Essay On The Antebellum South Era

932 Words4 Pages
The Antebellum South era, after the War of 1812 leading to the Civil War, was socially, spiritually, and economically a tenacious time for the North and South, but how? Americans brought slaves back to the United States in 1619 specifically to use or make them work for small or large plantations, cities and towns, out in the fields, inside homes, in industry, and transportation. Life in the South revolved around slavery, it had assembled their lifestyle in a variety of ways. The South’s land had fertile cash crops with cotton and tobacco, which needed slaves to maintain the plantation. Eli Whitney invented the sewing machine and cotton gin in order to boost the process of separating the seeds from the cotton. Though the cotton gin was very…show more content…
Slave labor was very demanding, having to work six days a week and up to eighteen hours a day. Masters or an overseer would mistreat slaves if they were to disobey by cruel punishments such as starvation, brutal beatings, sell them off and separate them from their biological family. It seemed as though the white men and women lived in different hemispheres with their diversity in roles. Men were more public purchasing slaves, providing and maintaining an exceptional reputation for their family. If a white man was poor the only thing separating them from a slave was the color of their skin. A woman's job was more private, such as to uphold the house making a nurturing environment for her family, teach the children and oversee house slaves. The more slaves a woman’s husband owned the less she was expected to accomplish around the house. Dred Scott was a slave who wanted to pursue his freedom by bringing it to the Supreme Court. He travelled with his master to free states in order to fight his freedom, but he never made a claim in the free lands. He may have not known his rights or was content with his master and did not want to claim freedom. In 1847, the Supreme Court decided slaves were not people, but property, and Dred Scott was forced to go back to work on the
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