Slavery
Slavery
During the American Revolution the majority of the population was African American slaves. Slavery was a major part of the 18th Century colonial times, and had to do with most portions of everyday life. Blacks were used for a variety of things during the colonial period, and there were many issues that arose regarding the usage of slaves. The North and the South had different views of slavery although it existed in both regions. Slavery became a topic when concerning the constitution and our pursuit of freedom in the United States.
Slavery was used for many different reasons in North America. It was mainly used to take the burden or dirty-work off the hands of the white people. “There were Africans taken as slaves to cultivate rice, sugar, and tobacco” (America Past and Present, 73). Slave labor was required for doing those things. These things being extreme labor, the whites did not want to do them, so they gave that assignment to the blacks. As a result, the trend of owning a slave spread and became popular in many regions.
The development of slaves occurred in both the North and the South. The North and the South developed along opposing lines: the North on manufacturing, and the South on slavery. The slaves in the North were needed to clear the land and to make room for the manufactures. “In the northern states, there was no real economic justification for slavery” (America Past and Present, 165).The slaves in the south were mainly used in cultivating cotton, tobacco, and other resources. Slavery in the North was never as extensive in numbers as slavery in the South. Ideas of slavery began to transform as the North and the South divided their ideas.
Berger 2
The revolutionaries saw slavery as a contradictory issue to the ideals American Revolution. America made us a promise, but this promise had a problem. The problem is slavery. The promise being in the Declaration of Independence, which states, "We hold...
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