The " Slavery in the United States "
Explanation:
History of slavery in the United States (1618-1865) began as soon as the British colonialists first established a settlement in Virginia and ended with Amendment 13 of the Constitution of the United States .
Before slavery was widely practiced, the labor system was managed under the bonded labor system in which a person was bound to work with an employer as payment for shipping, food and shelter. This bond contract lasted for several years for both whites and blacks and was used as reimbursement for the cost of travel to the new world . [1] However in the 1700s, courts made racist decisions when only those of African descent and Native Americans were subject to this rule. [2]The southern colonies used a lot of labor to work the tobacco plantations, and the number of slaves is said to have exceeded the total population of the northern colonies by the end of the 17th century [3] .
From 1654 to 1865, lifelong slavery was legal in the area now known as the United States . [4] Most black slaves owned by white masters, and some Native Americans as well as blacks who did not have any ties were also forced to become slaves. The majority of slaves were forced to work in agriculture. According to the 1860 census, there were nearly 4 million slaves compared to 12 million residents of 15 states that legalized slavery. [5] Of all 1,515,605 families in the 15 states, 393,967 had slaves (approximately one in four families), [6]or 8 percent of all families in America. However, families in America do not have many slaves when compared to farmers or landowners who have 20 or more slaves [7] . Farmers and landowners are those who are rich, of high status and have political power. Ninety -five percent (95%) of blacks live in the south and these are one -third of the population, compared to only two percent in the north [8] .
The prosperity of the United States in the first half of the 19th century was contributed also by the sweat of African Americans . [9] [10] But with the victory of the north in the American Civil War , the system of slavery was abolished in the south [11] . This abolition led to the economic decline of the southern states where cotton farms made little profit as they could no longer exploit slave labor [12]. The northern states, which grew rapidly through technology and industry before and during the war, continued to soar economically compared to the economies of the southern states. Entrepreneurs from the north dominate the country including the social and political system. The class of peasants and landowners lost power temporarily. The rapid economic development after the Civil War became the foundation of the modern economy of the United States.
12 million African blacks were sent to the American continent from the 16th to the 19th century [13] [14] . Of this number, an estimated 645,000 (5.4%) were brought to what is now the United States. Most of them were brought to Brazil [15] . The slave population in the United States increased to four million during the 1860 census.
