The Growth of Bad from the Growth of Good

   Recently in class, we began to talk about the start slavery in the United States. By looking at the The Spread of Cotton and Slavery Activity, my class was able to see the large increase in the amount of slaves from 1790 to 1860. Around the time of 1790, cotton was economically insignificant crop in the United States. Following the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney, cotton became more profitable to grow. Because of this, the demand for cotton grew and it eventually became 57% of the nation's total export revenue. By 1860, the south grew 2.28 billion pounds of cotton which made $191.8 million dollars of revenue. Due to the high demands since 1790, there was a high demand for slave labor to pick the cotton. In 1790 when cotton was economically insignificant, there was approximately 690,000 slaves in the United States. By 1860, the number of slaves increased to roughly 3,954,000 slaves due to the large demand in cotton. The United Sates began to rely on the revenue of cotton being that it was 57% of the nations total export revenue. Slavery therefor became entrenched in the U.S. because of labor needed to keep up with the demand of cotton.

All this increase in cotton manufacturing had very negative affects on African slaves. They were captured from their native countries and were forced onto ships where they would eventually over a long and torturous journey land in the United States. Slaves were then bought and traded and would work in humane conditions. My class was able to get a look into the life of a slave by watching a docudrama titled A Prince Among Slaves. The movie told the story of  Abdul-Rahman, an African prince who was captured in war and was brought to America to be enslaved. We watched as he was stripped of his dignity by many including his master, Thomas Foster. Foster did things like refuse to sell him, beat him viciously and cut his hair which devastated and ripped away Rahman's identity. 

                                                                 Abdul Rahman
                                        http://webfuuta.net/pas/alfa_abdul_rahman.jpg

  While Abdul Rahman's original identity was exposed and he was eventually released as a slave, this is not the same story for many other slaves. Slaves were treated like animals and they were forced to live their lives and raise their families within the borders of their masters land.

 As you can tell slavery was a big part of the 19th century. Without it the growth of cotton and the American economy would not have been so successful. But, with the growth of cotton came the growth of slaves and overlooking human life. All Africans in America, free or enslaved were affected by slavery. People at this time tended to overlook the feelings of the the slaves that made up a large percent of the country. They were thought to be more as working machines rather than people. People never put themselves in the shoes of a slave to imagine being ripped from your family or have to work day till night just so you wouldn't get punished. The dignity of the African American slaves were wounded beyond repair.








   

The Fight for Women's Rights

    Ever since the start of civilization, women had been treated as people who are beneath men. Women have been seen as the weaker, less intelligent and less capable of preforming daily tasks of the two sexes. For centuries women have accepted this role and fell into the social stereotype that they were given. This all changed in the mid-19th century. Around this time a document was released called The Rights of Women: Laws and Practices. This document provided women with the social practices and laws that they should live their live by. Some of the laws and practices that are included is the law that its legal in most states to beat your wife with a horsewhip every couple of weeks to keep her from nagging. Another practice that is included is the practice that it is considered improper for women to speak in public. Women during this time were seen as propriety to their husbands. The only public job available for women was teaching but they were paid only 30-50% of what men were paid for the same job. Women's usual jobs included cooking, cleaning and caring for children.

   Being treated this way for so long finally got to women and they decided to do something about it. This created the Seneca Falls Convention in the fight for women's rights. Out of the Seneca Falls Convention came the Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions, a document that stated resolutions to the Practices in The Rights of Women. The Declaration of Sentiments and Resolutions was a very controversial piece, it was the first time women had out-lashed against society, and the declaration got a lot of attention. Reactions to this declaration were both positive and negative. An article that reported on the declaration is The Mechanics Advocate, Female Department. The article states that the women's convention was "all wrong" and "any true-hearted female would think that its was unwomanly". From this article we can see that The Mechanics Advocate, Female Department was strongly against the Seneca Falls Convention. Although this was the case for this article, not all articles were like this. There were some articles that praised the convention like the National Reformer.  The National Reform said that "Their standard is now unfurled by their own hands. The convention of Seneca Falls has appealed to the country." 

    Even though women today do not face as harsh treatment as they did in the 19th century, they are still judged on most of the things they do. Women are judged on the way they dress, how they act and who they talk to both by men and other women. I think its important as women to stand together to fight for respect from men rather than tearing each other down. Often in society women can be labeled as something negative while doing the same thing as men. In this Pantene commercial shown below, we can see how women are labeled in the same situation that men are in. 

As we can see from the result of the Seneca Falls Convention, women's rights have changed in previous years. My hope for the future is that we can continue in this path and women would be seen more as equals and not be labeled negatively in the same situations as men.