this made them see themselves as superior. Explained in the American Yawp, racial tensions in the South influenced popular entertainment culture. The white actor Thomas D. Rice appeared on stage in blackface, singing and dancing as a clownish slave named “Jim Crow”- hence the name Jim Crow laws, this quickly became popular and others would follow this act also. Stealing the work of real black performers while entertaining to white audiences’ prejudices, they turned cruel stereotypes into one of antebellum America’s favorite forms of entertainment.  These stereotypes hurt those who were slaves and freedman. Freedman in the South were prosecuted to leave their home because of their culture, sometimes killed.

Economically the North did not really benefit from the institution of slavery. The North was not a cash crop economy during the Antebellum Society. It instead focused more on industry, but some industries were connected to the south. Some textile mills consumed cotton which would in turn benefit some people in the North. Culturally the North began to diverse itself because of slavery. Allowing others from other country reach their goals, in the United States, and giving a chance for those who are slaved, to become free men.

Politically slavery shaped politics to be biased, especially in the South. The South's goal was to protect and preserve slavery as much as possible. They created “Slave Codes” to keep slaves in check, so they did not try to become overpowered in anyway. The South would eventually pass the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, which would give rights to southerners to capture escaped slaves in the North, even if they were considered free in the eyes of the North. This act caused huge tension between the North and the South, whites in the North had to participate or help a “bounty hunter” and if refused or protected any slaves, they would be prosecuted. Prigg V. Pennsylvania, 1842 is an example of this tension. In the 1780s, Pennsylvania passed laws that made it illegal to take a black person from the state for the purpose of enslaving them, but in Prigg V. Pennsylvania Supreme Court Joseph Story decided that the Fugitive Slave Act overruled their state law.  Which caused a lot of tension.

Slavery was not just hard labor in the South, it is what built the South up. Slavery was holding the base of the South. Southerners did not want to break their base, so they fought for it, which eventually led to war. Even though negatively the culture of Slaves became affected the South in a bad way, it made the Slaves and those who were free stronger. Politically it gave South more knowledge, those who did not want to give up, fought for their rights politically, even though the North fought back. Economically the South became rich, very rich. Although of the cons of Slavery for the South, the North fought for what was morally right. In the end Slavery is what made America to what it is today, as harsh as it was, we are all standing on history.

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