Constitution Vs Articles of Confederation

Slavery was a period of bondage where individuals were sold from one nation to another and subjected to total control by a “master”. Slavery can be dated back to the Aztecs but Columbus reaching the Caribbean was one of the starting points of the slave trade.

“By the 18th century, racial slavery had become a central feature of the Atlantic world, with firm roots in British North America.” Slaves were imported in mainly from Africa to do manual labor. These slaves would be transported from Africa to the Caribbean where they would work the slaves so that they would become accustomed to the physical demands of slavery then transported to the colonies.

The colonists needed the slaves to do the back-breaking work that they were not accustomed to. They worked long hours in the fields to bring in the cash crops that were so needed.

“The highest portion of slaves lived in the lower south where the Africans outnumbered the Europeans.” The slaves that lived in New York, Philadelphia, and Boston were very important to their urban life. Most consisted of house slaves doing the housework such as cooking, cleaning, and becoming “nannies” to their children. Slaves in the rural north worked in areas such as farms, in the iron industry and seaports.

“Slavery in the lower south consisted of parts of the Carolina and Georgia, the lower country.” The major cash crops from the Carolina was rice and indigo. The slaves had learned how to cultivate the rice when they were in Africa which helped to increase the revenue there in the colonies. “By the 1730’s, when the Carolinas had been divided into North and South Carolina, two-thirds of the region’s population were African slaves.” Another region of the south was the Chesapeake where their main cash crop was tobacco, although they also cultivated rice, but tobacco was the main money maker.

Immigrants were drawn to areas such as Virginia, and Maryland which made these communities grow. It was an ethnically diverse area. Immigrants from different countries flocked to this area. They settled in areas such as Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the Carolinas. The United States increased its export during this period since they produced more than enough. Also, their economy grew mainly in the Southern areas where they relied on the slave trade to run their activities.

In 1739 the slaves tried to rebel, it was called the Stono Rebellion. The slaves that started the rebellion hoped that other slaves would stand up to the “white man”, which some did, and others were too afraid. “The Stono Rebellion was considered the largest African American uprising in the colonial era”.

Fast forwarding to the beginning of the revolutionary war the first martyr that led to Black slaves’ freedom was Crispus Attucks who was killed in the Boston Massacre in the year 1770. Lord Dunmores Proclamation offered freedom to the slaves that would enlist to help the British fight against the colonists, which totaled to over 800 men joining the fight.

The American constitution ratification considered the representation of slave in the Congress and put the slavery under three-fifths taxation. The move lead to increased slaves’ representation from slave states, therefore, preventing abolishment of the slave trade by the Congress.

In conclusion, Black slaves significantly contributed to cultural development in the United States. Even though slavery intruded and violated people’s rights and hence, was a negative activity, it also had some huge impacts on the growth and development of United States Economy and therefore boosting its position globally.

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