AJ - Tensions Over Slavery (Lesson)

Tensions Over Slavery

 

Did you know that upon his death George Washington freed his slaves upon his wife, Martha’s, death? Did you know Thomas Jefferson actively sought to produce legislation to abolish slavery? Slavery has been an issue in our country and connected culture since our colonization in the early 17^th century. The issue of slavery ultimately seeped into our politics and divided our nation by the mid-19^th century. The founding fathers knew that slavery would be a divisive issue but were not able to set up a governmental framework for a fledgling nation and address the issue of slavery simultaneously. So they chose to address slavery for the moment in the late 18^th century via the Constitution’s provisions, but they knew that slavery would be addressed more definitively by future generations of Americans.

 

Eli Whitney

In 1793 a simple invention changed the course of our history, Eli Whitney’s cotton engine, more commonly known as the cotton ‘gin.’ Its inventor, Eli Whitney, created a machine that increased the output of clean cotton. The efficiency of the machine produced a “cleaner” product, lowered the cost of its production and greatly increased the profit from the sale of cotton. These profits directly led to an increase in slavery in the United States as Southern planters and small farmers sought to increase their wealth by producing ever-increasing yields of cotton by acquiring more land that would have to be cultivated by more enslaved people. It can be argued that the invention of the cotton gin institutionalized the enslavement of Africans and those of African descent. In fact, some scholars believe slavery was on the decline in the United States prior to the invention of the cotton gin. The increase in cotton production parallels the increase in slavery in the United States.

The Nature of Slavery

In truth the nature of slavery changed over the first two centuries of colonization and nationhood. In the 18^th century free labor was a means to an end—a way to satisfy a labor need. After 1800 the buying and selling of enslaved people became a “big business” with brokers and agents profiting from the sales and purchases of human property in slave markets throughout the Southern states. After the ban on the trans-Atlantic slave trade per the Constitution January 1, 1808, human property became an even more valuable commodity because of the limited supply of enslaved people already within the United States. Now the enslaved people’s “free labor” was not just a means to an end. The sales and purchase transactions of enslaved people were themselves a means for many people to turn a profit.

Political Division

The issue of slavery had long been a topic of debate in the political arena of the United States. However, as tensions grew politicians sought to avoid the divisiveness of the topic, even going so far as to adopt a “gag rule” in Congress which forbade the topic of slavery for debate. As western territories were added to the Union, politicians tried to maintain the balance of power in Congress and in the electoral college between slave and free states. As these territories became states, their affiliation with slavery or abolition would tip the balance of power in the federal government, causing sectional tensions to periodically bubble to the surface and then easing until the mid-19^th century.

Furthermore, the issue of slavery created division within political parties. Jackson’s Whig Party collapsed because of the internal divide caused by the slavery issue. New political parties emerged with platforms addressing the topic. Parties such as the Free-Soil Party promoted free states and territories. The Free-Soil Party later emerged with others to form a new party whose first president-elect was synonymous with abolition. The Republican Party nominated Abraham Lincoln, a self-educated lawyer and lesser known former congressman from Illinois for the presidential election of 1860.