Thanks to Emily for sharing.Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Why was it so difficult to stop the international trade of slaves?
The trans-Atlantic slave trade plays a key role in the development of the history of this nation, and the history of the world. The film Amazing Grace depicts this segment of history with great relevance and intense passion. After viewing this depiction, I've mustered up a few reasons as to why I think the abolition of slave trade took as long as it did.
The reasons that are typically sited as prolonging the abolition are important to note. First off, the economic drive is a significant factor. Slavery was essentially the backbone to the original U.S. economy. The economic and social structure that existed allowed for money to be made while leisure was had. People understood that if slavery was abolished, so too would be the abolishment of high class living for many. As regrettable as this may seem, it is an inevitable fact that we like to be comfortable in the way we live, and slavery gave comfort to people who may not have otherwise been so.
The economically sound debate also argued that if Britain were to reject further participation in the slave trade, France would surely step in to reap existing benefits. Essentially, if they weren't the ones committing injustice, somebody would, and why should they miss out on the prize? It just made sense.
Another controversial rationale was religion. As we have examined in class, there are many people who have found ways to interpret the Bible as supporting slavery. Slaves existed in the Bible and there are justifications for upholding this tradition. On the same token, it was a fashionable notion to believe that Christians were far superior to any other sector of people. And that as Christians they were the only religion truly worthy of being called human beings. This extreme view augmented the perception of Blacks as an innately inferior race.
As human beings we are creatures of habit. We are prone to mimicking, following, and adopting what surrounds us. It is no surprise that the tradition of slavery was certainly a delay in the abolition of it. The very fact that children grew up with slaves enabled them to become desensitized to its tragedy and encouraged them of its regularity. Many people thought it would be unfair for them to abolish slavery after so many generations had the privilege of being its beneficiary. Oh the irony...
One factor that I thought of as I watched Amazing Grace was the truth that sometimes the people who have the will may not always have the way. Wilberforce certainly had the will to abolish the slave trade, and fortunately he had the way paved for him as a highly respected man in the political sphere. However, this combination is often hard to come by. I was reminded of the film/novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. This story is based in WWII Nazi Germany and is about a young family, led by the father, a Commandant to Hitler. The wife in this story, however, is anti-Nazi and strongly opposes the efforts of her husband. She had the will to change injustice. Unfortunately, as the wife of a commander, and a woman in a predominantly patriarchal society, the way for her to influence was not paved so clearly. Likewise, there was opposition to the slave trade in the day of its existence, but the opportunity for that opposition to combat evil prolonged the abolition.
My final argument for why the abolition of the slave trade took as long as it did comes back to the beginnings of our studies in this class, three words: protracted political debate. There is no denying that protraction was a significant and recurrent characteristic of our founding fathers. Although the founding fathers were not necessarily the direct abolitionists, the trend remains. It is in the process of coming to unanimous decisions, it is in the belief that there is power in the people and thus democracies subside, it is in the practice of discussion and debate, of convincing and proving. Here we wait patiently, yes. But here we find decisions. Here we make changes. Here we abolish. It is here that is protracted political debate.
Due to tradition, economic advantages, opportunity (or the lack thereof), religious misconceptions, and protracted political debate the abolition of the slave trade took a while to come to pass. However, let us not forget that the total abolition of slavery has yet to be completed. We are still fighting the battle of slavery, not in the same way as years passed, but still so very alive.
The reasons that are typically sited as prolonging the abolition are important to note. First off, the economic drive is a significant factor. Slavery was essentially the backbone to the original U.S. economy. The economic and social structure that existed allowed for money to be made while leisure was had. People understood that if slavery was abolished, so too would be the abolishment of high class living for many. As regrettable as this may seem, it is an inevitable fact that we like to be comfortable in the way we live, and slavery gave comfort to people who may not have otherwise been so.
The economically sound debate also argued that if Britain were to reject further participation in the slave trade, France would surely step in to reap existing benefits. Essentially, if they weren't the ones committing injustice, somebody would, and why should they miss out on the prize? It just made sense.
Another controversial rationale was religion. As we have examined in class, there are many people who have found ways to interpret the Bible as supporting slavery. Slaves existed in the Bible and there are justifications for upholding this tradition. On the same token, it was a fashionable notion to believe that Christians were far superior to any other sector of people. And that as Christians they were the only religion truly worthy of being called human beings. This extreme view augmented the perception of Blacks as an innately inferior race.
As human beings we are creatures of habit. We are prone to mimicking, following, and adopting what surrounds us. It is no surprise that the tradition of slavery was certainly a delay in the abolition of it. The very fact that children grew up with slaves enabled them to become desensitized to its tragedy and encouraged them of its regularity. Many people thought it would be unfair for them to abolish slavery after so many generations had the privilege of being its beneficiary. Oh the irony...
One factor that I thought of as I watched Amazing Grace was the truth that sometimes the people who have the will may not always have the way. Wilberforce certainly had the will to abolish the slave trade, and fortunately he had the way paved for him as a highly respected man in the political sphere. However, this combination is often hard to come by. I was reminded of the film/novel The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. This story is based in WWII Nazi Germany and is about a young family, led by the father, a Commandant to Hitler. The wife in this story, however, is anti-Nazi and strongly opposes the efforts of her husband. She had the will to change injustice. Unfortunately, as the wife of a commander, and a woman in a predominantly patriarchal society, the way for her to influence was not paved so clearly. Likewise, there was opposition to the slave trade in the day of its existence, but the opportunity for that opposition to combat evil prolonged the abolition.
My final argument for why the abolition of the slave trade took as long as it did comes back to the beginnings of our studies in this class, three words: protracted political debate. There is no denying that protraction was a significant and recurrent characteristic of our founding fathers. Although the founding fathers were not necessarily the direct abolitionists, the trend remains. It is in the process of coming to unanimous decisions, it is in the belief that there is power in the people and thus democracies subside, it is in the practice of discussion and debate, of convincing and proving. Here we wait patiently, yes. But here we find decisions. Here we make changes. Here we abolish. It is here that is protracted political debate.
Due to tradition, economic advantages, opportunity (or the lack thereof), religious misconceptions, and protracted political debate the abolition of the slave trade took a while to come to pass. However, let us not forget that the total abolition of slavery has yet to be completed. We are still fighting the battle of slavery, not in the same way as years passed, but still so very alive.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address
"Fellow-Countrymen: AT this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came. One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."
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