What Impact Did Slavery Have on 19th Century America?

Slave; one who is property of and wholly subject to, another.

The Macquarie Dictionary - Revised Third EditionIf you think slaves were owned by wealthy, smart, spoilt, selfish and arrogant people, think again! Did you know that even Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves throughout his whole life? Slavery in America was all about survival, money and power. There were many causes and dramas that led to this path which changed the lives of millions of people. Do these scars still exist or has time washed history away. In this essay, I will examine the impacts that slavery had in 19th Century America.

Slavery is the situation or condition in which a person is owned by another person. He or she was considered as property by law, and was deprived of all most all rights held by a free person. In the 1800's, one in five Americans were Afro-American.

Scars of a whipped slave (April 2, 1863, Baton Rou...

United States

United States

Before the Europeans arrived, West Africa was a part of a major trading network distributing goods such as gold and ivory and taken by Arab traders back to Europe. In 1430's, improved shipbuilding and navigational skills gave the Europeans an opportunity to sail to West Africa and give them the chance to explore the coast for themselves. The Portuguese docked their ships first, followed by many other European nations, including France, England and the Netherlands. However, on the other side of the globe, European explorers in America, was in great need for more men to work in the new colonies. Therefore, they began to ship Africans across the Atlantic Ocean as slaves to help them work in the colonies.

After, in North America, the Spanish took Florida in the year 1565, while Frenchmen settled in parts of Canada and claimed a vast amount of western Canadian...