Antebellum Slavery

            Slavery, people who are the legal property of another and are forced to obey them. Slavery was a big part of the South in the 19th century. Slaves were the ones who picked the 2.28 billion pounds of cotton that was grown on the plantations. During class we discussed three major points in the topic of slavery in the 19th century. The three points are slavery becoming economically entrenched, the system of slavery affecting human dignity, and the human characteristics that slavery tends to ignore.
            How did slavery become economically entrenched in American society by the early 19th century? Slavery didn't become economically entrenched right away because cotton was an insignificant crop prior to 1800. So no one needed additional help to work the cotton fields, but by 1860 cotton was by far the most lucrative, agricultural commodity in the entire nation (http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-00.html). By 1860 the South grew 2.28 billion pounds of cotton and cotton became 57% of the nation's revenue at $191.8 billion. The slave population at this time was 3,954,000 and slaves were widespread throughout most of the South (http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-01.html, http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-02.html). These statistics prove why slavery became entrenched in American society. The reason behind it being that since cotton gives the U.S. more than half its yearly revenue the nation's government, in Washington, couldn't afford to alienate slavery because without slavery there wouldn't be enough workers to produce all of the cotton. This made Southern crop planters feel economically powerful, politically confident, and encouraged to keep trading and purchasing slaves (http://mappinghistory.uoregon.edu/english/US/US18-01.html).
            How does a system of slavery based on race affect human dignity? An example of slavery affecting human dignity can be found in the Founder's Constitution. Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 states, "Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons." For slaves, this means that they will not be fully represented and they will be accounted for as 3/5 of what other (free) people are worth (for tax and representation purposes). This affects dignity because dignity is all about being worthy of honor and respect. Saying that a human being will not be seen as the whole person that they are, in the eyes of the government, is degrading and the person saying it shouldn't be honored nor respected. It shouldn't be right to be able to put a limit on someone's worth based on if they are a slave or not. 
            What human characteristics does such a system tend to ignore? Frederick Douglass touched upon this subject in his "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" speech he gave in Rochester, New York, July 5, 1852. He believed that the system of slavery ignored the basic human right of freedom for all. He linked this belief to the Fourth of July because the Americans are celebrating their freedom, but not everyone is free in the U.S.. He described the American's ignorance towards freedom as a, "hollow mockery". 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass

Frederick Douglass, former slave and leader of abolition movement