Slavery and the Constitution

Slavery And The Constitution
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Course/Subject
Institution/University
(September 28, 2011)
Slavery And The Constitution
Slavery in America was a form of trade that existed for more than a century in the 1700. Virginia was the first state in North America to acquire slaves from the British in 1619, after a ship arrived carrying a cargo of twenty slaves. The slaves were mainly black "negro" African community that were used for heavy manual labour. They were held by whites. Slavery then spread to various parts of America mainly in the Southern America where huge tracts of land existed for farming. The main crops that were planted in these regions were cotton, sugar, coffee and tobacco. Slavery spread rapidly and continued for a century mainly in the south until the passage of an amendment to the American constitution in 1865. The work of the slaves involved cultivating and harvesting crops. The large groups of slaves who worked in the fields were preferred by the whites because they provided cheap labour and worked more effeciently.
Until the 13th amendment of the American constitution which abolished slavery in the country, the South American whites proposed that slavery should be continued because if it was abolished it would massively affect the economy of the country. The defenders of slavery argued out that abolishing of slave trade would have a negative effect on the economy of South America. They argued out that their plantations would collapse. They were against abolishing of slavery because it would jeopardise their cotton business terming slavery as their major source of l...