Slavery
and its Effect on the Cultural Creation of the United States
Throughout the making
of the United States, slavery consistently affected the culture of the United States.
As a key economic tool, slavery played a significant role in the making of the
country. Slavery forced the founders of the United States to face tough issues
and make decisions involving the equality status of the African American race.
With slavery, the Africans brought with them new ideas and influences that the
Europeans had never encountered. The slaves grasped onto these ideas because
they gave them a sense of humanity that they had once had in their past lives. Many
of these cultural aspects and the influence of slavery have been attempted to
be covered up in the past due to their effect on United States history that
many wish had never happened. Although dim and inhumane, slavery did provide a
new form of culture and race to the United States that not only changed the
lives of African Americans, but that changed the United States and what it was
founded on as a whole.
Beginning
with the revolutionary war, the United States was going through a time of great
change. The United States was attempting to gain their freedom from the
British. It was a time of great opportunity for everyone, except slaves. By
this point in history, slavery was a major factor in the colonies of the new
world and with the beginning of this new war against the British, slavery was
even more important. Slaves were asked to fight for the freedom of a country
that provided no freedom to themselves. Some slaves believed that freedom could
be won if they fought in the war. Others were actually promised freedom for
their service. The English also attempted to use the idea of slavery against
the United States with Lord Dunmore’s proclamation. Due to his army being
withered down to just three hundred men, Lord Dunmore, “offered to emancipate
slaves who joined the Royal Army. More than 700 flocked to his lines.” [1]. This
showed how the slaves did not care which side of the war they were on, they
just wanted to be free. The war created an interesting culture of both the
whites and blacks fighting for their own freedom, but each having to fight
different enemies.
As
the slaves began to see their owners fighting for their freedom, they began to question
even more than before why they could not be free like their owners. These
slaves were as much a part of this new country that was beginning to form as
their owners were and without them, the country would not function. As the Massachusetts
Blacks explained in their petition, “we have in common with all other men a
naturel right to our freedoms without Being depriv’d of them by our fellow men
as we are a freeborn Pepel and have never forfeited this Blessing by aney
compact or agreement whatever” [2]. Because of this recognition, slaves began
to fight back. Slaves did use violent attacks to attempt to gain their freedom
and equality, but even more so, slaves used the common aspects of the white
culture to gain any sort of equality they could. Religion is a huge example of
this. Slaves used the new Baptist movement as a way to become in one way equal
to their owners. As Sobel explained, “Virtually all eighteenth-century Baptist
and Methodist churches were mixed churches, in which blacks sometimes preached
to whites” [3]. This was an astonishing accomplishment because up until this
point, blacks were not allowed to do anything that whites did, or at least not
at the same time and in the same place.
Slavery was a major
factor in the economic success of the United States at its creation. Because of
this, the slaves that were brought over to the United States and sold into
slavery and also the slaves born into slavery, brought with them the ideas and
influences that they had grown up with and learned from their elders. These
ideas and influences varied profoundly from what the white men and women were
used to. The cultural aspects of the Africans such as music, religion, family
traditions, and burial rituals were all much different than the Whites. These
new cultural traits were so prevalent because the slaves used them as a way to
maintain their independence. One example of this was the use of the circle. As
Stuckey explained, “the circle is linked to the most important of all African
ceremonies, the burial ceremony” [4]. This culture was brought over to the new
world along with the slaves. Examples like the use of the circle helped create
a sense of companionship between the different African races that were now
joined together in the struggle of slavery.
The
slaves used culture as a way to express themselves. Through the commodification
process that each slave was put through, masters attempted to take every bit of
humanity out of the slaves. Culture provided a way to regain humanity that the
slaves had once had as free men and women. The use of culture gave the slaves
an identity. The slaves were more than just commodities when they were playing
the music and singing the songs of their ancestors, they were people. Through
the use of religion, slaves could gain a sense of autonomy. No matter how hard
the masters tried to take away the religion of the slaves ancestors, the slaves
were still able to believe in whatever they truly wanted to believe in. Slaves
could get married and start families. And ironically, some slaves even tried to
use the religious culture of the Whites to gain their freedom. In a world where
every choice was made for them, culture gave the slaves something that they
could choose for themselves.
Slavery
affected the making of the United States and its rules and documents as well.
Throughout the constitution, slavery is underlined without actually being
mentioned. According to Waldstreicher, of the Constitution’s eighty-four
clauses, “six are directly concerned with slaves and their owners” [5]. Knowing
how important slavery was, the founder of the United States overlooked the
inhumane nature of slavery and made certain to support slavery and the ideas
behind it. Most of the forefathers of the United States gave very indefinite answers
when asked about the right and wrong nature of slavery. This shows the dilemma that
the early leaders of our country faced. The leaders were forced to choose
between economic success, and what they saw as morally right. Financially in a
bind, the men were forced into creating a country underlined by slavery.
Slavery
is an idea that many people do not like to talk about. Slavery represented a
time in the United States where economic prosperity was chosen over what was
morally correct. However, slavery did have positive aspects as well. Slavery
brought a brand new form of culture, customs, and race to the United States
that would have never been here if it were not for slavery. Slavery was also a
major theme in the making of our country as a whole. Although slavery produced
a society based upon the commodification and immoral use of human beings,
slavery contributed a new form of culture that helped shape the United States
into the country that it is today.
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