Was Slavery An Absolute Evil Analysis

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By the 1830’s, slaver was a large way of life in the South, where it existed in many different forms. Across the South slaves represented one third of the population with the largest plantations in the deep South, where 25% of slaves lived on slaveholdings of between one and nine slaves, 50% of slaves lived on a slaveholding of between ten and forty slaves, and the other 25% lived on slaveholdings with more than 50 slaves. The experience of slaves varied as this was dependant on their type of work and their owners. It is argued by historians, such as Kolchin, that the strong use of violence to punish slaves makes slavery an ‘absolute evil’. Peter J. Parish also argues that the woking conditions of the slaves were appalling and a moral sin. …show more content…
Slaves had to work intensively for up to 14 hours a day, under constant supervision, in hazardous conditions. Historian Peter J. Parish argues that there was a “extraordinary high labour participation rate” which meant that “women and children, the aged and the handicapped, even expectant and nursing mothers were all required to work”. This highlights the ‘absolute evil’ aspect as a slave would have to continue their labour throughout all stages of their lives with very few chances to be promoted and improve. In contrast to this, most slaves did not work on a Sunday and received a fair number of holidays. Kolchin argues that in their free time, slaves “strove to fill their lives with pleasurable activities”. This emphasises that slaves were given enough free time to enable them to have a social life with other slaves at their holding, however this time was fairly insignificant compared to the amount of time they would spend working. Overall the working conditions would be considered mostly an ‘absolute evil’, even though they usually had small breaks, when they were working they endured inhumane …show more content…
Most slave families were provided with crude wooden huts and were given four sets of poorly made clothes and one pair of ill-fitting shoes per year. This highlights that masters only gave their slaves the bare-minimum and even that was not enough to live comfortably with. Historian Hugh Brogan backs up this argument by claiming “ ‘Negro cloth’ and ‘Negro brogans (shoes)’ were of the cheapest, poorest manufacture and were seldom provided in enough quantity, so most slaves went dirty, barefoot and in rags.” This evidence shows that masters only provided slaves with with the most basic level of materials and nothing more than that. However, it can also be argued that masters took reasonably good care of their slaves as they were valuable and needed their health to be maintained, Medical records show revel that doctors were often called out to visit slaves in case of serious illness and that their masters spend considerable amounts of money on their medical care. Kolchin argues that this “reflect[ed] the widespread concern of masters for the well-being of their slaves”. This highlights the benign attitude that many slave owners in the South had towards their slaves. Therefore, the condition that slave’s lived in cannot be described as an ‘absolute evil’ as it is evident that many owners cared for their slaves health,
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