Why Was Slavery Important In American History

Slavery is an important part of American history because it affected both the north and south. Slaves were an important part of the economy for the south seeing as how it was an agricultural based economy and without slaves there wouldn’t have been such a rich economy. Slaves farmed and processed their cash crops such as cotton, sugar, and rice. Although, slaves were a main part in the southern economy slavery was not approved of by the all of Americans. There were activists that were for slavery and there were activist that were against slavery. As a way of getting their story across, escaped slaves wrote narratives explaining their struggles and experiences. In the narratives read in class there was a common significant theme they all shared, and it was the affect their place of enslavement had on their experience as a slave.
Planation slaves and city slaves had a different experience with slavery; their difference in place of slavery tells us how public opinion dealt with slavery, the effect of slavery on a family depending on place, and what placement had to do with slaves being able to
learn. Depending on whether a slave lived on a plantation or in a city greatly influenced their experience of slavery. The result of where they lived determined whether public opinion was brought into account when it came to the rearing of slaves. Fredrick Douglass specifically mentions in his narrative how public opinion affected a slave.
Public opinion was, indeed, a measurable restraint upon the cruelty and barbarity of masters, overseers, and slave-drivers, whenever and wherever it could reach them; but there were certain secluded and out of the way places, even in the State of Maryland, fifty years ago, seldom visited by a single ray of healthy public sentiment, where slavery, wrapt in its own congenial darkness, could and did develop all its malign and shocking characteristics, where it could be indecent without shame, cruel without shuddering, and murderous without apprehension or fear of exposure, or punishment.
After the constitution stating all men are equal, the idea of slavery became a lot less accepted and was abolished in northern states by the time Fredrick Douglass wrote this. It can be seen that even if a state hadn’t abolished slavery, there was still a slight discomfort with the idea of being cruel to slaves. This discomfort created a specific, important difference between plantation and city slaves, the punishments and ownership of city slaves were not as bad as ownership and punishment of plantation slaves. Family life to a plantation slave and a city slave was defined by their knowledge and understanding of being a slave. This knowledge of being a slave was something that wasn’t completely understood in city slaves until later on in life. Harriot Jacobs says in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, her narrative about life as a slave. “I WAS born a slave; but I never knew it till six years of happy childhood had passed away” Harriot grew up in Edenton, NC. Living in a city allowed for her to be shielded from the fact that she was property. When a slave lives in the city, depending on their skill set, they can live away from their masters. Being able to live in a different house than the master lessens the hold of slavery, while it increase the connection with the family. Sadly, the same thing cannot be said for a child planation slave because while on a plantation there is a constant reminder of the position held as a slave. Plantation slaves couldn’t form as close relations with their family because there was a copious amount of separation between the families. With the interstate slave trade, slaves on a plantation were not just being sold the next town over, but multiple states over. Elizabeth Keckley wrote about her experience with having to separate from her father in her narrative Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty years a Slave, and Four years in the White House. “Mr. Burwell came to the cabin, with a letter in his hand … as gently as possible informed my parents that they must part; for in two hours my father must join his master at Dinwiddie, and go with him to the West, where he had determined to make his future home” . The separation of family members left little room to form close bonds with individuals within the family. While being a city slave was more conducive to staying with the family, being a plantation slave left more opportunity for family to be taken away from each other. A city slave and a plantation slave had different opportunities when it came to learning. Fredrick Douglass was a plantation slave who had the opportunity to learn to read by way of his mistress teaching him the alphabet. After teaching Fredrick the alphabet, she was scolded and told not to teach him to read by her husband, Fredrick learned by reading the bible. This is similar to Harriot Jacobs who learned to read by way of her mistress reading the bible to her. Even though Harriot was a city slave and Fredrick a plantation slave both were taught to read by their mistresses. Fredrick Douglass’ case was a special one, his mistress wasn’t used to owning a slave therefore treated him like a child and not a slave. A slave being taught to read was not a likely thing to happen on a planation. In Harriot’s case, if she didn’t learned from her mistress there was a possibility of her learning later.
City slaves were more likely to have the ability of a skilled laborer than plantation slaves were. On a plantation, a slave was mainly needed to do manual labor and few were needed for other tasks. In a city, there was less manual labor to do therefore, it would be smarter to train and teach slaves other skills that they could do, and then have their services rented out. Since a city slave could work and receive money, there was a better chance of buying freedom. Being able to read and write was very helpful when it came to escaping in both a city and on a plantation. This was said by Fredrick Douglass’s master, husband of mistress that taught him to read.
"for," said he, "if you give a nigger an inch he will take an ell. Learning will spoil the best nigger in the world. If he learns to read the Bible it will forever unfit him to be a slave. He should know nothing but the will of his master, and learn to obey it. As to himself, learning will do him no good, but a great deal of harm, making him disconsolate and unhappy. If you teach him how to read, he'll want to know how to write, and this accomplished, he'll be running away with himself.
This quote reinforces the idea that learning in any setting will increase the chances that they will run away. While the opportunity to learn is different on a plantation versus a city, the results are the same when you are able to learn. The life of a slave was difficult no matter where they lived whether on a plantation or in a city. These different difficulties affected Planation slaves and city slaves’ experiences. As seen by the way they were influenced by public opinion, the closeness of family bonds, and the learning process. The slave narratives read were written by both plantation and city slaves these differences in location is important. With these differences we can see what the place of enslavement tells us about the effect of public opinion when dealing with slaves, the effect of slavery on a family depending on place, and what placement had to do with slaves being able to learn.