Slavery and the Civil War

Paper Summary:

In this article, the writer discusses that slavery developed in North America during Colonial times. The writer notes that a year before the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts, English colonialists brought slaves to Virginia. The writer points out that they came because during this age of mercantilism, Europeans believed that the best way for countries to acquire wealth was to colonize and exploit the colonized country for its resources, such as gold, silver, furs, fish, timber, tobacco, sugar and rice. The writer notes that all of these resources required labor and industry, and often colonialists enslaved the indigenous people in the country they were exploiting. The writer then looks at the issue of slavery as it relates to the Civil War.

From the Paper:

"As time went on, the focus of American justification shifted from the religion of the person to the color of the person. At first, slaves had a chance to become free if they converted to Christianity, gave particularly meritorious service to the master, or were able to buy themselves out. But as the religious reasons for enslaving them faded over time, race became the deciding factor for who could be a slave. Black Africans were slaves. White people owned them as chattel, and blacks were property. The slaves' whole life was about work. That was their reason for existing in the slave-owner's point of view. They did all the dirty work, the nasty jobs, and everything that was dangerous. This was particularly true in the South where the whole economy rested on free labor."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Broks, P. (1990). Science, the press and empire: 'Pearson's' publications, 1890-1914. In Imperialism and the natural world, Ed. John M. MacKenzie, New York: Manchester University Press.
• Kelley, R. D. G. and Lewis, E. (2000). To make our world anew: A history of African Americans. New York: Oxford University Press.
• Knight, D. M. (1986). Sources for the history of science, 1660-1914. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.
• Spicer, J. (2004). The cause of the American Civil War: John Spicer judges that slavery was the key factor in producing the conflict. History Review, 49, 45-51.

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