Ethnic Studies Week 2 Blog....

During this period in time slavery was a vital part of the economy in America. Without it, it could be argued, that the United State would not have thrived as much as it did. Plantations, especially in the south were massive. In the early years of the United States it would have been impossible and not as economically feasible to be harvested without slaves. Even though slavery was completely wrong the conditions it brought should have never been put into place, it was seen as the only way things could get done on these massive plantations. To end slavery, the United State would have needed to make huge changes in more than just the way they farmed. And these changes would eventually come.

Slave holders saw slavery as something that was overly efficient in many ways. Slave holders could own as many slaves as they could afford, and as mentioned in the reading, children born from a slave were automatically under the ownership of the slave owner. If slavery had not existed it would have been impossible to harvest the massive plantations. This could have made huge changes to our history. Without slaves plantation owners would have to have smaller fields, or worse in there minds, pay to have them harvested. Who knows what this could have done to the agricultural economy of the time.  At the time slavery was such a vital part, at least in the eyes of the supporters, escaped slaves could have been found and returned from anyone who found them. 

Slavery has been ingrained in countries well before the United States. Early empires would conquer areas and force them into slavery or to fight for them in upcoming conflicts. This difference here is that most of these people were taking from Africa and sold like property. How people could morally do this I don't know. But it was the way of times. It wasn't only African-Americans who were sold into slavery, many poor Europeans were as well. Although, as we found out in our reading the work these people had to do was completely different, and in most cases was much easier and working conditions were not as bad. Also, most Europeans could actually have a chance to buy they freedom as working as an indentured servant, African-Americans did not have this ability. But what strikes me most about this society is how they could treat these slaves the way they did, especially since many slaves fought in the Revolutionary War where we fought for equality and freedom. Without these slaves fighting for the United State some people may argue that we would have never won the war. 

For slavery to come to an end its obvious it would have taken drastic changes and a visionary to stand up for equal rights. I think we can all agree that there were many people out there who were against slavery and voiced the opinions, but they didn't have the influence. In steps Abraham Lincoln. It took for the president of the United States, and the Civil War to finally end slavery. For some people it pretty easy to see why such a terrible thing as slavery, that it took so much for it end when it shouldnt have been in place in the first place. But even after the war when all the slaves were freed they still had to suffer years of oppression. It just doesnt seem fare. 

We can see social control like this all over the world. People are still working in terrible conditions for minimal pay in places like China, Thailand, and Indonesia. We hear about it all the time, so called "sweat shops" pumping out massive quantities of product and making huge profits for their usually north american owned companies. It's hard to believe that companies like Nike can manufacture a pair of shoes over seas for under $5, and we pay over $100 here in the US. And on top of it, the workers who make these products make less than $5 a day and in some cases are children.