The
American economy experienced a great deal of change throughout the early to mid
1800s. It saw itself start to drift away
from its original ways of life to a more modern way and for some it was a
difficult transformation. The nation was
finally completely connected and they didn’t have to rely on other nations for
trade. Instead they were now able to trade and produce products within the
nation that they hadn’t been able to do before.
This did however lead to poor working conditions for all workers in
America, not just the slaves in the South.
I
think that it all really began with the production of the international
railways and the ability to move faster and more efficiently through
waterways. The ability to move all over
the nation in just a matter of days made it possible for different regions of
America to start specializing in what they produced. Now that they didn’t have to worry about
making enough of different products they could put forth all of their focus on
just one individual product. They could
now rely on intranational trade to get their goods, and these would now be top
of the line goods.
With
this shift in how goods were transported throughout the country one thing was
needed greatly: workers. In the South,
as everyone knows, the slave labor force had to deal with terrible working
conditions. They had to put up with
their owners and overseers rules and regulations, which included but were not
limited to: moving slaves from job to job, making sure they were working at the
pace which was expected of them, deciding what types of tool and machinery
would be used by the slaves, what kind of clothes they were required to wear,
what kind of food and diet they would be on, the language that they used, the
different conversations between the slaves and in particular who was talking to
who, and what their living conditions would consist of. The slave owners determined almost every
aspect of slave life. Whatever the
owners said went and if they disobeyed they would be punished through
whippings, torture, confinement or isolation and some owners would even go as
far as threatening to break up families if one member was disobedient. Slave life was incredibly demanding and
difficult. A basic summary of a year in
which the slaves lived is given in the book, Civil War America: A Social and
Cultural History by: Maggi M. Morehouse and Zoe Trodd. “In the frosty cold of January, slaves
cleared fields of debris, demarcated the land with fences, and broke new
ground. After spreading fertilizer over
these prepared fields, the slaves began the early spring rush to plant the
cottonseed. A first wave of slaves used
drills to open furrows in the ground, while a second wave followed to put the
seed into the ground. In late spring and
early summer, the slaves preformed the laborious work of tending the crop,
thinning the rows of cotton, and weeding the fields. In mid-August, the slaves began picking
cotton. The planters needed to get the
entire crop in before the first frost damaged the product, and so many of the
slaves labored in 18-hour days to collect the bales of cotton prior to the
first frost.” (57) This type of treatment wasn’t just exclusive to the South
though. In the North similar, harsh
working conditions were alive and it is something that a lot of people seem to
look past.
Many
industrialized areas of the North took advantage of the fact that many poor
immigrant workers would be willing to do almost anything to make a living for
their families. Many of the same
conditions like long work hours, strict command from higher authority,
prison-like discipline, extremely low pay and dangerous working conditions made
this much like slavery in itself. The
difference in wealth distribution made this a difficult thing to deal with for
the poor Americans and immigrants. They
didn’t really have much say in the manner in which they worked because they
knew that they could be easily replaced by someone else looking for a job. This would be a terrifying situation to be
in. On one hand, you could keep your job
and have some sort of income to support your family. One the other hand, you are being assigned to
tasks that put your well-being and the well being of your family at risk because
if you were to die then that would amount to one less source of income for your
family. This was a dilemma that I am
sure multiple people faced in the 1800s. Workers in the North were forced to
put up with harsh conditions and it surprises me that the North opposed slavery
so much when they seemed to be doing the same type of thing to their
workers.
Was it just the
name of “slavery” that didn’t sit well with them? Was it the want of economic superiority that
would be gained if the South lost its main source of income? I think that to recognize only the South as a
people who used their influential power against those who were not as well off
as they were is a tragic thing. We have
to realize that the North is just as guilty as the South in the fact that they
took advantage of people to get a bigger working force and a bigger bank
account.
I agree with you, the South and the North both had horrible working conditions for workers. The difference I see is that slavery in the South was brutal and enforced by violence against African American! It was racial discrimination, fueled by white supremacy ideology. When slaves did not work to the efficiency their owner or overseer wanted they would be whipped or punished in an other violent physical action against them. The reason for slaves was the free labor. The South believed it was the best way to get the most out of their money. Each slave was an investment and to them there was no better way to make sure their investment would gain them profit than influencing it by fear. The South argued that slave labor was cheaper, because all they had to pay for was the bare necessity of food, shelter, and clothing for their slaves.
ReplyDeleteThe North argued that labor made the economy run. The North was a big industrial power at the expense of their workers. There were no unions to ensure workers rights and that's why workers got exposed. The money hungry capitalist did everything they could do to keep wages down and work days long to increase their profit. Many immigrant groups were subjugated to these harsh working conditions and low standard of living.
In my opinion slavery in the South was more malicious than the harsh working conditions in the North. It was exclusivity against African Americans and fueled by almost evil ideology and violence. I agree the North's labor force was taken advantage of, but it just wasn't as malicious as the South.
I agree with Paulino that the North and the South were similar in many ways but the South's working conditions were more harsh than the North. In the North, at the end of the day workers knew what they were going home to. They knew they had a family they could go home to. They had the freedom of choice of what they wanted to do. Yes, they were working long days under not the best of circumstances but they chose that path. Like Evan stated, the 1800's weren't the best of days. The American economy was always changing creating tough times for everybody in the nation. If an immigrant or worker was stuck at a job and had no other job opportunity, fine, but at least they had the choice of being employed and making money for their families.
ReplyDeleteIn the South, it was different. Slaves didn't have the freedom of a decision. They had to go through the same thing everyday. They worked long hours for little to no pay. They didn't have their own family they could go home to at the end of a long day. Their slave owner and his family were the slaves family. Everyday they woke up, they had to fear the thought of whether it was going to be their last day living, or whether they were going to be brutally beaten/whipped to death. The clothes they received were the clothes they wore. They didn't have the choice of what they wanted to spend their money on so they could have something new.
The bottom line is that in the South, slaves did what they were told and if not they were beaten or killed. Slaves didn't have the choice of going to work to make money to support their family. In the north, the nation was developing so working conditions were tough. The capitalist were money hungry and did anything to keep wages down as Paulino said. Workers were told what to do while at work but at the end of the day they had the freedom of going home to a family.