Wk#7: Abolition of Slavery

I wrote about slavery last week in my blog and I am choosing to write about it again this week. The reason I continue to discuss this topic is because I feel strongly about the wrongdoings caused by slavery. In our past readings we were able to see how slavery was so common, people were traded freely as if they were cattle. Slave traders seemed to have no compassion for the people who were forced into slavery.

In this week’s reading I learned that there was a great push on behalf of enlightenment thinkers to end slavery. Enlightened thinkers felt that slavery was a violation of natural rights, and I agree. Whenever I think about natural rights, I think about John Locke’s theory which basically said that people have the right to liberty, life, and property.  It was later that the quakers also came about and also stressed the importance of eradicating slavery as they thought it went against their religion. As grateful as I am for the abolition of slavery, it did take about 100 years to get rid of it.

On the side of economics, I understand that many civilizations felt that they needed slaves to become economically prosperous, as having more bodies to assist in trade or tend to agriculture was essential. I was amazed to learn that England arrived on seen as an opponent of slavery as they had been economically successful without slaves. It was interesting to read that even the king of Africa was puzzled when England abolished slavery as they had once been proponents of slavery, he could not understand why it was acceptable at one time and all of a sudden unacceptable at another. There were many reasons which included the horrible testimonies of slaves,  that  eventually led to the abolition of slavery. I cannot begin to imagine the joy that former slaves must have experienced when they learned they were free. As happy as former slaves might have been, those who wanted to keep slaves found loopholes to continue the utilization of slaves. Given every nation, contingent on who they were ruled under had the choice to continue with the use of slaves or get rid of them. For example, in the United States we had a form of “legally free” labor, yet it was a type of labor that relied heavily on its workers , and provide low wages, which ultimately led to workers being in debt with their employers. This to me registered as the employers telling their workers, - well if you owe me money you will do what I say for as long as I say until you pay me the money you owe me. Geez this sounds a lot like slavery without having to use the word.

Regardless of the freedom that was granted to former slaves, I can only image how difficult life must have been and the decisions they would have to make. Would they stay in the land where they were once enslaved? Would they go back to their homeland? Whatever they opted for, it required money to which they probably did not have access to. If money was not an issue then being politically equal was, former slaves were not given the same rights as everyone else, they were ostracized and suffered extreme hate and racism. I loved a line within our text on page 800 which read, “for most former slaves, emancipation usually meant nothing but freedom”. They were truly prisoners of their situations.