The Entrenchment of Slavery in America - The Antebellum Era

In class, we were asked:

• How did slavery become economically entrenched  in American society by the early 19th century?
• How does a system of slavery based on race affect  human dignity?
• What human characteristics does such a system tend  to ignore?

Slavery was (and still is) a huge part of America’s history. Even though it’s morally unjust, it was ingrained in society for a very long time. It was written into laws, made part of normal life. Slaves weren’t treated as free beings; they were the lowest class possible. A massive portion of the US economy was dominated by slave-produced crops, such as cotton. Here is a map that shows the spread of cotton production and slavery (and their correlation) over time. These slaves were treated as a means of boosting the economy, not as people. To further serve as a way to answer these questions, we were shown the documentary Prince Among Slaves in class. Here’s a trailer for it:

It’s about a man named Abdulrahman Ibrahim Ibn Sori, a former African Prince who was abducted, enslaved, and sent to America. This movie really gave a good perspective of the time period from someone who was enslaved.