The 18th century was a time where slavery was reduced due to the American and French Revolution. Many slaves escaped during revolts or they ran away from their owners during this period. Widespread ideas of freedom and equality also encouraged many slave owners to free their slaves in countries like the U.S, the Caribbean and Latin America. However, this took a turn in the early 19th century as an increase in slavery occurred. This boost in slavery took place specifically in southern states such as Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, among other states. Part of this boost in the population of slaves was the result of Eli Whitney, a former Yale graduate. After realizing that southern planters were desperate for new techniques to increase the production of cotton, Whitney created the Cotton Gin. The cotton gin was a machine that made it quicker to separate cotton fibers from its seeds. Consequentially, the slave population in the United States rose 33% than a decade later rose 29% in the first decade of the 19th century. The more demand for cotton meant a greater demand for slaves.
The system of slavery greatly affected human dignity: instead of treating slaves like humans, they were treated like property. They were bought, talked to like animals, and treated as disposable commodities. In Article 1, Section 9, Clause 1 of the constitution of slavery it states, "The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person." Before 1808, the government was prohibited from imposing a tax on the importation of slaves but after 1808, this changed. That tax was limited to no more than $10 per slave, but this showed that slaves were seen as property because they were taxed just as property was during the period. Another example from Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 stated, "Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons." Slaves were not fully represented and they accounted for 3/5 of what all other (free) people are worth (for tax and representation purposes). Native Americans were not taxed and weren't even considered as U.S. citizens. Free people were accounted for fully, including indentured servants. Although the constitution is just one of many examples of how the system of slavery affects human dignity, it shows the most important part which was that slaves were stripped of their pride. By being an African American slave, one's humanness was denied and they became treated more like commodities than people.
The system of slavery also made it possible for many characteristics of humans to be ignored. In the morality of slavery unit, my class received documents to read. One of the documents was written by Frederick Douglass, an African American abolitionist. Frederick's speech, The Meaning of July Fourth to a Negro, is a prime example of how the system made it possible for characteristics of a human could be ignored. In his speech, he mentions how, in the eyes of many Americans, the Fourth of July was seen as a day celebrating freedom, but for slaves, it was a slap in the face because they weren't free. Another document was an excerpt from Cannibals All or slaves without Masters written by George Fitzhugh, a sociologist from North Carolina. In the book, he wrote about how he believed that people were born slaves were weak. He also stated that slavery was good for all because it made the southern agricultural economy function optimally. He thought that negro slaves were better than free laborers because the had fewer responsibilities. According to Fitzhugh, free laborers had responsibilities of such as housing, their health, and whether they make enough money. Conversely, slaves had fewer things to worry about because their owners took care of them. This book showed how the system ignores the human characteristics of slaves because the slaves were considered "lucky," ignoring that fact that most slaves lived in poor conditions and were treated harshly.
The class was divided into groups and each group was assigned to read a document an look up key words from the document. the groups were then suppose to look up the person who their document was written by and put the key words around a picture of them. Above is a picture of Fredrick Douglas and the words around him are from his speech, The Meaning of July Fourth to a Negro.
