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The Impact of Slavery on American Society

Introduction

Slavery affected not only slaves and the people who owned them, but those who were against slavery. Because the northern states had become more industrialized than the south, the north did not hold slavery as a positive development for the nation. The market revolution along with the Industrial Revolution from England convinced the north that free labor would be better for the country. Slavery was not only morally wrong—it was not as economically sound as it once was. Slave narratives impacted the way the nation perceived the institution of slavery.

Often people viewed slavery in terms of the institution. Slave narratives helped to shift the focus from the system to the personal. Former slaves such as Frederick Douglass and Harriet Jacobs were able to escape their slave masters and write their stories. The slave narratives were a rallying force for those who opposed slavery. The descriptions included were to shock those who either did not know about the effects of slavery or those who did nothing to stop it (Anderson, 9).

The Social Impact

The social impact slavery made on the nation could be seen in the slave uprisings. White slave owners maintained the fear that slaves would rise against their masters. As time went on, racist views became apparent as people instilled values of racial superiority in the whites. This idea of whites being better than blacks would persist long after slavery ended. Slavery caused the rift between the north and the south in post-Civil War America. Samuel Watkins, a confederate soldier from the Civil War, summarized the division between the north and south accurately when he stated: “The South is our country, the North is the country of those who live there. We are an agricultural people; they are a manufacturing people” (Aynes, 1993, 57).

There are three events in American history that are linked greatly together and in turn have effected the creation of America as a republic. Bacon`s Rebellion, slavery as an institution, class division and conflict are the three events that will be discussed in this paper. Also, it will be shown how these three events impacted the creation of the American republic. The plot for Bacon`s Rebellion is the late 17th century in the backwoods of what is now Virginia, where poor farmers were drawn because they could not afford the best farming land that was owned by Virginia`s elite ("Bacon's Rebellion"). This area was prone to Indian attacks. Tension was growing as Virginian`s faced many economical problems and natural disasters, such as declining tobacco prices, growing commercial competition from Maryland and the Carolina`s, an increasing restricted English market, the rising prices for English manufactured goods, hail storms, floods, draughts, and hurricanes. After a servant was killed by Doeg Indians, Virginian`s found a scapegoat in which they could vent their frustration and place blame for their misfortune, the Native Americans (Baer, 61). The colonist retaliated against this act of violence but it was against the wrong tribe, which started ...