Essay Race and Political Power in the Pre-Civil War Period

“The scars and stains of racism are still deeply embedded in the American society.” US Representative, John Lewis said this in his return to the steps of the Lincoln Memorial he spoke on 54 years ago, during the March on Washington. Racism has been around since the beginning of time, but it is not human nature. Racism is something that is taught, and given the amount of time that has passed since To Kill A Mockingbird and the March on Washington, one would think that racism wouldn’t be a serious issue any more. Although race relations have improved along with other social issues from the time of To Kill Mockingbird, racism and discrimination are major problems in today’s society.

From the first settlement of America in 1607, throughout its colonization, and through the Revolutionary War, American citizens owned slaves. They worked in the fields, provided domestic help, performed heavy manual labor, and white settlers depended on them to get the work done. But after these settlers freed themselves from the tyrannical clutches of the British government, many turned their focus to freeing the men they owned. From 1776 onward, American attitudes toward the institution of slavery changed. As the country slowly expanded westward, the opposition of slavery came to the forefront of the nation’s minds, drawing on economic and social ideas, like that of David Wilmot and the American Colonization Society, and on moral implications,

The introduction of Africans to America in 1619 set off an irreversible chain of events that effected the economy of the southern colonies. With a switch from the expensive system of indentured servitude, slavery emerged and grew rapidly for various reasons, consisting of economic, geographic, and social factors. The expansion of slavery in the southern colonies, from the founding of Jamestown in 1607 to just before America gained its independence in 1775, had a lasting impact on the development of our nation’s economy, due to the fact that slaves were easy to obtain, provided a life-long workforce, and were a different race than the colonists, making it easier to justify the immoral act.

The American Civil War was the deadliest warfare in American history soil; leaving approximately 620 thousand dead and over 300 thousand wounded. One would ask, who or what was the massive roles that played? During the nineteenth century, as the newborn nation, United States used racial identity, such as slaves or free blacks, and firearms were involved in the Civil War. I believe through this research paper, my learning from my K-12 schooling has not change significantly.

The New England colonist living in the new world in the early 1600’s went from a society that had a few slaves, to a society that accepted slavery as a way of life by the early 1700’s. Not one single event or year can be definitely set as to when slavery became a permanent staple of the colonies. The institution of slavery was introduced over time. It took a little over a century of perpetuating laws, codes, and failed rebellions before African slavery became a corner stone of colonial life.

The cause for this shift in social policy cannot be accurately traced through the events of the 17th century, but several clues to this alteration in slave treatment can be found. It is often presumed that racism led to the inevitable slavery acts in the 18th century, but this rationale is rather unfounded based on the idea that many African-Americans were in fact free and maintained their own farms in Virginia. The cause of slavery is much more subtle than a prejudice view of racial differences.

The issue of slavery has been in infamous part of American history since it first started in the 1600’s in Jamestown, Virginia. During the colonial era, white male landowners needed help on their land taking care of crops, so they would purchase the African slaves after they arrived by boat and have them work the land as well as other tasks that needed to be done such as tending to

As an anti-tax movement, the American Revolution centered on Americans’ right to control their own property. In the eighteenth century this notion of property extended to include other human beings. In many ways the American Revolution was conflicting in terms of its stance on slavery. On one hand, the Revolution reinforced American commitment to slavery; and on the other hand, the Revolution also hinged on radical new ideas about “liberty” and “equality,” which challenged slavery’s long tradition of extreme human inequality.

This paragraph focuses on the growing economic ties with slavery. The importation of slaves was not truly essential to the colonists economy until the 17th century. Slavery had existed in north america before the colonists arrived but it was not as popular as it would soon become. As colonists began to settle the western lands of the atlantic ocean, the space for plantations to expand became possible and having indentured servants as workers was popular. Indentured servitude was preferred over slavery until Bacon 's Rebellion of 1676, which is the first rebellion in the colonies. When Governor William Berkeley of Virginia denied the access of colonists moving westward onto indian lands, Nathaniel Bacon and a group of formerly indentured servants took it in their own hands to drive out the indians living in the

Slavery and servitude played an important role in the growth and development of North American colonies politically, socially and economically. The European colonists used several types of coerced labor in building colonial societies including Native American Indians, Indentured Servants, and African slaves. As time progressed, the European colonists developed additional colonies and began to mass produce crops such as Tobacco, Cotton, Sugar and Rice increasing the need for slavery and coerced labor. For the white plantation owners in the South, socio-economic status was based on the amount of land and slaves one had within the colonies. As the nation began to unite as one, we see the political climate shift towards abolishing slavery and recognizing African Americans as citizens. For over 150 years, slavery and servitude would play a vital role in shaping our society in terms of defining the American economy as well as the political and social climate that is still present today.

The subject of racism is a difficult one to address. Especially when discussing the grotesque history of Jim Crow and the Jim Crow Laws. Plenty of hard feelings overshadow the issues and sometimes personal opinions can prevent progressive discussions from progressing. The views in this paper have been carefully considered and do not hold one race or another responsible the racism that currently plagues our American society. Instead this paper encourages every member of the human race to examine racism in clarity while seeking the truth about its existence. The origins of racism in America will be contemplated, the ways that Jim Crow Laws promoted racism will be reviewed, and the remaining impacts of Jim Crowism that continue to test our humanity

During the colonization period on the US territory, England used racism to facilitate and legalize slavery. In 1705 Virginia Act established that slavery would apply to those people who were not Christians. Most of the slaves were black and were held by whites, although some Native Americans and free blacks also had slaves. In part due to success business around the tobacco in the southern colonies and the high demand for labor associated with it, the plantation owners turned to increase the importation of slaves into the late seventeenth century, a phenomenon no equally occurred in the north colonies. The south had a significantly higher number and proportion of slaves in the population. This method was emotional and physical all together.

During the development of the colonies and the nation as a whole, slaves were utilized in order to produce the crops and perform laborious tasks that were “below” white people. In the 1660s, there was an increased demand for tobacco products as well as indigo and rice in England (“African American Slavery in the Colonial Era, 1619-1775”). In order to fulfill the demand, there was a spike in interest in purchasing slaves. More and more slaves were needed to produce larger amounts of crops for the plantation owners.

Can we put an end to racism? This country has continued to struggle with issues between African Americans themselves and Caucasians and it’s time that we start solving it by effort, education, listening, and especially taking the time to understand the problems of African Americans. Henry Louis Gates Jr. highlights some of the background of the problem of racism in his article, “Black America and the Class Divide.”

People of color have been the targets of bigotry, racial discrimination, and oppression since the arrival of the early European settlers. This is evident in the mass extermination of the Native Americans and in the kidnapping and enslavement of African’s in the 1600’s. Although slavery was abolished over 100 years ago the traumatic effects of this injustice is present in today’s society. The forefathers of America built this nation with the hands of black people and despite their contribution to this country they continue to be marginalized. Even though black people have made many strides this long-standing history of oppression has persevered throughout the generations. The deep-rooted contention of inequality and injustice has