Slavery in New York and Southern Colonies (Essay Sample)

Slavery in New York and Southern ColoniesNAME:Professor:Institution:Course:Date:
Slavery dates back to ancient times although total delivery from slavery happened a few years back. The slavery system refers to that system in which marginalized people in a given area are treated as property. This means that they are at stake of being bought and sold the same way property is treated. Therefore, slaves are deprived of rights of leaving, getting compensation and turning down work from that moment they are captured. In the present world, slavery has been outlawed in almost all countries worldwide and is considered an illegal act. Despite this fact, slavery still exists but in other different forms. Based on this slavery topic, let’s look at the development of this system in the New York colonies and compare it to that in the Southern colonies.
Slavery in New York dates back to the region between 1626 and 1827. Although it is not mentioned in many historical books and other slavery materials, slavery greatly contributed in the development of the New York City. The same case was copied by the southern colonies, Manhattan. Unlike in the Northern colonies, the Southern ones appeared to be more brutal in its dealings with the slaves. This is attributed to the load of work that existed in the Southern states (Harris, 2004). They relied on them in entirety in their day-to-day operations. Both the Dutch and the New Yorkers saw the Africans and the black Americans as the group fit to be slaves despite the society other more marginalized groups based on religion and race. Although slavery dominated all life facets of the black New Yorkers’ lives, they did not succumb to remain in this state. The system hampered a lot of their efforts of forming families, enjoying their preferred religious practices and many others. The enslaved Africans, by the Dutch and British, demonstrated in their slavery life how much they resisted the existence of these stereotypes and were much ready to fight it till the last minute.
African Burial Ground is a landmark located in Manhattan. This is the place where the death victims of slavery, mostly Africans, were buried. It was discovered in 1991 during the construction of the New Federal Office Building. Over 400 dead Africans were buried here following loss of lives in the hands of the Dutch colonizers (Jones, 2009). This is a clear indication of the mistreatment the slaves received in the Southern colonies which amounted to in-human treatments of being man-handled. Unlike the New York colonizers, the southern colonies viewed black slaves as vessels meant to serve them the way they desired. Therefore, they cared less about their lives, and if a slave appeared to be resisting an assignment, they were bound to face bad penalties of disobedience amounting to death. Another shocking landmark in Manhattan that confirms of the brutality of the southern colonies is the City Hall Park. This is the place where slave uprising participants were burned and hanged alive. These two disturbing historical landmarks indicate why the southern colonies were regarded worst colonies relative to the northern ones in the early periods. Nevertheless, New York City turned worst in accepting slavery freedom.
In 1654, the Dutch dealings in shipping of Africans to New Amsterdam heightened. This was in an effort to develop New Amsterdam into a major North America slave port. The Dutch West India Company made a lot of great efforts in an attempt to gain dominance in the slave trade between the New World and Africa. The company, although, promoted family life among its slaves in 1628 (White, 2012). The Dutch were in the process of loosening the tight notch they had tied the African slaves with. However, this was not fully achieved because the British intervened and were determined to legalize slavery in New York. Although they never achieved their desire a hundred percent, they thwarted African efforts of resisting slavery with a big opposition. Based on the above facts, there was no much big difference between the British and the Dutch colonizers. Both of them regarded slavery as a legal means of being serviced. The only difference arising is the presence of killer landmarks in southern colonies that indicate how slaves in Manhattan were at more risk of dying compared to those in the Northern colonies.
The white settlers chose slavery as a labor system because of a number of reasons. In the south, there were quite a number of plantations. Therefore, slaves were the best option available to offer labor to the British agriculture plantations as per them. In those plantations, the slaves tilled the farms and produced a range of agricultural products that comprised of tobacco, indigo, sugar, cotton and chocolate. Manhattan was in great of unskilled labor and thus slaves presented a good source of this kind of labor. This led to an escalation in the number of slavery imports between 1737 and 1771. The total number of imports rose by double totaling to 4394 slaves. Unlike the southern part, the northern New York side was more urban. There were no vast plantations like the case in Manhattan. The slave in the north assisted in the work of households like collecting firewood, cooking, fetching water, cleaning houses, washing clothes, cleaning compounds etc. This perhaps explains why there was more brutality in Manhattan that in the urban landscapes (Bales, 2012). In both places, the slaves were taught other skilled jobs like black smiting, shipping, etc.
The evident thing is that slaves were determined to free themselves. They never liked the way things were. They tried expressing their resistance which was met by an overwhelming opposing force. But the slavery system was now changing in favor of the slaves. Initially, family co-existence was never allowed among the slaves. In 1628, the Dutch shipped in female slaves, a clear indication that it was for the existence of family relationships amongst the slaves. More rights were introduced in Amsterdam- the masters were kinder, there was access to courts by the slaves and other institutions like churches etc. The slavery system was changing step-by-step to accommodate the rights of the slaves. This led to the formation of institutions like the Committee for Preventing Irregular Conduct in Free Negroes. This committee had good plans of imposing good morals in the black community e.g. schools. During the early nineteenth century, more Africans were employed to perform jobs on the lower ranks of the socio-economic ladder. More Africans were being freed during this century, and slavery wa...