Slavery that Spread like a Virus

Slavery in 1860

Slavery in 1790

In class we studied how slavery became economically in America in the 19th century. We used excerpts from the Founders' constitution and many maps and graphs to show the progression of slavery in America. The maps and graphs showed the drastic increase in cotton production in the south along with an increase in slave population, even though many people thought slavery was declining. The pictures are from the website, http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-02.html, showing the spreading of slavery from 1790 to 1860.  The north used free laborers and the south used slave labor. This was the major production of the south and was sort of taken over by the southern states. They did not show the northern states so there was sort of a separation between the north and the south. The south working together with cotton production. Slavery was needed a lot in the south whereas in the north it was outlawed. The northern states also relied on cotton production, though, with industrialization. They needed the cotton factories to supply jobs and money for people. Even though northerners didn't see slavery, they still depended on it for the success of their cotton industry.

Having a system of slavery based solely on race takes away the dignity of those enslaved. It reduces them to be seen as objects to their owners instead of individual people just like them. They were just used for labor and treated terribly. Their personalities and characteristics are just thrown aside as if they're non-existent. The former lives of the captured people suddenly mean nothing to the owners. This system bases people's positions on their race and not on how hard working people are or how skilled they are. They made the assumption that characteristics were only determined by somebody's race. The dignity of the slaves was completely lost.