Holding people in bondage against their will and viewing them as property was something that existed since the early stages of the colonization of America and ended in 1865 in accordance with the thirteenth amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America. Slavery can therefore be considered as an integral part of American history and as a result, people need to be cautious when interpreting the events surrounding it. Apart from the few objective sources available, historians base their studies of the subject on testimonials, letters and diaries. These sources need to be understood in the context of the social, political and economic conditions of the period in question in order to overcome biases and avoid misinterpretations that inevitably lead to false conclusions. The study of slavery provides us with the necessary background information in order to better comprehend the events as well as the experiences of ordinary people and enslaved people of color during the period of the Early Republic. It is important to understand that the practice of slavery and its evolution was not uniform throughout the states. The only apparent similarities shared by northern and southern states concerned the founding principles of slavery, the origin of the abolition movement and the implications of the emancipation of slaves. On the other hand, there were many differences regarding the treatment of slaves, their position in the community, and the path towards the abolition of enslavement. The books Disowning Slavery: Gradual Emancipation and “Race” in New England, 1780-1860, The Ruling Race and Gabriel’s Rebellion: The Virginia Slave Conspiracies of 1800 and 1802 help us reach a basic understanding of slavery during the period of the Early Republic.
The cornerstone of slavery was difference. Any divergence from the traits of white people was taken as a basis in order to calculate whether someone should be enslaved. People of color were perceived as naturally unclean, lazy, violent, savage, sexually promiscuous and not self-sufficient. According to whites, their behavioral and mental capabilities were limited and without external discipline and control they would be unproductive and the negative traits of their character would surface causing great disruption to the society. There was another common set of assumptions held by whites concerning people of color. First of all, blacks were viewed also as assets, property. Whites had a legitimate claim over them because in their eyes blacks were inferior, naturally unfit to be a part of society. “The belief that a highly structured social order was natural- in fact, divinely inspired- had arrived to the New World with the earliest Englishmen” and thereafter human inequality was always taken for granted. Before the Revolutionary Era, whites did not have to question the validity of their beliefs because their interests were served in the best possible way, since the only thing they were interested in was acquisition of wealth and upward mobility.
In northern states, slaves were responsible for performing all the household chores and conducted a variety of errands; their position was vital. In some cases, they were also incorporated into the household as family members. Their masters provided them with religious instructions, enslaved children received equal education with free children (enslaved children owed restitution for it though) and the values that were admired in slaves were consistent with the ones that were admired in family members. Albeit servitude defined all the aspects of their lives and whites had attempted to control their activities, slaves were allowed to adopt their own work practices and were allowed to construct their own social structures. In New England, slaves had the opportunity to gain the trust and appreciation of their masters and as a result they occupied “a dual status: they were considered to be both property and persons before the law” . On the one hand they were taxed as property but on the other hand they had the right to own assets, were able to testify in court and their murder was considered a capital crime. Despite certain cases of sexual abuse, being overworked and mistreated, slaves in New England were actually milder in comparison to other regions.
In the cases of small farms in Virginia, slaves were also viewed as a kind of extended family and there was a close relationship between them and their masters. They were not allowed however to acquire property and the only thing that they could pass on to their children was their skill. Slaves were trained for a number of occupations and had the option of contracting out their labor as long as they paid their master a significant share. Nonetheless, southerners in general treated their slaves with far less leniency and often resorted to cruel and inhumane punishments; “even the best masters accepted whipping as essential to the maintenance of discipline” . In contrast to northerners, negligence was a common trait of slaveholders and even the kindest and wealthiest masters did not provide but a minimum of food and clothing.
In the second half of the eighteenth century, the concept of slavery was brought into question generating movements towards the abolition of this institution. To begin with, the rhetoric of the American Revolution and republicanism as well as the assertion that all men are created equal and have natural rights was not consistent with the practice of slavery. Whites were forced to face their hypocrisy. A unique incentive that northern states shared was to “articulate a regional identity morally and culturally distinct from that of the South […] and shape a new historical narrative of New England in which the history of indigenous slavery was either suppressed entirely or revised” . Antislavery defendants claimed that all the negative characteristics that are assigned specifically to slaves were mere consequences of bondage. Moreover, they condemned American slavery by drawing analogies between the American and the Muslim slavery. The Evangelical movement, known as the Great Awakening, was “noisily challenging the religious, and hence the social, order” and the societies that demonstrated racial and class distinctions were condemned according to the doctrine of Christianity which states that all men are equal in the sight of God. It should be noted however, that apart from sin, guilt played a very important role as well. In 1794, the French Convention abolished slavery in the Caribbean reinforcing the slaves’ aspirations for freedom. In the South, the conspiracy of 1800 (led by the slave known as Gabriel) and the one that arose in 1802, called as the “Easter Plot”, had threatened to take numerous white lives had shaken this slave- based society.
The actual abolition of slavery in northern states was not realized until the first half of the nineteenth century. Nevertheless, by the end of the eighteenth century, laws and statutes had officially terminated the slave trade and the practice of slavery. The emancipation process began around 1780 and was gradual. It freed whites from their obligations towards their former bondsmen but it did not free blacks from their obligations towards their former masters.
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