Land of the Free, Home of the Slave
Land of the Free, Home of the Slave
Our national anthem chants “O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.” My challenge is although this is indeed the land of the free; it is more the home of the slave than the brave. The reasoning behind this logic is that it was the slave whose muscle built the soul of America, and whose uncanny intrusion branded an indelible mark upon U.S. history. It is not fourscore, but seven score and five years later that the controversy which comprised the American Civil War still smolders, the ashes of which still leave a bitter taste in the proverbial mouths on both side of the Mason-Dixon Line. I will present several arguments which lend support that this great land of Lady Liberty and her children are indebted to the cause of the slave. It is generally consensual that the American Civil War was the most important and perhaps the most defining event of United States history. “It altered the internal structure of American society more profoundly than had the Revolution.” (Levine, 1992) The controversy in a nutshell was over the South’s desire to be independent from its northern counterpart, and to be free to conduct commerce in the way that best suited the southern colonies. However, one major problem existed that proved to be a paradox in the American ideal of life. Immigrants, who came to this country to escape some form of bondage, be it political, economic, or otherwise, now refused to see the irony in enslaving their brethren in like manner. Virginia, the leading colony was home to a third of all the slaves in the United States. Statesmen like Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, ousting slavery from their lips, simultaneously owned slaves. The ownership of slaves was synonymous with prestige and stood to generate much profit. “Nearly 4 million slaves with a market value of close to $4 billion lived in the U.S. just before the Civil War. Masters enjoyed rates of returns on slaves comparable to those on other
Our national anthem chants “O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave.” My challenge is although this is indeed the land of the free; it is more the home of the slave than the brave. The reasoning behind this logic is that it was the slave whose muscle built the soul of America, and whose uncanny intrusion branded an indelible mark upon U.S. history. It is not fourscore, but seven score and five years later that the controversy which comprised the American Civil War still smolders, the ashes of which still leave a bitter taste in the proverbial mouths on both side of the Mason-Dixon Line. I will present several arguments which lend support that this great land of Lady Liberty and her children are indebted to the cause of the slave. It is generally consensual that the American Civil War was the most important and perhaps the most defining event of United States history. “It altered the internal structure of American society more profoundly than had the Revolution.” (Levine, 1992) The controversy in a nutshell was over the South’s desire to be independent from its northern counterpart, and to be free to conduct commerce in the way that best suited the southern colonies. However, one major problem existed that proved to be a paradox in the American ideal of life. Immigrants, who came to this country to escape some form of bondage, be it political, economic, or otherwise, now refused to see the irony in enslaving their brethren in like manner. Virginia, the leading colony was home to a third of all the slaves in the United States. Statesmen like Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, ousting slavery from their lips, simultaneously owned slaves. The ownership of slaves was synonymous with prestige and stood to generate much profit. “Nearly 4 million slaves with a market value of close to $4 billion lived in the U.S. just before the Civil War. Masters enjoyed rates of returns on slaves comparable to those on other
Bibliography: Becker, E. (1999). Chronology on the History of Slavery. Retrieved September 5, 2010, from innercity.org: http://innercity.org/holt/chron_1830_end.html Johnson, M. P. (2009). Reading The American Past: Selected Historical Documents, Fourth Edition. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin 's. Levine, B. C. (1992). Half Slave and Half Free: The Roots of Civil War. New York City: Hill and Wang. Wahl, J. B. (2010, February 1). Slavery in the United States. Retrieved September 4, 2010, from EH.net: http://eh.net/encyclopedia/article/wahl.slavery.us