Slavery Without Submission, Emancipation Without Freedom, Essay Example

In this book chapter from A People’s History of the United States, author Howard Zinn discusses in-depth the history of slavery in the U.S. between 1790 and the time of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation which freed all African-Americans from the bondage of indentured slavery. Zinn also explores the efforts of politicians and abolitionists to bring an end to slavery before Lincoln’s Proclamation and the actions of the slaves themselves to resist the slave system in the Old South. Zinn argues that the most basic reason for the existence of slavery was cotton.

As he points out, in 1790, “a thousand tons of cotton were being produced every year in the South,” and by 1860, just one year before the outbreak of the Civil War, the amount of cotton had multiplied to a million tons. During this same time period, the slave population expanded from about 500,000 to more than four million. This huge increase in the slave population was directly related to the growth of the cotton industry in the Deep South and as Zinn relates, in order to end slavery in the U.S., there would have to be either a full-scale slave rebellion or a full-scale war. Of course, war did break out in 1861 between the Union and the Confederacy (“A People’s History of the United States”) during the Presidency of Abraham Lincoln.

Although written in 1980, this book chapter by Howard Zinn is still quite relevant, due to his use of primary documentation that was composed during the time of the events and circumstances which Zinn describes with the voice of a true historian and scholar. For example, Zinn cites slave owner Henry Tragic, author of The Southampton Slave Revolt of 1831 which details how the Confederate State of Virginia was prepared for any possible slave revolts, due to being an “armed and garrisoned state.” Also, Zinn quotes perhaps the best-known scholar and statesman with first-hand knowledge on the slavery system of the Old South–W.E.B. Du Bois who advocated that black slaves “not work so hard” as a form of rebellion and resistance to slavery. There is also Frederick Douglass’ 1852 Independence Day address in which Douglass heavily criticized the American government and the people of America for putting up with slavery which makes celebrating the Fourth of July a sham and a mockery of freedom (“A People’s History of the United States”). Zinn also uses many secondary sources, such as From Slavery to Freedom by esteemed scholar John Hope Franklin, and From Sundown to Sunup which contains interviews with former slaves done in the 1930’s as part of President Roosevelt’s New Deal Program via the Library of Congress.

In addition, Zinn points out the true relevancy and historical importance of Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, issued to the American people in September of 1862 and which became the law of the land on January 1, 1863. Zinn provides an excellent overview of the influence of Lincoln’s Proclamation by stating that it was in effect a “military move” that gave the South and Confederate President Jefferson Davis “four months to stop rebelling” or else face the total emancipation of all of their slaves which would lead to the southern economy falling into shambles. The most important aspect of the Proclamation according to Zinn is that it “spurred antislavery forces” or the abolitionists to fight even harder to free all of the slaves (“A People’s History of the United States”).

Zinn concludes this book chapter with a very appropriate quote from W.E.B. Du Bois which sums up the entire national problem of human slavery before, during, and after the Civil War. As Du Bois explained it in 1935, slavery was a form of “new capitalism as part of a process of exploitation and bribery” which demanded to be overthrown so as to bring America back to its greatness as a place where all men regardless of their skin color, could be free individuals with the liberties afforded them through the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights (“A People’s History of the United States”).

Works Cited

Zinn, Howard. “A People’s History of the United States.” 1980. Web. Accessed July 18, 2014<http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html.>