Why were slaves important for the economy? Slaves were important to the economy because
there were not enough colonial settlers to complete the jobs that needed to be
done in the new America. Settlers had
seen the way slavery had enhanced life for Caribbean nations, and so slaves were
bought and brought to the America’s to enhance the quality of life for the
people who had settled here. Slaves were
trained to perform the manual tasks of farming and taught skills to assist the
settlers with their acts of daily life.
This helped cash crops become more profitable and also helped
commodities be sold to other countries faster, creating more wealth for the new
Americans. The government was able to
tax the sale of slaves, and so it helped aid in the ways that the government
assisted with trade and lawmaking at the time.
Overall, slavery was good for the economy at the time.
What type of jobs did slaves do? Slaves performed many tasks for the new
American settlers. Some of these
included: manual labor jobs such as
farming, butlers, sailors, and launderers, carriage drivers and grooms. Slaves were also
artisans such as carpenters, stonemasons, blacksmiths, and weavers.
How do you think the slaves felt about their situation? I am sure that the slaves felt captured, like
animals. Used and tortured, this was not
the kind of life that human beings dream of.
I am positive that they felt that their own people had sold them and
were traitors, and that life was a step they had to take just to die in the
fields of their owners.
Why was slavery wrong?
Today it is illegal to have slaves.
This is because in America we have basic rights as citizens that should
universal. They are the rights to life,
liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At
any point when you dehumanize a person, you have committed a terrible and
inexcusable crime against humanity.
What alternatives to slavery were there? More manpower was indeed needed, but instead
of forcing slaves to perform this type of labor, they could have offered a
trade with those people for food and lodging without abuse and contempt. They could have hired them and paid them with
commodities. There are many ways that
laborers can be convinced to work other than beating and capturing humans to do
an owners bidding.
