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 active by certain effects of Northern overture and improvement, the promotion of their interests became gatherable to to the concerns of other classes. Counter-argumentsome might argue that slaves could not have been the primary beneficiaries of the progress and improvement taking place in the North in nineteenth 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 seal in t heir 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 economical and social system" to which the South was "hopelessly attached" due      to their dependence on slavery (p. 5, Sheriff). PointWage laborers necessary to the realization of improvements in the 19th century began t o 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 mans (the businessmans) profit came at anothers (the workers) expense--brought about increasing desire for moral reform--leading to 2nd Great Awakening--which in turn led to popularity of abolitionist sentiment. PointDecreasing 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.