Slavery on Southern Plantation
Slavery on Southern Plantations
When we look back on American history there are many things that we are proud of. Americans are worldly known for being proud of their country and are considered to be full of them selves by many. However, our hands are not clean. For hundreds of years Americans had made African Americans their personal slaves and forced them to do manual labor and be servants. Even after the emancipation proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln, African Americans were persecuted against for many more years. Throughout the years of slavery both the north and south utilized the African American people for their own purposes. The north mainly used them as household servants and the south used them as field workers to pick cotton or to till and harvest fields. Comparing the two, the southern slaves had it much worse off. Working almost every day no matter what the weather is, and living in close quarters with dozens of other slaves. While the northern slaves usually lived in their masters homes and were most of the time fed and treated better. In 1775 all thirteen colonies allowed the practice of slavery, but by 1783 five states had already abolished it. This began to make the southern states nervous because plantations were the backbone of the southern economy. Without slaves these plantations would more then likely shut down or make marginally less money because of paying hired help to do so. Something had to be done to boost the southern economy in order to keep the use of slaves up. (Nevins).
One problem was the amount of time it took to separate the lint from the seeds. This problem was solved by a man named Eli Whitney. “Eli Whitney (a Northerner) changed all this in 1792 when he invented the cotton gin. The problem this new machine addressed was the inherent difficulty in separating the lint of a cotton plant from its seed. It took a slave an average of 10 tedious hours to produce one pound of clean cotton. Whitney 's inspiration was
When we look back on American history there are many things that we are proud of. Americans are worldly known for being proud of their country and are considered to be full of them selves by many. However, our hands are not clean. For hundreds of years Americans had made African Americans their personal slaves and forced them to do manual labor and be servants. Even after the emancipation proclamation signed by Abraham Lincoln, African Americans were persecuted against for many more years. Throughout the years of slavery both the north and south utilized the African American people for their own purposes. The north mainly used them as household servants and the south used them as field workers to pick cotton or to till and harvest fields. Comparing the two, the southern slaves had it much worse off. Working almost every day no matter what the weather is, and living in close quarters with dozens of other slaves. While the northern slaves usually lived in their masters homes and were most of the time fed and treated better. In 1775 all thirteen colonies allowed the practice of slavery, but by 1783 five states had already abolished it. This began to make the southern states nervous because plantations were the backbone of the southern economy. Without slaves these plantations would more then likely shut down or make marginally less money because of paying hired help to do so. Something had to be done to boost the southern economy in order to keep the use of slaves up. (Nevins).
One problem was the amount of time it took to separate the lint from the seeds. This problem was solved by a man named Eli Whitney. “Eli Whitney (a Northerner) changed all this in 1792 when he invented the cotton gin. The problem this new machine addressed was the inherent difficulty in separating the lint of a cotton plant from its seed. It took a slave an average of 10 tedious hours to produce one pound of clean cotton. Whitney 's inspiration was
Bibliography: Drayton, Samuel. "From slavery to freedom." Drayton Hall. 2008. 6 Nov. 2008 . Nevins, Allan. "Life on a Southern Plantation, 1854." Eye Witness to History. 1953. 6 Nov. 2008 . "Plantation Life." American abolitionist. 2005. 6 Nov. 2008 . "Saint Simons Island." The Saint Simons Island Experience. Apr. 2007. 6 Nov. 2008 .