Kenneth Stampp A Troublesome Property Analysis

Slavery is a significant part of how the United States came to be. It caused several divisions and controversies, creating several different laws. Slavery began to increase in the year of 1793 when Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. The cotton gin allowed more cotton to be produced, providing more money to farmers. Therefore, rapidly causing an increase in the need for slaves. In the early 1800s, slavery became a very common thing, almost every person owned a certain amount of slaves. Every person was affected by slavery, even if they did not own slaves. There was a constant fear in America slaves were going to fight back. People hear all the time about how slaves were needed for work, but we do not always consider the attitudes of slaves …show more content…
Stampp who is considered one of the best historians to write on the study of slavery. In his excerpt “A Troublesome Property,” Stampp does a great job of showing the attitude of different slave masters towards their slaves. Most masters believed they understood their slaves, but really they did not. Slaves had no understanding of freedom, therefore accepting bondage as their natural condition (page 258). Slaves did not like to work, but when they did they worked hard. Most slaves took pride in their work. Due to not wanting to work, most slaves rebelled in some sort of way. Some slaves ran away, but this idea was not very successful and their reward ended up becoming death. Slaves rarely got the freedom they wanted by escaping. When caught masters would heavily whip or kill them right on spot. Masters did not want the trouble of a rebel slaves. They would cost them money, so they were better off dead. Masters believed running away was a disease given to slaves that would eventually leave. A very common way of fighting back was by breaking tools and property. It was also very common to hurt animals and crops, this way slaves would get out of working and have food. There were other instances where slaves got out of work without rebelling. Many slaves would intentionally hurt themselves so they did not have to work. Some pretending to have minor injuries such as an illness. Some slaves would hurt themselves so extremely they would cut off their limbs and some even committed suicide. Most masters were very smart; purposely calling slaves lazy to get them to work. Slaves would hear the negative attitude of their masters and wanted to prove them wrong. Therefore causing them to work harder than