The Concept of Oliver Cromwell Revolution - Essay Example

?Slavery wasn’t justified by the race and produced the capitalism The slavery has always been very important problem for the history of Western Civilization. Although it had and still has different shapes, it is important to understand this phenomenon in the context of the particular culture and time. The book “The Many-Headed Hydra” shed light on the slavery in the context of capitalism and race. Political crises in the England in the middle of the XVII century produced debates that had justified the slavery not by the race, but by the class. The development of the slavery in Atlantic region created conditions for the appearance of capitalism. The story of Equiano demonstrates the inhumane situation of the slaves and the acceptance by slaves the white racial theories. In the middle of the XVII England has been shaken by the political crisis because of Oliver Cromwell revolution. The Putney Debates of 1647 revealed the English Revolution as an abolishment movement, a 1659 Parliamentary debate on slavery and the “free-born Englishman”, held on the eve of the restoration of Charles II and the Stuart monarchy, marked a counterrevolutionary reversal (Linebaugh, 132). The Putney Debates between Thomas Rainborough and Henry Ireton raised the questions of the struggle for the commons and struggle against slavery. Domestic wars and conflicts led to appearance of the new slavery forms in England: white slaves in Barbados, slavery in West Africa, Jamaica. Irish radicals and foes were sent by Oliver Cromwell to the Barbados, in the 1649 British merchants ordered the construction of a trading fort on the Gold Coast. The skin color wasn’t decisive for the slavery - it was a matter of the profit for the merchants and elites. And Equiano in his autobiography gave us great example when even in the mid of the XVIII century there was an incident during the way through the ocean, when “one white man in particular I saw, when we were permitted to be on deck, flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the foremast, that he died in consequence of it: and they tossed him over the side as they would have done a brute” (Equiano, 423). The interracial co-operations were not solitary: for example, Africans and Irish conspired together in plots of 1675, 1686, 1692 and alliance between slaves and servants was what planters feared most of all (Linebaugh, 126). The slavery began to acquire the racial shade in the 1670s. The resistance of plantation workers exploded in 1675-1676 in Virginia. There were two uprisings. The first one began in 1675 and was a war for land by freedmen and small farmers against Indians and a portion of the colonial ruling class in Virginia. The second one was a war against slavery, waged by servants and slaves. After rebellion the planters charged the governor with restraining “any inhumane severity which by ill masters or overseers may be used toward Christian servants” (Linebaugh, 137). And the result of this rebellion was legislation in 1682 that provided “all servants not being Christians, being imported into this country by shipping” should be servants for twelve years, instead European servants – for five years. Of course, this legislation was directed toward the Africans. The defeats of the servants and slaves that was detailed represented in the “The Many-Headed Hydra”, became the reason why the elites, nobles, “whites” began to establishing new rules that had aim to discriminate the rebels and to justify himself. From the 1670s legislation was enacted to protect and Christians, “white” people (Linebaugh, 139). Rulers from the England, merchants and planters dispossessed tens of thousands more in Ireland, Barbados, West Africa and Virginia and made the slavery of Atlantic capitalism (Linebaugh, 141). Indeed, the masses of cheep labour in the America and Europe created the possibility to very fast enrichments. Slaves were very good investments. The people from the lowest classes had no wealth, they had no property. The capitalists wanted to control them, otherwise they could have been killed in some uprising. The servants, the slaves, at the same time, were forced to serve the capital system or to be crushed. The Putney Debate gave the new meaning of what is being “Englishmen”. The defeat of the Revolution meant the win of racial ideas. The development of the English doctrine of white supremacy occulted in the context of counterrevolution, the restoration of monarchy, and the advance of the slave trade. England’s rulers led and inspired by Rupert and Holmes began to waging war against Dutch for control of the West African man-trade (Linebaugh, 134). The scientific and biological supremacy of the white man in the XVII century held on the idea that Europeans differed from the Africans not only in color, but also in natural manners and in the internal qualities of their minds (Linebaugh, 139). It is very interesting to observe how did Africans, slaves perceived this racial theories, how did they perceived the white supremacy. And the Equiano’s story is the great one to see it. But, I have to mention, the reader should be very attentive reading this story. Not only because we do not know whether was he or not born in Africa (if not, then this story is totally untrue), but also because he wrote his story being already free. He wanted to earn some authority by writing his autobiography. Anyway, even if this story was invented, it shows us the attitude of the former slave to the racial question. It seemed to me that Equiano, being educated in the England, also believed in the racial theories. For example, when he asked how the vessel could go, he saw cloth upon the masts, and then the vessels went on (Equiano, 424). Equiano thought that white men had some spell or magic that they put in the water when they liked, in order to stop the vessel. He was exceedingly amazed at this account and really thought the white men were spirits. Equiano really thought that white man had some unnatural abilities. In other moment of his trip, he described how he sought the white man. “I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. Their complexions, too, differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the language they spoke, united to confirm me in this belief. Indeed, such were the horrors of my views and the fears pa the moment…I would have freely parted with them all to have exchange my condition with thath of the meanest slave in my own country” ( Equiano, 422). Equiano found many differences between white and black man. Of course, it is strange, how little boy could have memorized so many details about his trip. The conditions in which Africans were kept were very cruel and inhumane. For example, during the crossing though the ocean, Equiano became so sick that he couldn’t eat. And when white men offered him to eatables, he refused, and one of them have held him, laid across, tied his feet and the other one flogged him (Equiano, 423). To sum up, I would like to say that slavery was justified by the class factor, not the racial. The racial theory appeared as a result of political conflicts and uprisings. Slaves were very important for the development of the capitalism. The thousands of slaves that crossed the ocean each year forced the enrichment of many white men. Capitalists needed slave workers. The racial theory was convenient to divide those who should work (slave, servant) and those who misusing the workers. The life of former slave Equiano demonstrated that he was a victim not only of “white” capitalism, but also of European education because he accepted the ideas that were produced to enslave more and more Africans (non-Europeans). Works cited: 1) Linebaugh, Rediker The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic. Beacon Press. 2001 2) Equiano O. The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano Read More