Why Did Slavery In America Last So Long?
Why did slavery in America last so long? Slavery was legal in America from 1619 to 1865, that’s almost 250 years. The slaves were always treated with no respect and they had no rights. To this day, slavery is America’s dark background and it is an embarrassment, but why did it go on for so long? People didn’t revolt, because of the conditioning and the fear of resistance.
Life as a slave was terrible, cruel, and depressing. Being a slave was a curse, they had to do whatever their master wanted them too. There was basically no way out of being of slave, “That means we're going to have to play the roles you gave us” (Butler,65). Slaves were meant to be mindless robots that do what they are told and don’t cause problems. They were meant to have …show more content…
Even when they really weren’t doing anything wrong there would be punishment after punishment after punishment. It became normal life, “Slavery was a long slow process of dulling” (Butler,183). Eventually many people just gave into being a slave. They would accept their life and take the occasion beating. Their goal was to not do anything stupid that would cause a major punishment. Surprisingly though, a slave’s life could always get worse. A slave really never had choices, “She went to him. She adjusted, became a quieter more subdued person. She didn't kill, but she seemed to die a little” (Butler,169). Slaves had to change to do whatever their master wanted them for, whether it was for work or pleasure. No matter what it was always demoralizing. What caused the most fear was that a slave could be sold to a new master at any moment. It wasn’t a hard task to do so either, “These slaves were listed by their first names with their approximate ages and their skills given” (Butler,262). Basically all an owner had to do was put a for sale sign out. Then being sold to another master ment starting their life over and a whole new set of beatings so the master knew that they would obey them. This proved effective, trying to escape was not worth the beatings and other potential
Life as a slave was terrible, cruel, and depressing. Being a slave was a curse, they had to do whatever their master wanted them too. There was basically no way out of being of slave, “That means we're going to have to play the roles you gave us” (Butler,65). Slaves were meant to be mindless robots that do what they are told and don’t cause problems. They were meant to have …show more content…
Even when they really weren’t doing anything wrong there would be punishment after punishment after punishment. It became normal life, “Slavery was a long slow process of dulling” (Butler,183). Eventually many people just gave into being a slave. They would accept their life and take the occasion beating. Their goal was to not do anything stupid that would cause a major punishment. Surprisingly though, a slave’s life could always get worse. A slave really never had choices, “She went to him. She adjusted, became a quieter more subdued person. She didn't kill, but she seemed to die a little” (Butler,169). Slaves had to change to do whatever their master wanted them for, whether it was for work or pleasure. No matter what it was always demoralizing. What caused the most fear was that a slave could be sold to a new master at any moment. It wasn’t a hard task to do so either, “These slaves were listed by their first names with their approximate ages and their skills given” (Butler,262). Basically all an owner had to do was put a for sale sign out. Then being sold to another master ment starting their life over and a whole new set of beatings so the master knew that they would obey them. This proved effective, trying to escape was not worth the beatings and other potential