Peter Kolchin’s “American Slavery: Origins and Consolidation” Essay

– Get top-rated homework assistance online by professional writers. Free of AI and Plagiarism.- S. because of two factors namely, religious and economic.Need Assignment Help Online, Homework Solutions & Case Study Answers? Order Custom Research Essay Writing Service.

The concept of slavery as a labor system in the U.S. was patterned after the imperialistic attempts of European countries. The emergence of this kind of system is brought by the shortage in workers, especially in the agricultural aspects. A big number of workers are needed by the rich landowners during the harvest season in order for them to meet the existing demands of the market. Because of this, Africans were being imported to become farm workers. The more laborers that they have, the greater is the production, and therefore the greater is the possibility of an economic growth since there has been demands made in both international and local market, which is very apparent today in the U.S. (Kolchin, p.5)Need Assignment Help Online, Homework Solutions & Case Study Answers? Order Custom Research Essay Writing Service.

The second factor deals with religion. Since slaves are considered as subordinates to their masters, everything that the master will tell them, the slave will follow, including their master’s religion (which is mostly Christianity as Kolchim discussed). Unlike their masters who have religious backgrounds in the form of doctrines and teachings, the slaves do not have. Because of this, the slaves settled in potion-makings, superstitious beliefs, and the like. However, by being introduced to Christianity, they became more civilized and at least, knowledgeable because they already follow “legal rituals.”Need Assignment Help Online, Homework Solutions & Case Study Answers? Order Custom Research Essay Writing Service.

Surprisingly, the Christian bible tolerates the presentation of stories depicting slavery. For instance, the bible suggests that God blessed and protected the Christians while the non-Christians were punished and viewed as slaves, serving their Christian masters in building religious temples or religious images. In general, slavery in the United States of America has evolved throughout the years. In fact, two historical periods sought to explain this evolution. One is the colonial era wherein slaves were still powerless and submissive individuals, and the other is during the period of antebellum.Need Assignment Help Online, Homework Solutions & Case Study Answers? Order Custom Research Essay Writing Service.

During this period, there were calls and proposals to the slave-owners to treat their subordinates as humans, providing them with their basic needs (Kolchin, p. 28) I do agree that Kolchin has a basis in saying that economy and religion are the factors why slavery was accepted in U.S. because his arguments are very apparent. If we are to trace back history, the rich American landowners, there are a number of them who became the country’s chief executives, hired African slaves to attend to their agricultural business. In fact, he was quoted in his book saying “[slavery] helped propel the economic transformation of the leading colonial powers.” (Kolchin, p.5)Need Assignment Help Online, Homework Solutions & Case Study Answers? Order Custom Research Essay Writing Service.

Meanwhile, in terms of religion, many of the country’s leaders are Christians. As such, they follow the bible. A passage from the Book of Genesis 9:25 which states that, “Cursed be Canaan; a slave of slaves shall he be to his brothers,” Christian believers are quick to say that this passage is the cornerstone of the belief that God made the blacks suffer from slavery (Kolchin, p.145).Need Assignment Help Online, Homework Solutions & Case Study Answers? Order Custom Research Essay Writing Service.

The most important new information that I discovered about America’s history is the irony of former President Thomas Jefferson. While he announced that “all men are created equal” during his declaration of Independence, he was a large-scale slave owner himself. Apart from that, his all men are created equal contradicts his racist remark when he said that black’s “depravity” is caused by their slave status, and more offensively, the distinct nature of their innate characteristic (Kolchin, p.88).Need Assignment Help Online, Homework Solutions & Case Study Answers? Order Custom Research Essay Writing Service.

The reason why I considered it also as an important learning for me is because the African slaves suffered too much pain, physically and emotionally, under the Americans’ hands. Even former Presidents have their own share of taking advantage of these “blacks” despite their call of equality.Need Assignment Help Online, Homework Solutions & Case Study Answers? Order Custom Research Essay Writing Service.

African slavery will always be a part of American history. As such, this article further strengthens Kolchin’s arguments that slavery was caused by both economic and religious factors. The Americans, thinking that they are superior individuals, took advantage of the Africans. They used their power in order to force these Africans to work doubly hard and in case the slave masters were not satisfied, they will maltreat them.Need Assignment Help Online, Homework Solutions & Case Study Answers? Order Custom Research Essay Writing Service.

Meanwhile, the Americans use their influence in religion to further manipulate not only the actions of the slaves but more importantly, their way of thinking also. However, despite the influence of the Americans, it is not still safe to conclude that African slaves were “Americanized.” In fact, even if Americans do influence their thinking, they are still “Africans” themselves. It’s just that, Africans were exposed to two different cultures.
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Reference:
Kolchin,P. Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom. Harvard University Press, April 1987.
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