Economic_Factors_Contributing_to_African_Slavery_in_the_United_States

There were several economic factors that contributed to African slavery in the United States. Demands of plantation farming, slave trade as its own industry, and tariffs were just a few of the economic factors that contributed to slavery in the United States, not to mention the fact that it is cheaper to force someone to do the job than it would be to hire someone to do it. Plantation farming was a profitable way to farm in the South. Slaves were forced to work on sugar, tobacco, rice, sugar, indigo, and cotton plantations. Plantations were more profitable than small farms due to the size of the crops and because slaves were not compensated, fed very little, and clothed to the bare minimum, it did not cost much to run plantations. Cotton was in even higher demand after the invention of the cotton gin, and a lot of plantation owners decided to expand their plantations to allow for more cotton. This meant even more slaves were needed to work them. The cotton gin made it hard to keep up with the demand for cotton. They could now turn the cotton into textile quicker than they could pick it. Slaves were initially purchased. Once a slave was paid for, they belonged to their owner for life. If a female slave was purchased, and she had children, the children then belonged to the owner for life. Some people purchased both men and women slaves so that they could reproduce more slaves and used slaves as investment opportunities. Plantation owners realized that slave trade was profitable. This idea brought on an even higher demand for slaves, as well as a new economy. The soil in the upper southern states lost nutrients due to too many harvests without any “down time” in between. This decline in soil nutrition resulted in a decline for the need of plantation workers. These plantation owners quickly realized that they could sell their slaves to the plantation owners further south to turn a profit. This realization helped both the Upper and Lower South economically. The Upper South made money from the sale of their slaves, while the plantation owners in the lower southern states were able to produce bigger harvests, which resulted in them bringing in more money. Plantations were in such high demand because of tariffs the federal government placed on imports of goods shipped into the United States from overseas. These taxes were designed to help pay off some of the national debt. The prices of imported goods kept getting higher and higher due to shipping costs, taxes, and the need for importers to make a profit. Rice, tobacco, cotton, and indigo could be grown, harvested, and sold in the United States. These products would not be taxed because they were not imported, and could therefore be sold at a much lower price. Both the North and the South reaped benefits from slavery. Southern plantation owners could produce larger crops due to a larger workforce. They made higher profits because of inexpensive labor. The North reaped a different kind of benefit. Most of the economy in the North came from marketing, manufacturing, and shipping the products that were harvested by slaves. The North also played an active role in slave trade. Slavery had a huge impact of the United States as an emerging nation because it helped both the north and the south grow economically. The emerging nation was able to grow together due to the economy brought on as a result of the slaves. Slavery not only impacted the economic state of the nation, it also had social and political impact on the nation. It was obvious that the North and the South were divided politically. The South was for slavery and the North was not. The South was afraid that protective tariffs would be enforced and started the principles of nullification. This gave individual states rights over the national government. The slaves lost the few rights they had when the South started to enforce strict codes and tried to keep the government out of their business. While the North established government-funded public schools and libraries, the education in the South was quickly declining. Slaves were not allowed to have an education. They were not allowed to go to church or be preached to either. These were just a few of the differences between the North and South that divided the nation. There were several laws and Supreme Court rulings on the issues of slavery. In 1808, it became illegal to import slaves. In 1857, the Dred Scott Decision was a ruling by the Supreme Court that declared that no black, either free or slave, could claim citizenship in the United States. There were three political parties fighting for votes and debating over the issue of slavery in the years leading up to the Civil War. The Democratic Party was associated with pro-slavery movements. The Whig Party tried to find compromise between the North and South in order to unite the two with common political views. The Republican Party was associated with anti-slavery movements. On September 22, 1862, Abraham Lincoln declared freedom to all slaves in the Confederate States of America that did not return to Union control by January 1, 1863, with the Emancipation Proclamation. The second part of the Emancipation Proclamation was declared January 1, 1863. It named ten states where slaves would be free. Slavery was abolished in 1865.