Slavery - Pre-Civil War

The word Antebellum means Pre-Civil War, The civil war has close relations to slavery as that had been a crucial element that caused the war between the north who believed slavery was immoral and were completely against it vs the south who used slavery to grow their economy and viewed slaves as property. Antebellum Slavery would be events that had relations to the slaves before the Civil War occurred but in detail, the essay will give a detailed description on the wellbeing of slaves before the war which ranges from the economic, social, cultural, and psychological wellbeing of African American slaves. It is important to understand that slaves fought for their independence throughout the antebellum period which later affected them heavily as due to that, harsh laws were passed in order to restrict slaves from having basic human rights which made the wellbeing of slaves even worse in the south.

Firstly it is important to analyse the importance of slave labour and how it was able to influence the economy of the south and later the whole of America. Cotton became one of the most important manufactured commodity in the south by slaves and Cotton became one of the most important commodities in world trade as 3 quarters of the world’s cotton came from the American south which brought an increase in wealth which allowed for infrastructure to grow in and around America’s borders. Slaves became so crucial that due to their high productivity in commodities like cotton and rice, they were able to affect the pace in which industrialisation took place in the opposite end of America which were the northern part. Even though the states in the northern parts of America did not endorse slavery, they were still finding ways to benefit from it. Northern merchants bought land, invested in plantations across the south and even went far as insurance companies insured slaves as they considered them as property. Slaves in the south were somewhat benefiting from northern investment as slaves received clothing from northern manufactures which allowed slaves to have better clothing.

Slavery was so economically profitable that it forced the government in the south to focus its resources on cotton and the purchase of slaves, this allowed for a slow progress in technological innovation like rail roads which gave the idea that they was a negative aspect in the growth of southern states which later became a major down fall in the future references as the civil war between the north and the south began, reliable sources have pointed out that slavery was also one aspect involved in the south’s defeat to the north as ”The Confederacy lost the Civil War for a variety of reasons, chief among them a lack of resources and manpower. The North had more soldiers, more manufacturing and agricultural capacity, and the ability to blockade Southern ports. The institution of slavery also made it difficult to generate political support overseas”.  

The slaves suffered heavily for the economic success in America as conditions were terrible, “the diets of African American slaves were inadequate to meet the demands of the workload that was given to them” Rawick, G.P. They lived in small huts made of straws that mad it easier for bad weather to easily affect them and bedding wasn’t sufficient enough to protect them from the bad weather. Even Slaves who worked as domestics seemed to have better conditions, as they were able to get their clothing of their masters and had much better access to food.

Another concern slaves had to deal with was the heat and humidity in the South that created health problems, unhygienic conditions, a lack of nutrition and countless hours of hard labour made slaves vulnerable to disease then their masters. When slaves got sick, they were not treated properly and slaves were often forced to work even when they were sick.

Social aspects that were an issue to the wellbeing was the lack of trust slaves had with other slaves like drivers who were slaves who were put into power by slaves owners. African American women had to face the threat of sexual exploitation. There were no outlets to protect them from being sexually harassed, or raped. Even if a woman seemed reluctant to the situation, in reality they had no choice as other Slave men were powerless to protect the women they loved and cared for. 

A positive of the social aspect was the idea that slaves were able to make decisions regarding the creating of a family. “Slave owners felt it was to their advantage to allow slaves to marry one another, because any children from the marriage would add some type of riches to them” Blassingame, J.W.The Slave Community but unfortunately slave owners could break up marriages and separate families as they wished. On the whole, slaveholders cared little about the bonds that the slaves had among one another, and would sell families members to make a bigger profit

In terms of culture, Few Africans over the age of thirty-five were shipped to the Americas, due to the fact that older men were finding the new ways difficult learn thus, making them very reluctant to change their ways. As the author Levine, L.W said his reading “Black Culture and Black Consciousness”, "slaves would grow up without ever being able either to speak or understand their language perfectly." Older slaves were simply unable to just forget their lives in Africa that they left behind. Though Younger slaves were much more acceptable to the new customs as they learned the new language with ease, due to the fact they were still Children, it was natural for younger slaves to be willing to learn the new European-American culture.  

A psychological factor that affected slaves was the fact that they had to live under the constant threat of sale. Slaves understood that even though their masters didn’t directly put them up for sale, situations like financial decline and personal issues in slave owner’s households may force them into an auction block but in most cases slaves were sold as a form of punishment.

Slavery was considered as a minor aspect in American society but not understanding that they were almost 4 million slaves in America and 1 of 3 of south’s population was made up of those slaves. Yeoman farmers are very important in the context of antebellum slavery as they were white farm owners who were poor but rented slaves to help with their planation work, these farm owners were important as they gave the idea that even the poorest of white people were given legal and social status which meant that slaves were indeed seen as worthless and as property, this also allowed for white solidarity among whites in the south and made the case for slavery even more stronger than before.