Jasmin Keller - Reaction Paper 2

Jasmin Keller
Reaction Paper 2
10/15/14
History 205 – Slavery in the United States
keljc-17@rhodes.edu

           

            Although slavery is deeply woven into the fabric of American society, it remained (and to a certain extent still remains) mostly invisible. In fact, the American economy was based on slavery. Or to put it in other words: slavery lay the foundation for the economy. It did so in various ways: first of all, slaves served as basic commodities that could be acquired and then sold as other goods on the market. Secondly, as a result of the commodification of slaves they were seen as property. Since wealth is measured in property, slaves contributed to the status of the masters. Finally, slaves were not only regarded as commodities but produced other commodities, such as tobacco, sugar and cotton, themselves. To preserve the status quo, it was only natural that the voice of slaves were silenced, especially because the majority of the population benefitted from the situation.
            In terms of the legal situation, slavery was never mentioned explicitly in the Constitution. Yet the institution of slavery heavily shaped the document and can be found all over it. Eleven of the total eighty-four clauses deal with the issue of slavery . How deeply rooted slavery is in the Constitution becomes obvious upon taking a closer look at the central themes of taxation and representation. “No taxation without representation” had been the key statement of the revolutionary war and the reason why it was fought in the first place. Both taxation as well as representation are connected to the population, but in a certain way.
            “Representation 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.”
           

As free persons, servants and apprentices, and Indians were already mentioned in this passage, “all other persons” refers to slaves. David Waldstreicher points out that, contrary to common belief, “Africans and their descendants were not being defined as three-fifths of a person,…rather their presence was acknowledged as a source of power and of wealth, for their owners. This again, emphasizes the aforementioned point, slaves were seen as property and benefitted their masters in terms of wealth. The Constitution clearly favored those who owned other people. Taxation and representation was connected to slavery. This is only one example of how slavery influenced the Constitution. Only by taking a closer look at the document, and by analyzing it, it becomes clear that slavery is in fact everywhere. But as it is never directly mentioned, it remains invisible at first glance.

Slaves’ contributions to certain historical events are barely mentioned. One example is a slave named York who belonged to William Clark and accompanied his master on the Lewis and Clark expedition. Literature that deals with the expedition left out York’s role in it. Frank X Walter book “Buffalo Dance – The Journey of York” is quite successful in painting a powerful pictures of York’s experiences and in giving him a voice that had been silenced by history. Slaves were not allowed to receive a proper education, “the only book we ‘lowed to know is the bible, though many a slave been sold south, had fingers chopped off an worse for the crime a reading an writing. As a result, many people, including scholars such as Thomas Jefferson thought slaves to be inferior to the settlers, “them think all slaves dumb ‘cause we can’t cipher, but they be surprised how many words we pick up just standing round like trees in a room full of “edjacated” men.”.

Slaves were made invisible by denying them the opportunity to document and share their experience with other citizens and history in the long term. Nowadays, when we look back at the revolutionary era, we immediately think of the great founding fathers and how they fought for freedom. It then becomes quite paradox, from today’s perspective, that a society which greatest accomplishment was breaking free from a tyranny, was built on slavery and the unfreedom of other people. Even more perplexing is that even today, the topic of slavery is not dealt with in depth. Most of the time we don’t perceive slaves as individual subjects, but look at slavery as one unfortunate event in history. While the institution of slavery does not remain invisible (as it is simply not possible), the fate and stories of individual slaves do.