The Relationship betwen Masters & Slaves till 1861
The Relationship betwen Masters & Slaves till 1861It is possible to say that the period between the end of the Revolution and the beginning of the Civil War was the most important in terms of the development of the so called " Peculiar Institution" of slavery. In order to define the changing master - slave relationship, one must look at the historical background to Southern slavery. The defining characteristics or outside influences provide thekey to an understanding of the master - slave relationship during this period. __Slavery seemed a very mutable institution which changed constantly to adapt to the different situation. The maincontention of this essay is that, what started off as an essentially economic institution in order to help boost production of staple crops like, cotton, sugar, and tobacco, developed into the definitivecharacteristic of the emerging Ante - Bellum South. As the Civil War seemed inevitable in 1861 one of the key questions was whether the South would be able to protect it's " Peculiar Institution."__Although slavery began in 1619, it was essentially confined _ 73 _妕o the Eastern seaboard states throughout the Seventeenth, and most of the eighteenth century. It wasn't until after th
__After the initial period of development of the slave system, it becomes easier to see which direction the master - slaverelationship was going. it is very difficult to generalise about such a disparate number of states and masters. There were many books written by Southerners on theeffective management of slaves, this to some extent must have influenced the inter-relationship of master and slave. It seems that often the relationship of the master andslave, was a battle of wills the Sambo character could quite often dupe the master into thinking he was servile and then go against him. __One very important point to make about the nature of the master slave relationship is it's heterogeneity, each situation was slightly different, much of the nature of these relationships dependedupon the personal actions of the master. One example is of a master trusting his " loyal " servant somuch that he sent him off to look for a runaway slave, and so the slave himself ran away. __The perception that Southerners had of their slaves is seen through themaster slave relationship in the ways that they were stereotyped by their owners or by writers and politicians defending slavery. __As slavery became a more widely used labour force so the terms andconditions they worked under changed. The realities of slave life were very different. This is one of the key elements to the development of the master slave relationship, a good planter was a man who ultimately had themost efficient and profitable plantation or small holding, in order to have this there had to be a certain degree of good slave management. They were afforded the same status of any other property, and slaveholders saw it as their right and duty to rule over " their people ". __One of the first points of the relationship was that of the slaves as property. A hierarchy of power was set up in order to maintain an organised workforce that would bring in the highest profit. This is the suggestion that some slaves were allowed a certainfamilial relationship with the owner of the land they worked on, and that through this paternalism slavery flourished. The first was the so called " Sambo " who was the model of docility, and obedience and was apparently loyal to his master.
Common topics in this essay:
Slave Community_,
Peculiar Institution,
Deep South,
Civil War,
Ole Massa's,
Boykin Chesnut,
Ante-Bellum South,
master slave,
Nat Turner,
master slave relationship,
slave relationship,
Masters Slaves,
_ 73,
Culture_ Southern,
deep south,
relationship master,
institution slavery,
civil war,
black slaves,
black slave,
peculiar institution,
relationship master slave,
_ 73 _妕o,
mid nineteenth century,
beginning civil war,
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Acceptance Essays
