Slavery still affects many people in America today. Most people in America do not know how and why slavery occurred in the first place. According to James Illingworth “Those who want to make a difference in the world, need to understand slavery to understand America’s society today” (Illingworth). Slavery caused one of the worst battles in America’s history-The Civil War. Many people do not understand that slavery caused this war and they think that it is more based around “states’ rights” (Illingworth).
Slavery caused many racial differences in America’s society today. There is still segregation and tension between the different races in America. No matter how often people try to deny it, racial tension has not improved much in the last one hundred years (Illingworth). The color of people’s skin is at the center of national politics, and causes many problems like people being treated differently because of their race. This all began three hundred years ago, when slavery first came to America (“The African American Mosaic”). Most people in America are angry about slavery; it was a dark time of America’s past. …show more content…
Not many people know who to blame for the origins of slave keeping. Slavery happened because whites felt as if African Americans were “inferior beings to whites” (“End Slavery Now”). The European, white, immigrants felt as if they were better than another group of people. The whites cemented this horrifying idea into the heads of African Americans who now lived in fear for their lives. Clearly, slavery still affects America today, and there are many states that allowed this awful inhumanity.
There are many southern states in America that allowed slavery. The origin of slavery was in Jamestown, Virginia. Slavery spread to southern states after being seen as effective in Viginia. The Kansas-Nebraska bill allowed for the expansion of slavery into some Western territories (“The African American Mosaic”). Slavery was a widespread practice in the 1800’s and was very popular with farmers in the south. Most northern states did not allow slavery because they saw it as a very wrong action to force people to work against their will. The southern states had slavery because the popular classes wanted workers to do their hard work for them. People put African Americans through back breaking work because they felt the work was beneath them. Some whites felt as if African Americans were inferior to whites (Illingworth). The white people thought that they were better than those with darker complexion. Southerners had racist ideas that put a barrier between the North and South. The northerners began anti-slavery ideas because of the way that African Americans were being treated in the South. The invention of the cotton gin allowed slavery to expand. When Eli Whitney invented this machine, it provided southern farmers a way to plant a variety of cotton. The slaves learned how to use this machine, and it was now easier than ever to produce cotton. The cotton gin made making cotton very economical because it saved money and time of southern farmers (“Slavery: Cause and Catalyst of the Civil War”). This economic factor made the cotton gin more attractive to southern farmers. Slavery bounced to life when this machine was used everyday by hundreds of thousands of people. Obviously, there are many states that allowed slavery, and there are many conflicts with slavery when it occurred. There were many conflicts with slavery when it was happening. One of the biggest problems was physical punishment of slaves. This was used very often to keep the slaves in line, and it definitely caused conflict. The slaves had almost no control over this and they were brutally beaten in ways unimaginable. The slaves possessed no freedom in the south and were seen as lesser than whites (“Pre-Civil War African American Slavery”). The African Americans went through undescribable times, and most still bear the