Slavery And American Colonization Society

Improved Essays
Slavery was a topic we discussed greatly in this class, but it never got boring or repetitive because there was a great amount of interesting information in the book. During the 1830 's Americans thought that the “social violence of slavery” would disappear if they sent back all the slaves to where they came from (Foner). They called this the “American Colonization Society.” This society wanted to deport all slaves. However, this idea didn 't convince some people, like Lydia Maria. In her passage, “An Appeal in Favor of That Class of Americans Called Africans” she let 's us know that not all people back then, like herself listened to what they were told, they liked to think for themselves, and for what seemed correct to them. It adds to what …show more content…
She wanted them to see all the good slaves actually brought, and not the bad that people seemed to think they caused. As more and more people started to believe in the colonization society, it convinced more to think it was the right thing to trust in. Since many “political leaders of the Jacknosian era- including Henry Clay, John Marshall, Daniel Webster, and Jackson..” (Foner) supported this, I am sure others decided to follow without finding out what could happen if all slaves were sent back. Lydia was one of the few that didn 't believe people should be letting others speak for them. She claims she doesn 't believe in Colonization Society “because it tends to put public opinion asleep, on a subject where it needs to be wide awake” she could not have phrased it better. (Foner) People had to think about all the good things slaves actually did for them though. It wasn 't right to make slaves feel that way. They were already put to work for many hours, and now they just wanted to kick them out of the country. Many had the idea that blacks were just seen lower when compared to whites, so there was no point to keep them in America …show more content…
Yet, they always did what was told for them to do and worked long hours. People weren 't seeing the good they brought. Lydia really believed slaves were too good to be working for their slave owners. She mentioned that if slaves had the attention they deserved they would be with their families or working in factories instead of where they were (Foner). Slaves didn 't receive many benefits from their slave owners other than a place to sleep, and most were not payed. Slave owners needed slaves more than slaves needed them. This wasn 't what people wanted others to believe though. Furthermore, I bet most didn 't think about the price of sending all these slaves back. Lydia did the math of how many would be going back, and she explained that it would “cost 3,500,000 dollars a year..” that was plenty of money back then. It could be used for much more important things. They would need plenty of ships to take them all back. All that money could be saved if they just left them where they were

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In this case it is extremely obvious to which this is, the freedom and eradication of slavery. Alone, her expeditions did not cause the Civil War and the end of slavery in the U.S. However, she did push the chasm between the North and the South further apart. It turned what was already an issue, to the federal level through the Governments installation of the Fugitive Slave Act. Nowadays there are tens of millions of African Americans that have rights nobody at the time would even dream of.…

    • 751 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the 17th and 18th century, promotional literature was used to emphasize the economic opportunities available in the English Colonies. Inspired and profit driven, men and women fled to the Americas with the mindset that would soon shape the country. By looking at T.H. Breen, “Looking Out for Number One: Conflicting Cultural Values in Early Seventeenth Century Virginia” and John Butler, “The Evolution of Slavery in Colonial America,” I argue the master-slave relationship became socially, culturally, and legally formalized in the early English Colonies. Owning slaves in the English Colonies was not only socially accepted, but expected.…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Industrialization was in full force throughout most of the United States and the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney in 1793 allowed the “peculiar institution” to become the most profitable industry in the world. The cotton gin streamlined the laborious task of cotton sorting. Cotton soon surpassed tobacco as the United States’ most valued export. Cotton processed in the south was processed in textile plants in New England, which was bolstered by Elias Howe’s invention of the first, cross-stitching sewing machine in 1846. Slaves were insured by northern insurance companies and clothed with “slave cloth” from textile mills.…

    • 1003 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Crucible Prologue

    • 1435 Words
    • 6 Pages

    The cold was always awful. Made her shake so hard you wouldn’t be able to differentiate the tics to the shivers. Isaac couldn’t let her stay in the house alone, though. Dad had gone to buy more produce and made him promise not to let his baby sister out of his sights. She had called bull but neither budged.…

    • 1435 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Slave Narratives While most slaves were born into slavery rather than being imported from another country, they still, for the most part, got the same treatment. Throughout elementary school, children are taught that slaves were these immigrants that were brought to the United States to work for property owners and plantation owners. Unfortunately, it was much more than just that. They were brought here to do the dirty work as white men sat and watched them. The women were treated no better, as they had to also work in the fields or do the hard work of keeping the house clean and tidy.…

    • 1078 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Slavery was a factor that led to the growth of population throughout the colonies. Enslaved Africans worked on plantations while very few did housework. The slave code was laws to regulate enslaved Africans. The strict rules controlled the behavior and punishment of the enslaved Africans. Many colonies had their own slave codes some restricted teaching to read and write most were not allowed to gather in large groups.…

    • 126 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Great Essays

    In general, slavery played a major part in American colonization and became the standard for all colonies and the African American slaves were heavily populated in the Northern and Southern colonies because of the Southern colonies had tobacco plantations and they needed laborers to work their land so, they can make a profit. In short, the Atlantic Slave Trade was established by the Spanish colonists in the Sixteenth century to help solve a need and because they were the most experience sea mariners during that time (Robin, Kelley, Lewis, 2005, p. 7). Therefore, slaves became the cheapest laborers in the colonies and this forced labor continue for centuries and some people of the colonies began to believe that this was the way of life. The…

    • 1778 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She is proving that they are not objects that are incapable of expressing their concerns and complaints on their own with regards to the abuses they suffer, that they are not unaware of pain and suffering after being beating, or that they are not brave enough to raise their voice before so much injustice. She is saying that she and the other slaves are also human beings like any other person who can feel joy or sadness as well as the white or rich people. Slaves are not guilty that they do not control their own lives and they do not deserve that based on the color of…

    • 1059 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The nineteen-century was an era of inequality against both women, and African-Americans. Slavery was still occurring in the South in this era, and there were many who believed that providing an education to an African-American was an egregious act that had to be punished by imprisonment (Douglass,pg.36). Women were also treated as lesser then their Caucasian counterparts, and in many cases were seen as part of their husband and not as individuals (Hagler, pg.406). The mid to late 1800’s was a time of change, many in the north were already against slavery, but the mind of many in the south still had not change, but the actions of people, such as Margaret Douglass was the catalyst that was needed in order to break the boundary’s, and allow change to come. Through examining Margaret Douglass trial and D. Harland Hagler article, “The Ideal Woman in the Antebellum South: Lady or Farm Wife?”, it becomes apparent how women were seen as an extension of their husband, and not as individuals who deserved the same respect and equality.…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass is the autobiography of the African-American abolitionist, former slave, writer, and social reformer Frederick Douglass. The book details his early years of being born into slavery, onwards until his marriage to Anna Murray and their relocation to Massachusetts. Since much of the book is about Frederick’s time served as a slave, slavery and its effects are a major thematic element of the book. It would be heinous crime, one on par with slavery itself, to say that slavery was not a terrible thing, but it I believe that the effect slavery has had on America throughout its history is equally devastating, if not worse.…

    • 1203 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Middle colonies, Southern colonies, and the colonies of New England were undeniably unified as territories of the British Empire, but really, that is where the similarities ceased. All colonies held a certain population of slaves, with varying degrees of density. The Southern colonies, due to their location and early acceptance to slavery, had grown quickly to the idea of basing their enterprises upon slave labor(Lecture: 2.2.2.2: Slavery in the Southern Colonies). Meanwhile, the Northern colonies in New England were far less accustomed to such a heavy reliance on slave labor, rather, they had held fast to the tradition of indentured workers too deeply indebted to their masters to deny such labor.…

    • 139 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Slavery was one of the biggest issues in the United States. Once the Civil War and Reconstruction Era ended in 1865 the thirteenth amendment was created to free slaves. All former slaves moved on to do their separate things. Some reunited with their families and moved north, while others stayed close to their previous owners who provided sanctuary. African American population patterns can be traced using maps published in the atlases created by the U. S. Census Bureau for each census taken from 1870 to 1920.…

    • 872 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Because of the growing business of tobacco agriculture in the Southern colonies, they needed more labor forces to work in the tobacco fields. That is why the English and French forced so many Africans into slavery to work for them. In order to control the large numbers of African slaves, the masters did not force nor work their slaves brutally as the old masters in the West Indies did. The masters of the slave in the Southern colonies wanted to expand their tobacco farm even larger and therefore needed their slaves to work even harder. They provided their slaves food and clothing to make them healthy and work hard.…

    • 166 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    She writes, "I was an object of her jealousy, and, consequently, of her hatred; and I knew I could not expect kindness or confidence from her under the circumstances in which I was placed. I could not blame her." Meanwhile, as the slaveholders were abusing their power and taking advantage of young slaves, the evil acts were concluding in the birth of many fair skinned slaves in the south. During this time it was made out to be okay for slave misters to do whatever they pleased because they were white and they had the power to manipulate salves mind because they did not speak proper English or could not fight for themselves or they was badly beaten. Sinfully, plantation owners would often sell their children to other slave owners for proceeds.…

    • 1116 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Slavery in America is nothing to be taken lightly or forgotten. The origins of slavery go all the way back to its colonization by Europeans. The first permanent English colony in North America was Jamestown, Virginia. This colony became extremely successful from the introduction of cash crops like tobacco and cotton. Because of these labor-intensive cash crops the southern colonies had high demands for workers, and to keep profit up and cost down the land owners/lords looked towards slavery.…

    • 1265 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays