Term Paper on "American Slavery"

Term Paper 7 pages (2408 words) Sources: 5

[EXCERPT] . . . .

American Slavery after the Civil War

From the Point of View of Freed Slaves

The slave experience in the United States was one of economic

necessity to the Southern elite, and that necessity did not change after

the Civil War. Although there were no slaves after emancipation, the

slaves still had little opportunity to have better opportunities in life.

This is reflected in a letter from former South Carolina slaves to Union

General O.O. Howard, in which the former slave committee from South

Carolina petitions to the General that they must retain their own land or

their life will not change and they will remain tied to the land and as the

subordinates to the same ruling elite as they had prior to the Civil War.

If considering this particular piece of historical evidence within the

larger framework of the life experience of an American slave, it is clear

that the slaves lived difficult lives with little opportunity for social

and economic improvement. Slaves kept this in mind, and thus even after

their emancipation they did not expect complete equality. Ultimately, the

slave experience in the United States did not change significantly after

the Civil War; expectations and expected experiences among former slaves

remained similar to those they held during slavery.

The slave experience in the United States has been defined

historically by their economic necessity to the landowners. Before slaves

were imported, these same landowners seized the land from the Native

Americans and even tried to enslave the Native Americans (Parent 24). The

"emerging elite (would) treat land as a commodity," and such an attitude

would have an effect on slaves in the future as land was a commodity

because land was the source for the agriculture that would lead to wealth

(Parent 25). Ultimately this use of the land would lead the elite to adapt

the "headright system" leading the land to be seized by the elite, laying

the framework for slavery. As whites were being used as farming servants,

it eventually became clear that blacks can make tobacco cheaper than whites

and thus began the introduction of slaves in the British colonies (Parent

66).

As slaves began to be used in agriculture, their role in the economic

system became of utmost importance. Tobacco, for example, was a crop that

was sold for very cheap and thus it required cheaper and cheaper labor

until that labor was free. The costs of supporting and raising black slave

families, which was originally thought of as too high, eventually gave way

to the profitability of using free labor. After slaves became the main

source of labor, they became the main source of income for elite whites.

This resulted in both a coercive economy and a coercive state (Parent 105).

Slaves were integral aspects of the economy and the white landowners, who

controlled the land, had matching control over the slaves and their lives.

The way of life for the white elite was dependent on slave labor, making

slaves an economic necessity to the landowners. This necessity would not

change simply with emancipation after the Civil War, and this means that

the War, while freeing all men, did not necessarily result in a positive

change in the way of life for African-Americans in the American South.

Because of the slave's value to the American economy, and particular

to the elite who ruled the South, the entire slave experience was based on

their labor being critically important to the elite. Thus the slave

experience and the experience of freemen after the Civil War resulted in

little change to the African-American experience. Even though the Civil

War freed slaves, it did not improve their social standing. In the letter

from the South Carolina former slave committee to O.O. Howard, the former

slaves address their desire for their own homesteads as they understand the

reality of the situation that without their own land they will be forced to

work for the same landowners under poor conditions because of the lack of

other opportunities. This means that the former slaves understood their

role in the war, and how unimportant they were politically. The former

slaves do not ask for much- just small homesteads to be independent farmers-

yet this they are not granted, because of their standing in American

culture.

Slaves, prior to the Civil War, were under complete control of the

white authority. These conditions forced a poor quality of life and even

obscene treatment towards them. The life of Charles Ball and the sequence

of events he had to overcome because of his race is evidence of the

conditions existing for African-Americans both prior to and after the Civil

War (Ball 1859). Ball documented his life beginning with his father's

capture from Africa and subsequent enslavement. As a slave, Ball was

separated from his Mother at a young age and eventually from his wife as he

was sold to Georgia while she lived in Maryland. This reflects the

complete lack of disregard for slave family life which was a characteristic

of the slave experience in America. Also in Georgia, Ball was treated with

extreme cruelty, yet he could do nothing about it except possibly to

escape. Furthermore, Ball was able to escape captivity, twice, and even as

a freeman buy his own farm. Yet eventually he and his wife were capture

into slavery, reflecting on the nature of the laws towards their treatment

of African-Americans. Even freemen were not safe from trouble in the

culture in which African-American's were subordinate. Ball maintains that

"misery loves company" and that he is a subject to "mutual sufferings,"

(Ball 277) indicating the conditions he feels exist as a slave.

Ultimately, Charles Ball's experience is illustrative of the conditions

that exist to slaves, as even when he becomes a freeman he is not entirely

free.

The aspirations of Charles Ball during slavery and the former slaves

in the South Carolina committee are similar- even though one is during and

one is after emancipation. As an escaped slave, Charles Ball wants to set

up his own homestead, and have his own farm. The same holds true for the

South Carolina slaves of the committee, who want land because "we are

landless and Homeless." Economic independence, enough for independent

survival without relying on white interests, therefore is an apparent

desire for African-Americans in the 19th century. Another example of an

African making it on his or her own for financial independence is Gustavus

Vassa who experienced a difficult life of being cheated and trying to be re-

enslaved despite his economic success (Bontemps 1969). Slaves and former

slaves faced difficult lives before and after emancipation, and even though

they became free, there was little opportunity for improving their economic

conditions. Therefore, realizing this, the committee of former slaves in

South Carolina wants their own homesteads so they will no longer be at the

whim of the ruling white elite.

This ruling white elite class treated the slaves poorly before

emancipation, and the threat of poor treatment exists after it as well. In

the letter, the former slaves write, "the government does so we are left In

a more unpleasant condition than our former," meaning that if their

homesteads are taken away they will be left in a worse condition as to

before the war that supposedly freed them. This, of course, means very bad

living conditions. Under slavery, African-Americans were not fed properly

as Lewis and Milton Clarke recalled that "we had but two meals a day... of

the poorest kind" (Bland 134). Additionally, slaves were whipped to levels

of excessive cruelty. In Gustavus Vassa's accounts, "they told me that I

must be flogged too. I asked why? And if there was any law for free men?"

(Bontempts 1969 p. 122), as in this case he was flogged for being a Negro

regardless of being a freeman. This indicates the environment in which

slaves lived, which was so poor that even a Negro himself found him being

abusive as in the case of Charles Ball. "I not unfrequently found it proper

to punish them with stripes to compel them to perform their work," wrote

Charles Ball, which shows the hostile culture that the hatred between

master and slave bred (Ball 301). Prior to emancipation, the conditions of

slaves by numerous accounts made for a bad standard of living. The African-

Americans were an oppressed class of people, and there was a threat of

oppression even after the Civil War.

The former slaves would become bound to the land and serving their

former masters, just not in the indirect context of slavery, without their

own homesteads. Former slaves have accounted, such as Moses Roper that, "I

thought I was free; but learned I was not" (Bland 79), which is the direct

threat that former slaves face. As crucial to the economy, the slaves were

now free but still lower class. Without their own homesteads, they would

be forced to work for their masters, perhaps not under the same severe

conditions, but… READ MORE

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