Different Views On Slavery - Research Paper Example

? Different Views On Slavery Research Paper [Pick the Background Slavery was a very common sort of business that was widely prevailing in the western as well as eastern culture. It was not simply getting the work out of people but also treating them brutally and cruelly, rather not regarding them as a part of the society. They only considered as one’s property that can also be traded with other parties in an open market. No matter if that slave is actually willing to work or not, he was ruthlessly forced to do all the tasks that have been assigned to him. Explaining this all concept of slavery in a nutshell can be termed as crafting a sense of inferiority in a certain group of people and making them feel that they are nothing but an instrument of great people. This concept was initiated in the early centuries in which people were purchased by giving some amount of money and then taken on remand for almost all of their lives. They were further traded with other people charging more money depending upon the slaves skills, capabilities, personality looks etc. the captured slaves has no rights in the society and in all cases were considered inferior. In older times, this slavery was recognized by most parts of the world and was considered lawful. However, it was purely un- ethical to treat humans and things and under grading certain cast. Slavery in United States of America It was the initial colonial era that endorsed slavery. In the late seventies and stretching to late eighties, slavery was widely accepted by reputed and well established communities of the western as well as eastern world. Most importantly, it was very dominating and prominent in major areas of the United States of America. Slavery in the united states was termed as major legal institution and was regarded lawful and ethical. The roots of such act and laws popped up when united states successfully managed to get the independence from Great Britian in the year 1776. After a certain period of time, few people took the initiative to step against the tide. Few people rebelled against this evil practice of the Northern part of the country and endorsed the basic human and society rights of individuals. But on the other hand South was in complete favor of slavery. All this prevailing situation gave a courage to the slave society to raise their voices for themselves and halt this evil practice in the upcoming future. As a result, a chaos situation triumph in the whole country that later on, at the extreme, lead to the Civil War in the United States. Views On Slavery The topic of slavery became the limelight of a number of historians, philosophers, scholars and scientists. They were found highly interesting in researching and writing on this hot issue that was in the air at those times. A great number of scholars took slavery as a part of their research for the reason that it was fitting really well into their officially authorized focus on the fresh scientific history (Smith, 1980). In addition, Thomas Jefferson also highlights the issue of slavery. His work on this topic can be termed as mix and even contradictory to his own points. His work on slavery completely represents his point that he was highly against this cruelty, ruthlessness and brutal treatment of the human element. He condemned this act widely through his columns, papers etc. He was the one man army which stood firm against the entire Virginia Assembly to enforce the law of Manumission in 1769 (Ford, 2008). Stanley Elkins' Slavery Stanley Elkins is a renowned personality that has great lists of works as far as the topic of slavery is concerned. His work was highly influential and striking at that point in time as it was the age when slavery was at the height of its prevailing period. He made two most important arguments in regard to slavery 1. The American natives or some who were also known as the abolitionist had an idea to cut off the total efficiency and efficacy by means of insisting on the consistency of the roots of ideology, wholesomeness and steadiness. Followed by the complete consensus to raise voice against the practice of slavery. 2. The overall slavery practice was inserted into the minds of the slaves once they were born. This forced them to follow “Sambo Model”( Elkins & McKitrick,1957) He presented his above stated two important points on slavery on the basis of two broad aspects that were social and psychological. Bruno Brettelheim marks the name who presented a valuable paper on the sociologic and psychological research followed by the concentration camps of the Nazi community for the period of Second World War. This all depicted a story that depending completely over the dictatorial setting can be found really damaging and detrimental to the environment that would some point in time destroy the overall ability to stand firm, defy, to plan and even to form close terms with each other systematically. He further supported his point by the fact that slavery is not what you called a person's fate rather, it was majorly installed in a a specific community once a person was born. That is, it was mostly on a personality pattern. His overall point of view says that no matter if an individual is saved from the practice of slavery but still his personality traits would persist and remain the same over a long time. Comparative analysis of Elkins and James McPherson's Perspective of Slavery James McPherson is another renowned name which has contributed to the topic of slavery to a great extent (McPherson, 2003). Although he has also written some great pieces of work on slavery but as a matter of fact he has some contradicting views than the Stanley Elkins point of view. Both the views of these philosophers possess a great value and had explained their stances in the best possible way. The concept is that both the authors totally agree that slavery is ethically and morally wrong. This all resulted in the government itself to take initiative to abandon the system of slavery. Elkin’s perspective is seen as more personal while James McPhersons idea in his work Ordeal by Fire is more practical and factual. He widely made use of the economic facts and figures of that time to prove his stance that slavery in any means was ethically and morally wrong. Hence it can be widely compared from both the works of both scholars than no matter what, either it is personal justification or a factual one both are against this evil act and endorse the value of the human element. Influence of Church on American Slavery Although this practice of slavery was found really common in the western and eastern world however, churches, holy books, priests, monks and all other religious personalities were totally against it. They were always supporting the fact that human element possesses a certain value to the society. They also provided a point of view that the God he has regarded the Man as above all the living beings that have been created on earth so far. Therefore, they are not in any case inferior than anyone else in this world. For that reason forcing them to agree upon the thing that they are inferior and have no particular rights on any things is not fair at all. Moreover, it was a tradition in West during the late seventies and early eighties that they were converting their slaves into Christianity without their consent. They were forcefully asked to do so in order to save their lives and listen to their master. References Elkins, S., & McKitrick, E. (1957). Institutions and the Law of Slavery: Slavery in Capitalist and Non-Capitalist Cultures. American Quarterly, 159-179. Ford, L. (2008). Reconfiguring the Old South:“Solving” the Problem of Slavery, 1787–1838. The Journal of American History, 95(1), 95-122. McPherson, J. M. (2003). The illustrated battle cry of freedom: The Civil War era. Oxford University Press, USA. Smith, J. D. (1980). A Different View of Slavery: Black Historians Attack the Proslavery Argument, 1890-1920. Journal of Negro History, 298-311. Read More