FREE ESSAY ON SLAVERY

SLAVERY

The Slaves' And The Slaveowners' Views Of Slavery
"That face of his, the hungry cannibals
Would not have touched, would not have stained with blood;--
But you are more inhuman, more inexorable,
Oh! ten times more than tigers of Hyrcania."
Shakespeare
I chose the topic about slavery for my research paper because I thought it would be an
interesting experience doing research about slavery. It is American history and the more
we know about it, the better we can understand what is going on today in our country. I
think that because slavery was abolished very recently in terms of historical periods of
time, it still has an impact on today's economic and political life. Searching for the
writings by slave owners was a more difficult task then searching for the writings by
slaves. However, I found a lot of useful material in various sources. 
The slavery in the United States is no doubt a shameful history of our country. White
people transferred the slaves living in Africa to the New Land and treated them as their
property, not as human beings. The living and working conditions of slaves and their food
were extremely poor. Those were inhuman conditions in which the slaves had to survive.
Endless executions of the slaves made the situation even worse. Slavery was a period of
time when one race treated the other race as animals, things, property, but not as
people. Unfortunately, not everyone saw the situation as it was in reality at that time.
As we can see from many different sources available today, the points of view of slaves
and slave owners on slavery were the opposite to each other. That can be seen in various
slaves' and slave owners' descriptions of slavery. Slaves described their dwellings,
food, clothes, labor, and the terrible treatment of slaves by their masters. On the other
hand, slave owners described the relationships between slaves and their masters in a very
positive way. They argued that slavery is very beneficial for the slaves and the slaves
are very happy to live with their masters. Let us now consider both these points of views
in details.
First of all, let us look at the slaves' description of the cloth they wore. The clothes
supply was as minimum as possible and the quality of the clothes was very bad. Here is
how one of the slaves describes it. "Our dress was of tow cloth; for the children nothing
but a shirt; for the older ones a pair of pantaloons or a gown in addition, according to
the sex. ... In winter, a round jacket or overcoat, a wool hat once in two or three
years, for the males, and a pair of coarse shoes once a year"(Lester 65). This scanty
list of items was the only things available to the slaves. Certainly, it was not enough
for the people who worked very hard for more than ten hours a day. The clothes were very
dirty and with holes all over the place pretty soon. Imagine if you have to wear the same
shirt day after day for the long time. The masters did not care about slaves' children;
they did not distribute much clothes for them either. According to the slaves, it was
their problem what to put on their children when it was cold outside (Feldstein 45).
However, some slaves say there were some masters who gave some extra material for the
children, but it was not sufficient any way. Others gave any additional clothes only for
extra work (Feldstein 45).
As for the slave owners' seeing the slaves' situation, one of the slaveholders reveals
that he used to distribute new clothes once a year (Feldstein 45). This testimony by the
slave owner actually testifies the slaves' descriptions of the slavery that makes us
believe to the slaves even more. However, there were a lot of slave owners who saw the
situation quite differently. One anonymous slave owner in his letter to Lord Brougham
argues that "...as a slave, he [a black person] would have at least the protection of one
master interested in his welfare; as a freeman, almost beyond the pale of government
protection, with no one to take care of him, of a despised and inferior race, a stranger
in a land of strangers, how miserable would be his fate!"(Williams 41) That is what this
person really believes, and he was not alone. The slave owners really believed that
slavery was very beneficial for the slaves, and they clothed their slaves well.
According to the slaves, their dwellings were unimaginably poor huts that were not suited
for living at all. Let us look at some descriptions of their huts to realize how terrible
the conditions of the slaves were. One of the slaves remembers that the hut usually was
"...one-room log cabin... without a partition and a total furnishing were generally a
bed, a bench and a few cooking utilities"(Feldstein 42). Another former slave tells us
that "...they [were] erected with posts and crotches, with but little or no frame-work
about them. They [had] no stoves or chimneys; some of them [had] something like a
fireplace at the end..."(Moulton 19). It is obvious that these cabins with no furniture
inside did not seem like people's homes. The slaves lived almost outside. Some of the
emancipated slaves remember that they used to sleep "...on a miserable bed, [and their]
children on the floor"(Lester 62-63). One of the former slaves remembers his experience
of living in such a cabin as very uncomfortable. "The cabin [was] constructed... without
floor or window. The latter is altogether unnecessary; the crevices between the logs
admit[ted] sufficient light. In stormy weather the rain [drove] through them..."(Lester
63-64). 
As for the furniture of the cabins, another former slave remembers that he used to sleep
on a plank twelve inches wide and ten feet long. As a pillow he used a stick of wood. He
had only one blanket and nothing else to make himself warmer (Lester 63). Except cold,
rain, and wind, many slaves suffered from a great amount of mosquitoes. Some slaves
remember that they kept a smoke from their fireplaces all night to secure themselves from
all the insects (Moulton 19). Sleeping on the planks, being cold, wet during the rains,
and in the smoke; that was the way slaves lived in their huts. These conditions of living
made slaves' lives very difficult and caring for children almost impossible.
Let us now see how slave owners saw the slaves' conditions of living. Here is what a
slaveholder tells in one of his letter. "The condition of the slaves of the United
States... is far in advance of that of any similar number of laborers following similar
occupations, in any other land under the sun"(Williams 32). Obviously, from what we have
heard from the slaves we can claim that this statement is not very accurate. The slaves
did not have very good houses as this person implies. But one thing puzzled me when I
read it. What makes the author of this letter be so confident in his words? Where is his
proof? It is very hard to believe that practically with nowhere to live, nothing to wear
or eat, the condition of the slaves was so good as the person argues.
Many slaves say that the food they ate at the plantations was extremely bad and
insufficient. One of the former slaves remembers that they had only two meals a day. The
first time they ate was at twelve o'clock, which was the middle of their working day, and
the second time -- late at night when the work for the day was done (Lester 64-65).
Certainly, the slaves were hungry all the time. Considering how much they had to work,
there is no wonder why many of them had faints caused by their hunger. According to a
slave the meal itself usually consisted of cornmeal and salt herrings, "...to which was
added in summer a little buttermilk and the few vegetables which each might raise for
himself and his family on the little piece of ground..."(Lester 64).
A former slave remembers that the very typical thing for a plantation was that children
younger than eight years old did not receive any food at all. They could eat only what
their parents left over from their meals (Feldstein 44). Certainly, many female slaves
did not eat already very scanty food to feed their children. The same person remembers
that returning home late at night women mixed cornmeal with a little water, and backed it
on the fire (Feldstein 43). That was the only time when children could eat during the
day.
With so scarce food as the slaves had, it was almost impossible to survive. Charles Ball,
a former slave, wrote that there were a lot of "...raids on the smokehouse..." (Feldstein
43). That was the only way slaves could get some extra food to feed themselves and their
children. However, Charles Ball added that "...if a slave were caught stealing, his
punishment would... be severe"(Feldstein 43). A former slave remembers that he used to
steal some food from his master to survive. He says that if a turkey was stolen by the
slaves, they tried to implicate an imaginary fox. When they stole potatoes, they tried to
implicate the hogs (Feldstein 45). As we can see the conditions of the slaves were
inhuman. They had to have a lot of endurance to survive in their situation.
The slave owners' viewing of how they fed their slaves differs form all the descriptions
made above by the slaves themselves. The same slave owner whom we have seen before also
says in his letter to Lord Brougham that "...America found in the slave... a savage, and
she has civilized him!... She found him naked and starving, and she has clothed and fed
him!"(Williams 32) Again, this person was not alone who thought that slaveholders
"clothed and fed" the slaves. Many slave owners shared the same point of view. They
really believed that their slaves were well dressed and fed. They saw the slaves'
situation as very good and they thought of themselves as of the very kind people who did
all these good things for uncivilized savages. 
According to the slaves' description of their labor, they had to work on the plantations
very hard. They were called to work at five o'clock in the morning and they worked until
late night (Feldstein 48). Often slaves had to work without any tools. One of the former
slaves wrote that they were given a row in the field and they had to remove all the weeds
from there. He remembers that in the end of the day, overseers checked everyone's row.
"For every... stray weed that had been left in the row,... the slave who had left it got
a flopping more or less severe"(Feldstein 48). Another former slave remembers that they
had to plough with the oxen or mules. "The women as frequently as the men perform[ed]
this labor, feeding, currying, and taking care of their teams and in all respects doing
the field and stable work"(Lester 65). Also, we have some memories of former slaves that
tell us how difficult it was to work on the cotton plantation. Men, women, and children,
all had to work on the plantation. He remembers that "...women and children picked cotton
till the blood runs from the tips of their fingers..."(Feldstein 47). He also remembers
that they feared the flogging every minute of their work (Feldstein 47). They could not
stop working even for a moment. According to another former slave, a woman surrounded
with her children, half starved, was often "...whipped at night if she does not perform
her task"(Moulton 18). Women did not have time to care for their children; they had to
work as much as men. They had to bring their little children with them to the field and
put them in the field dirt. The children were alone all day crying because they were
hungry and were not seeing their mothers. A slave remembers that often these children
were "...found dead in the field and in the quarter for want of the care of their
mothers"(Feldstein 48). Leaving children in the field was also dangerous because of the
poisonous snakes. A slave remembers that some women worked with their children on their
back because of those snakes (Moulton 18). It is well known that the slaves' labor is the
most hard and miserable among all kinds of labor. And these accounts only prove the
fact.
Many slave owners accepted that the slaves worked very hard. One of the former slave
owners testified that when the business went quite poorly, "...the slaves were called up
to work long before daylight... and worked... some of them all night"(Moulton 18).
However, in his saying, there is no hint of regret. He states it as a very usual thing,
and justifies it by the bad business situation. He still does not realize how evil it was
to force the slaves to work for so long time. Another ex-slaveholder, Colonel Bingham,
wrote an essay on slavery when slavery was already abolished, but he was still confident
that slavery was more beneficial for black population then a free state. In his essay,
Bingham says that "...the race antagonism... [is] no where perhaps more strong then among
the white laborers of the North West against the negro..."(Bingham 247). He implies here
that the slaves' labor was more beneficial for the slaves because they were not oppressed
racially. However, the institute of slavery oppressed the slaves in a enormous degree and
some personal antagonism in the North is nothing in comparing with slavery. Also it does
not justify the inhuman exploitation of the slaves.
The most terrible and sad aspect of slavery described by the slaves is their punishments
by their masters. It is the fact that the whippings often were very severe. It is hard to
believe that some people could do all these terrible things to other people. Harry
Thomas, a fugitive slave, remembers one of the terrible mornings. "...The master came for
me, took me home, stripped me stark naked, made a paddle of thick oak board, lashed me
across a pine log, secured my hands and feet, and whipped me with the paddle. ... He
whipped till he broke the paddle. After that, he took me to the house, and hit me with a
hickory stick over the head and shoulders, a dozen times or more: then he got salt and
water, and a corn cob, and scrubbed me. Then he sent me to water the hogs, naked as I
was, in January"("Testimony Of The Canadian Fugitives" 7). It is very scary what this
person went through while he was a slave. William Hall, another fugitive slave, described
one more example of the executions. "I saw nine persons at different times, made fast to
four stakes, and whipped with a leather strap from their neck to their heels and on the
bottoms of their feet, raising blisters: then the blisters broken with a plaited whip,
the overseer standing off and fetching hard blows. I have seen a man faint under this
treatment. I saw one about eighteen years old... used in this way: seven weeks after he
fainted in consequence; his nerves were so shattered that he seemed like a man of
fifty"("Testimony Of The Canadian Fugitives" 9)
As for the slave owners, N. L. Rice made a very interesting argument when he made a
speech participating in the debates on slavery held in the City of Cincinnati in October
1845. He said that "...the laws of India make the wife the slave of the husband; and even
in Ohio, a man may so treat his wife as to render her life a burden, without being in
danger of the penalty of the law. Shall we then denounce the marriage relation as in
itself sinful?"(Blanchard, Rice 56) He accepts that the slaves were treated very badly,
but claims that it does not imply that slavery itself is bad. Obviously, it is very bad
for India and Ohio at that time that there were no laws that would protect a woman from
domestic violence. Also his argument is very week in protecting slavery. However, many
slave owners of that time were convinced by his speech. That is why he represents the
point of view of many slave owners.
The writing by Colonel Bingham, whom we have already seen, reveals a different perception
of the relations between slaves and their masters. He denies a bad treatment of the
slaves by their masters at all. He says that "...in the history of the whole world there
never were as kindly relations existing between two races on the same soil as between the
slave owner and the slave in the South before the Civil War"(Bingham 248). As a proof of
his words he says that he always loved black people. He gives an example of how much he
loved a black woman who helped his parents to raise him. He says that he "...loved her
next to [his] parents"(Bingham 248). But how about other black people whom he exploited
and punished pretty regularly? Did he love them, also? Definitely it is very week
argument, but it reveals slave owners' seeing of the relationship between a slave and his
master. We can see how distorted it was.
We have seen writings and memories of both former slaves and slave owners. We found out
that the slaves and slaveholders saw the slavery in absolutely different ways. I
personally believe the slaves' accounts that described every detail in constructing the
reality of slavery. The slaveholders, however, talked in general without a single example
from their experiences as slave owners. Also, very often, it is hard to believe what they
say in their essays. But why these people could be so evil? I think the best answer for
the question can be found in Inside View Of Slavery by C. G. Parsons who was a visitor
from the North at the time of slavery. He wrote that the system of slavery influences the
slaveholder, and its "...tendency to harden the heart, to dry up all the fountains of
human sympathy, to make one callous to the wrongs and the woes of these around him, is
stamped upon the very surface of society throughout the South"(Parsons 203). Probably
that is the answer to the question why the slave owners' point of view is so different
from the slaves'. Probably, it is true that the system of slavery affected them in such a
way that they were not able to comprehend the reality of their evil.
After writing this paper I realized that I did not really know that much about the
history of the living conditions of slaves. I certainly knew many historical facts about
slavery, but I did not know much about the conditions of the slaves, their food,
dwellings, etc. The experience of writing this paper was quite useful for me in
understanding the salves' life and in trying to understand different points of views on
slavery. It was very interesting to think why salves' and slave owners' writings are so
different. As a whole, thinking about the topic itself gave me an opportunity to study
the very interesting period in our history. I am glad that I wrote this paper and I am
satisfied with my paper as a result of my research.
Works Cited
Albers, Harry S., ed. Testimony Of The Canadian Fugitives.
http://history.cc.ukans.edu/carrie/docs/usdocs.txt/
canadian_slaves.html (24 Nov. 1996).
Bingham, Colonel R. An Ex-slaveholders View Of The Negro Question In The South.
Asheville: European Edition Of Harper's Monthly Magazine, 1900. 243-256.
Blanchard Rev. J. and N. L. Rice. A Debate On Slavery: Held In The City Of Cincinnati, Of
October, 1845. Detroit: Negro History Press, 1846. 34-60.
Feldstein, Stanley. Once A Slave. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1971.
39-87.
Lester, Julius. To Be A Slave. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1968. 28-76.
Moulton, Horace. American Slavery As It Is: Testimony Of A Thousand Witnesses. New York:
Arno Press and The New York Times, 1968. 17-45.
Parsons, C. G. Inside View Of Slavery: Or A Tour Among The Planters. Boston: John P.
Jewett And Company, 1855. 203-231.
Williams, James. Letters On Slavery From The Old World. New York: Negro Universities
Press, 1969. 30-43.
Bibliography
Works Cited
Albers, Harry S., ed. Testimony Of The Canadian Fugitives.
http://history.cc.ukans.edu/carrie/docs/usdocs.txt/
canadian_slaves.html (24 Nov. 1996).
Bingham, Colonel R. An Ex-slaveholders View Of The Negro Question In The South.
Asheville: European Edition Of Harper's Monthly Magazine, 1900. 243-256.
Blanchard Rev. J. and N. L. Rice. A Debate On Slavery: Held In The City Of Cincinnati, Of
October, 1845. Detroit: Negro History Press, 1846. 34-60.
Feldstein, Stanley. Once A Slave. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1971.
39-87.
Lester, Julius. To Be A Slave. New York: Scholastic Inc., 1968. 28-76.
Moulton, Horace. American Slavery As It Is: Testimony Of A Thousand Witnesses. New York:
Arno Press and The New York Times, 1968. 17-45.
Parsons, C. G. Inside View Of Slavery: Or A Tour Among The Planters. Boston: John P.
Jewett And Company, 1855. 203-231.
Williams, James. Letters On Slavery From The Old World. New York: Negro Universities
Press, 1969. 30-43.