Slavery In Colonial America

Slavery in America started began when the first ship of slaves landed in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619. Slavery was brought to America to aid the production of lucrative crops like tobacco, indigo, sugarcane, corn, and the list goes on. Slavery went on throughout the 17th and 18th century in the American colonies, leading the way to build an economic foundation for the new nation. By the mid-19th century, Americans started to expand out west, and fought for the abolitionment of slavery from the North. That would later provoke a controversial debate over slavery leading that would tear the nation apart and lead to a bloody Civil War in the 1860s. "So you're the little woman who wrote the book that made this great war." This famous quote was Abraham
Generally speaking, slaves in the northernmost Southern states had better working conditions and more freedom on their plantations. As slavery became more orthodox, and the price per slave rose, punishments for infractions increased and became worse. Punishment was characterized by three treatments: brutality, degradation, and inhumanity. Executions, whippings, and rapes very common, especially in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Slaves were denied educational opportunities, like going to school and learning how to read or write. Medical care was often another slave who had seen or experienced some type of treatment. If you were lucky the slave master would have a doctor or family friend come and tend to an injured slave, but this was only if they were on their deathbeds. After the Nat Turner rebellion in 1831, the heart of the southern states prohibited slaves from holding religious gatherings due to the fear that these meetings would not be used be become closer to God, but to pan out rebellions and escapes. George Harris, a slave in Uncle Tom’s Cabin, tells Tom about how "I have been careful, and I have been patient, but it's growing worse and worse; flesh and blood can't bear it any longer; … chance he can get to insult and torment me, he takes. I thought I could do my work well, and keep on quiet, but … I have been kicked and cuffed and sworn at, … and what do I owe? I've paid for all my keeping a hundred times over. I won't bear it. No, I won't!" (35) Harris’ suffering isn’t just an accident of circumstances, or a common byproduct of the institution of slavery, but it’s the deliberate product of his master’s cruelty. This is a common description of the cruelty shown by masters throughout the book. Stowe hoped that readers would rise up against slavery if they understood the beatings, the rapes, and the division of families that often occur. Slaves should be