Chattel Slavery Essay

Chattel slavery, so named because people are treated as the personal property, chattels, of an owner and are bought and sold as commodities, is the original form of slavery. When taking these chattels across national borders it is referred to as Human Trafficking especially when these slaves provide sexual services.

Slave as defined by the dictionary means that a slave is a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another; a bond servant. So why is it that every time you go and visit a historical place like the Hampton-Preston mansion in Columbia South Carolina, the Lowell Factory where the mill girls work in Massachusetts or the Old town of Williamsburg Virginia they only talk about the good things that happened at these place, like such things as who owned them, who worked them, how they were financed and what life was like for the owners. They never talk about the background information of the lower level people like the slaves or servants who helped take care and run these places behind the scenes.

Slavery in America started in 1619 when settlers brought over African Americans to Jamestown, Virginia. The slaves came to Jamestown to work on the tobacco plantations. The slaves were also sent to other colonies such as South Carolina to work on the cotton plantations. Slaves were people who worked for no pay. This caused the land owners to make more profit from their plantations because they didn’t have to pay their workers. Southern slave owners, specifically in South Carolina, relied on slavery as a major part of their economy.

Slavery (the ownership of another human as one’s own property) is one of the oldest traditions in human history. History shows that ancient Rome and Greece valued their wealth upon the number of slaves an individual owned. Their service was to provide slave labor for their owners. As time progressed, slavery began to evolve into something much different– especially in the North American colonies. A new nation was emerging, fueled by a drive for expansion and a growing economy. The United States exploited African Americans through racial slavery to fill the labor shortage and created a system that stripped them of their basic rights, dignity, and created social barriers to ensure their subservience to Southern society.

Looking back in history, you will find that slavery was always present. There are accounts of slavery in Babylon, Greece, and Rome, all occurring before the Common Era; but there was a major change during the year 1619 in the way slavery was implemented. This form of slavery was known as chattel slavery. Defined as “A civil relationship in which one person has absolute power over the life, fortune, and liberty of another” (Legal-dictionary.com), chattel slavery targeted African slaves that were brought over from Africa to the Americas to support the production of crops such as tobacco and cotton. Previous to the year 1619, slavery was used as a way to pay off debt or as seen in Rome it existed to provide everyone with an equal opportunity. In examining the start of chattel slavery I pose three questions: What was the true purpose of chattel slavery, why was chattel slavery only in America and found nowhere else in any point of history, and are there forms of chattel slavery that exist today? Answering these questions will be pivotal in explaining why chattel slavery was constructed.

The term slavery refers to “When a person (called master) has absolute power over another (called slave) including life and liberty”.As stated by duhaime.org, The new phenomenon or term, “slave mentality”, stems from the early existence of slavery and how slavery continues to affect the mindset of the new generation. According to the blog, The Last Civil Right, slave mentality is when “a person conditioned to quietly and without objection, accept harmful circumstances for themselves as the natural order of things.” The definition of slave mentality is one that explains how slavery can affect not only future generations and a group of people, but individuals. In the book of the “narrative of the life of Frederick Douglass” explains how a

More space may have been committed to the issue that hung over everything subjugation and how it impacted Davis' charge. There is a short exchange of Davis' reaction to the Emancipation Proclamation and the enrollment of previous slave fighters into Union positions (he named it "the most repulsive measure recorded ever" and debilitated to have dark troops and their officers executed if caught in fight) and a fairly more full thought of whether the Confederates themselves should enroll their slaves (Davis bolstered it if all else fails). However it would have been useful to take in more about the effect of slave resistance behind the lines or how the requests of battling to ensure a slave society offered shape to the flow of command.In the end,

There have been many illuminating studies in the field of the origins of chattel slavery in Colonial North America. Alpert, 1970; Edmondson, 1976; Jordan, 1962: Ruchames, 1967; Starr, 1973, wrote seminal studies that did much to bring insight to the subject. Goetz, 2009; Mason, 2006; Smaje, 2002; Neeganagwedgin, 2012, presented evidence that have either reexamined old questions or used new methods and approaches to ask news questions to add insight to this topic. However, little has been written about indeginous slavery and its pycho-social impacts that still influence North American people today, or the political considerations that led to black society becoming chattel

Slavery is an institution that treat humans like livestock. Slaves are Chained; constantly thrashed; fed twice daily a mere serving of bacon and corn meal; labouring countless hours; forced to sleep on the ground. They were not considered humans worthy of proper clothing, food, or shelter, but

How does this source help you understand the life of a slave? Explain using information gathered throughout our study of this chapter, as well as textual evidence from this source.How does this source help you understand the life of a slave? Explain using information gathered throughout our study of this chapter, as well as textual evidence from this source. Goal: 4-5 Paragraphs

Slave narratives were written for several main purposes such as to present a true description of the slave system and the treatment of slaves, to show the religious ideals of the main characters, and to appeal to abolitionists by showing the common humanity of slaves. Solomon Northup’s dominant purpose in writing the narrative novel Twelve Years a Slave is to present a true description of the slave system and the treatment of slaves. This purpose is chosen over the rest because he gives a clear explanation of what he went through as a slave, how he became a slave and how he dealt with it, and what it was like to live a slaves’ life when he was originally a free man.

A labor system that had previously existed throughout history, in many instances and most countries is known as slavery. So what exactly is it? How did slavery begin? And what does it mean in our world today? These are complex questions that are often asked and, possibly, by understanding the forms it takes and the roles such slaves perform. What daily life is like for those enchained and what can be done to end this demeaning practice may help in answering those questions. It is known that slavery is a system under which people are treated as property to be bought, sold and are forced to work. It is also known that slavery was established in the history and economy of most countries. Even though it prospered during some periods and

Slavery is the legalized economic activity under which people, especially the natives of a land, are treated as property by colonizers like the Spanish. Slavery was a system that lasted for many years before it was abolished and the Africans as well as the Indians went through a lot of suffering upon the hands of their masters. The slaves were meant to perform duties such as cultivation of the plantations, domestic chores and even mining activities and were on the constant watch of the masters. In many cases, the slaves were bought and sold as commodities and one such trade included the Trans-Atlantic slave trade through which the Portuguese were able to send slaves to Brazil. Slave trade was abundant in Southern America under the Spanish colonies and the presence of Africans in their societies had varying impacts.

The dynamic of the relationships between slaves and their master was one which was designed to undermine and demean the slave. The master exercised complete authority and dominion over his slaves and

A recent report by Australia's Walk Free Foundation estimated that 29.8 million people are in slavery today; of these there is still 60,000 Americans in some type of slavery. A slave is a person held in a state of subjection to an owner or master. Because slavery is abolished in all but a few countries many people believe it is no longer a problem, but slavery is still a big issue that people need to more proactive about.