Slavery :: Slavery Essays

Thesis: Slaves managed to be the main beneficiaries of a movement so entirely unintended for them because, in a series of coincidences brought about by certain effects of Northern progress and improvement, the promotion of their interests became profitable to to the concerns of other classes. Counter-argument: some might argue that slaves could not have been the primary beneficiaries of the progress and improvement taking place in the North in 19th century america b/c there were very few slaves in the north; they were primarily concentrated in the south which was little affected by these changes and with slaves being so remote from the situation, how could they have benefited from it? --while the south obviously did not experience the level of transformation that the north and midwestern regions underwent, it did not go untouched by this era of change--it apparently made southerners even more sealed in their determination to "preserve their way of life based on slavery,"as evidenced by their attempt to secede from the Union. Merely the fact that they reacted so strongly to the changes they perceived in the North indicates the force of the effect that progress had on them. --the very fact that there were few slaves in the north and so many in the south only contributed to the progress-fueled growing distinction between the North and South, the former of whom could not understand--likely because there were so few slaves in the North--the "semifeudal economic and social system" to which the South was "hopelessly attached" due to their dependence on slavery (p. 5, Sheriff). Point: Wage laborers necessary to the realization of improvements in the 19th century began to be perceived as a morally inferior permanent underclass--this elicited fears & changes in opinion involving progress--some (i.e. Bethel society) began to think that one man's (the businessman's) profit came at another's (the worker's) expense--brought about increasing desire for moral reform--leading to 2nd Great Awakening--which in turn led to popularity of abolitionist sentiment. Point: Decreasing reliance on slavery as a necessity to the maintenance of a stable economy, coupled with the still-strong Revolutionary ideals of liberty & equality, drew attention to injustices inherent in slavery. --slaves were necessary before because men were trying to produce huge quantities to ship over to England, at first to pay back their joint-stock companies and then to secure their stability in the "New World." but in the 19th century people were settled into their ways of life, and farmers did not feel such urgency to overproduce.