Was Slavery Good Or Bad

The slave trade. An excellent example of the moral and financial dillemia faced by the newly emanicaped former colonies once owned and operated by the largest empire in the world: the British. Through the diligant workings of a rag-tag volunteer army who's only consolation was their hope and pride towards winning an impossible war, they somehow manged to defeat a global superpower, with the strongest navy in the world at that time. Through this, they won their freedom and all of the liberties we, as now citizens of the United States, still gain benefits from. Of course, there were some limiations on this freedom. Only white men gained it. Slavery was still common practice, women weren't allowed to vote and were seen as property. It seems the …show more content…
They saw that the south, a major manufactor for the colonies goods, would their main source of labor. The economy would even fail, sending the country into havoc, considering that "The U.S. debt totaled $43 million." in 1783. The new country already owed so much, and to take away a key player in creating their money quickly, how could they do such a thing? As terrible as it was, slavery benefitted the economy. It saved producers excellent ammounts, not having to pay for workers, or being able to work them to the bone with no breaks, or to always have them constantly for their every whim and need, but where did the money they saved go? Straight into their pockets for profit. Sure, they could purchase things in their nation, but its more likely it would go across the sea. They would buy things from countries in Asia and Europe, and the country would only gain benefit from their exports, not their inward shopping. How could they not see that by emanipating slaves and giving them livable wages, they could benefit their own internal economy. Slaves, of course, would be poor. They wouldn't have enough money to afford to ship their items from the across the seas, which would mean all their product would come from where? Local stores. It would benefit the United States much more to pay slaves money so they could imrpove the areas they were in, and subsequently, the country as a whole. So, why did they not free them. …show more content…
Consequences of resistance often came in the form of physical beatings..." It was no secret that slave-holders kept mistresses, often their own slaves. This is told through a book entitled "Once a Slave: The Slaves' View of Slavery": "Maria was a thirteen-year-old house servant. One day, receiving no response to her call, the mistress began searching the house for her. Finally, she opened the parlor door, and there was the child with her master... The mistress beat the child and locked her up in a smokehouse. For two weeks the girl was constantly whipped." (Stanley Felstein, Once a Slave: The Slaves' View of Slavery, p.132) The blame for these affairs often fell onto the heads of the enslaved women, and a majority of the time, they were minors. Once again, we bring up a prominate politcal figure: Thomas Jefferson. In 1773, Sarah "Sally" Hemings was born. She was confirmed to be the daughter of John Wayles and Betty Hemings, a slave. John Wayles also happened to be the father of Martha Wayles Skelton Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson's wife, who died in 1782. The oldest child that a source can be found on is Harriet Hemings, born in 1801, the first year of Jefferson's presidency. Sally would have been twenty-eight at this time, though she was first brought over to Paris with Jefferson's daughter, Martha, at the age of fourteen, which brings many to believe that the affair must've