Slavery in America - A Sample Analysis

Slavery in America

The Factors that Causes Slavery in America

From trading with the Africans, Europeans in America knew that slavery was used as a punishment in Africa and took advantage of it.

How does slavery occur?

Slavery in America began under the European rule with importation of European indentured laborers (under contract). The Dutch slave trader came into America (Jamestown, VA specifically) and traded his cargo of Africans for food in the 16th century that has been the initial spark of slavery in America.
Because of the unsuitability of Native Americans for the labor intensive agricultural practices, their susceptibility to European diseases, the proximity of opportunity of escape for Native Americans, and the lucrative or profitable nature of the African slave trade, it led to a transition to an African based institution of slavery.

How it is being dealt with before

With the success of tobacco planting of the slaves, African Slavery was legalized in Virginia and Maryland in the 16th century.
Because of the growing number of lower class of former servants who had worked through the terms of their indentures and by constant needs for more laborers, slavery shifted into chattel slavery or the full ownership of a master to a slave.
While some of the British colonies in America banned slavery completely, it came back with the explosive growth of cotton industry which increases demand for slave labor.
Though the United States Constitution of 1787 had some business restrictions due to the issue, slavery in America still continued for another half century as it became self-sustaining.

Identifying the Potential Trouble Spots

As the nature of slavery, it was inevitable that cruel and abusive slave owners exist alongside the kinder ones.
Treatments of slaves was then based on the slave’s color of the skin – the darker the color, the more work a slave will have.
Because slave population in America grew through birth, it has come to an instant when blacks were dominant and whites were in potential extinction resulting in a plan of abolition.
While the enslaved South strongly supported slavery, the free North considered it as forced labor resulting into a struggle between the two divisions.
The South feared the delicate balance that lie between Free states and Slave states, and the domination of the industrial North that led them to separate from the Union creating a civil war.

How to avoid it happening in the Future?

After the final recognition of the amendment of 1865, the chattel slavery was officially ended.
Most of the original thirteen states had established a new constitution abolishing slavery and to most part of the slave states freeing the last possible slave.
Nowadays however, many states have developed a move to privatize jails and prisons handing it over to private corporations for profit.