Slavery: Destroying Human Rights

Recently in history class we have been studying the rise of slavery in the early to mid 19th century.  We learned that the amount of slaves in America increased dramatically from around 1790 to 1860, the start of the Civil War.  There are many flaws in the system of slavery, though the US government ignored these flaws and continued selling slaves to landowners.  The Civil War began after conflicts arose between the Northern and Southern states in which the states disagreed with the slavery system of the south.  In these couple of lessons, we discovered the answers to three essential questions through a variety of sources, activities, and documentaries.

http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-00.html

http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-00.html

Slavery became economically entrenched in American society by the early 19th century mainly because of the invention of the cotton gin.  Slavery was decreasing at the end of the 18th century because people either began to listen to the mottos of the American and French Revolutions, and freed their slaves, or their slaves escaped.  However, in 1793, a man named Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, which helped sort the seeds out of the cotton fibers.  This new machine sped up the cloth making process dramatically, and more slaves were needed in the south to handle these machines.  The price of slavery doubled, and the amount of available slaves increased.  In 1790, cotton was an economically insignificant crop, and slaves were fairly uncommon, with a population of 690,000, but by 1860, the slave population was 3,954,000 and cotton production had increased by 1.5 million pounds in 70 years.  The cotton produced by slaves in the south was used in industries in the north, so the northern states couldn't afford to lose slavery either.  Slavery was entrenched in society by the early 19th century because the slaves proceed cotton, which had become a crop that America had grown to depend on.

A system of slavery based on race, such as the one in America in the 19th century, destroys human dignity, and ignores certain human characteristics and traits.  The American system of slavery was far more brutal than slavery systems in other countries.  In countries such as Africa, slavery was beaded on religion, but there were hardly any differences between the slaves and free people.  In America, however, slavery was based on permanent bondage and racial distinction.  American slaves were expected to do hard, strenuous labor every day, and they lacked full control over their lives.  The life expectancy of a slave was much younger than the rest of the population of America.  One of the people we learned about in class who spoke out against slavery was a man called Frederick Douglass, a freed slave who gave speeches and editorials against slavery and racism.  In a speech he gave on the day after the fourth of July in 1852, he delivered a message to white people about the meaning of Independence Day.  In this speech he said the forth of July is "a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim."  Douglass explained that this holiday was pointless because it celebrated freedom, when in fact there were millions of slaves who weren't free and lived in America.  He correctly accused the people of America for celebrating a useless holiday, and encouraged them to abolish slavery.  Slavery in America abused human dignity and ignored traits such as freedom and the right to live a full life, and abolitionists rightly spoke out against this.

Primary source from:
Frederick Douglass, "The Meaning of July Forth for the Negro," a speech delivered in Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852.

Women's Rights Vs Men's Rights

Recently in history class we studied the women's reform movement of the 19th century, where women protested for more rights.  During this lesson, we compared women's rights to men's rights today, and in the 19th century.  We examined many documents and came to conclusions about how people reacted when women demanded for equality.  Despite the women's reform movement of the 19th century and other reform movements today, there are still differences between women's and men's rights.

“The Sphere of Woman” illustration from Godey's Lady's Book, March 1850http:// www.assumption.edu/ whw/workshop/ untitled1.html 

the 19th century, women were expected to take care of their children, keep the house tidy, cook, mend objects, and keep the house decorated, and yet they still had less rights than their husbands.  Many of the responsibilities of an upper-middle class woman are shown in this drawing (right) of a typical family home. During the day, the father would work, while the mother would stay at home to fulfill her requirements as housekeeper.  Men had more rights than women, but women deserved to have just as many. Women were not allowed to have their own property, vote, were paid less than men, and if their husband died, their children would be taken away from them.  Many women agreed that many of these restrictions were not fair, and began to protest for their equality with men.  Although the women's reform was completely justified, some groups of people didn't agree with the idea that women should have the same amount of rights as men.

In the Seneca Falls Convention, many public newspapers and associations reacted to the women's reform.  Some agreed that women should indeed have more rights, but other groups said that women were meant to be below men.  The Mechanics Advocate, Female Department stated in their article that women should never have as many rights as men.  The article says, "1st. Adam was made before Eve. 2nd. Eve sinned before Adam.  Now, there is no escape for women here, for if she is older than her husband, then of course she must be subject to him, because she must have sinned first.  If on the contrary she be younger, she must be subject to him because he was made first."  This newspaper was based on the Christian religion, and were against the women's reform because of the content of the Bible.  Adam came before Eve, and yet he sinned after her, so they believed that women must always be subject to men, specifically, their husbands.  On the other hand, the Oneida Whig newspaper stated that women definitely deserved to protest.  The article states, "The is the age of reform.  Our ideas of female excellence, formed from the study of such models as Lady Russell and Catherine of Arragon, are getting sadly out of fashion." This newspaper agreed with the women's reform, and knew that women deserved more rights and were just as able as men.  Some newspapers reacted positively to the Seneca Falls Convention, and others negatively, but the women involved in this movement didn't tsp protesting until they had most groups on their side.

Today, women have many more rights than they did in the 19th century, although there are still set differences between women and men.  The women's reform movement in the 1800s was highly successful, and laws were eventually changed so that women could vote.  Today, women are paid the same amount as men in most jobs, and it is more typical for a women to have a full-time job now than it was in the 19th century.  Despite these changes, there are still unjust differences between men and women.  Women's clothing are expected to dress much differently than men, and certain household jobs are considered more feminine than others, such as cooking and cleaning.  This commercial (above) is an accurate representation of a woman's place in society compared to a man's place in society.  There are a few issues that need to be changed in the future regarding women's rights. However, women already have very similar rights as men, and the women who protested during the 19th century women's reform movement were the first people to convince others that these changes needed to be made.