Slavery and Racism in Early American History

SLAVERY AND RACISM IN EARLY AMERICAN HISTORY
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(May 14, 2012)
Slavery and Racism in Early American History
Introduction
Slavery and racism define a roadmap for the major struggles and activism contests in the American history. In fact, the history of conquest, slavery, and resistance in the shaping of early American history is very significant and focus on the social history of African-American slavery, political-economic and social history of resistance in the colonies and the greater United States of America, and the nature and cause of Native American genocide. Major battles have been fought by civil rights activists and politicians alike to ensure a democratic and free country; this elaborates the history which is part of an argument with the events of the past (Finkelman, 2006). These acts help to reflect on the present and shape the future in molding a better society. This is especially so because it is based on multiple perspectives and interpretations grounded upon a body of evidence. This paper critically discusses the issue of slavery and racism in early American history; this is based on the evidence given in historical books and key note addresses given by Abraham Lincoln on September 18, 1858 and Fredrick Douglas on July 5, 1852.
Question of slavery: Winthorp D Jordan's book, The white Man's Burden, discusses the origins of racism in the United States.
One will never talk of racism without understanding the era of slavery and slave trade; this is because the black race was believed to have been introduced to America through them. Racism is one thing that has troubled many a people in America for the longest time the grid of racism and ways if ridding off has been one which is a motivating factor for many political aspirants and been a debate in many sectors of the U.S. it is good to note that racism is part of human nature thus explaining the different colors. However, it is best to note that it the bad aspects of racism have been instigated by the society while in real sense, all races are the same irrespective of everything. Jordan (65) states that “many colonies made efforts in the first half of the eighteenth century to prevent too many Negroes from becoming free. In every colony, though there was a steady trickle of private manu-missions and in the southern colonies an occasional dramatic bestowal of freedom by the legislature upon a negro….”
The first is that racism is part of human nature that it's always existed and always will. The second is the liberal idea of racism--that it comes from people's bad ideas and that if we could change these ideas, we could get rid of it. It initially originated from the bourgeoisie in the capitalism environment and slave trade which went against any form of religion and philosophers to date cannot still comprehend considering the inhumane acts that were done to the inferior race (Jordan, 82). The ancient ages of the Greek and the Roman states had no racism or oppression based on the same. Though they had slavery, it did not specify on the base of racism because as Aristotle quotes in his book ‘Politics’ “Some men are by nature free, and others slaves, and that for these latter, slavery is both expedient and right." The Blacks in these societies were very well founded and some had high ranks in society. The holocaust presents an example where people were treated inhumanely and without dignity. Stannard (102) states “it must be noted that even these shocking suicide and health statistics greatly understate the desperate reality of life on many Indian reservations, for there are direct correlations between such so-called quality of life indices and the degree of cultural integrity individual Indian peoples have been able to maintain”. The only thing is that capitalists believed it as a “natural” system African were lesser beings and thus could be used only as slaves. The interesting thing is that in the early colonial American system, slavery was not racially based; in an attempt to enslave the Native American who were red Indians as they were not enough man power. Some white servants were imported from Britain who could be beaten, overworked, raped, sold and bought at auction markets and are which form part of the white American today. There was a lot of discrimination and harassment this was driven by the fact that the white man feared the black man. Jordan, (82) states that “The white man’s fear of the Negro sexual aggression were equally apparent in the use of castration as a punishment in the colonies”.
Question: Senator Lincoln's Speech of September 18, 1858 provides a controversial position on the topic of race and race separation in the mid-nineteenth century.
In Virginia in the C17, blacks held an equal status own property, have fire arms and could files cases in court and testify against the white which was something that came to change later with capitalism; when they later had it as a racism institution, with reasons for it. The first was that it was as an upgrade of the indentured servitude which had seen strain due to high demand for labor and industrial growth of Britain. The servitude had a short life span of only five to seven years cutting largely on the labor. Instead, the black slaves lived longer giving value for their money as they also worked more based on the economies of scale that existed at that time. The other reason was that the African children could be put into the slavery system and could be trained on their duties right from childhood as compared to the other servants and the natives. The Black labor was way cheaper and effective as compared to the other races. Lincoln in his speech wanted to ensure that equality among all the races and bring together a harmonious society. He was against all the injustices that the blacks faced and his major discriminations that they had to endure just because they were black. His vision was to...