Northern Poverty Southern Slavery
Uploaded by jazzy321 on Oct 26, 2011
This paper compares the lives of women in NYC in the early 1800’s to the slaves on southern plantations. 3+ pages; 2 sources; MLA citation style.
I Introduction
Many writers have referred to slavery in the United States as the “peculiar” institution. The use of the word indicates that it is considered almost unique. However, there is a parallel system: that of poor working women in New York City in the early 1800’s. Obviously the two are not identical, but there are sufficient similarities to make a comparison viable.
This paper will compare the lives of working women in the North to the slaves in the South, and discuss similarities and differences in the two systems.
II Similarities
There are at least two similarities that are striking, and they are related to one another. The first is the idea that someone can legally own another person; coupled to that is the idea that violence is an acceptable way to resolve disputes with the person who is owned.
In the South, slavery was legal and planters held an army of slaves in bondage to work the land. In the North, slavery was not recognized as a legal institution, but many women were little better than slaves, held in bondage by the ideas, passions and prejudices of a patriarchal society that was also extremely misogynistic. Although not formally slaves, women were expected to obey their husbands (or their men) in everything. Women had their existence primarily “within the sphere of the family.” (Stansell, p. 217). And in that sphere, as in the master/slave relationship, men could (and did) beat their wives if they disobeyed.
Violence in the two systems had a similar object: keeping the women and slaves under control. Although it would seem logical for an oppressed class, such as the slaves, to band together in a general revolt, they were unable to do so. First, they were poorly fed and clothed, kept deliberately weak so that rebellion was physically beyond them. It seems illogical to buy a slave and then treat him/her badly, but the slaveholders knew they were hated, and took measures to protect themselves. It’s a sad fact that they could always buy more slaves.
Second, the slaves would have faced armed opponents with little else than their bare hands. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, there is a sort...