Week 2: Discussion Question 2
WIU content X'd out.
XXXXX
It is likely that there was the possibility of a short term economic
benefit to the slave owners under that system. Conversely, it
possibly had short term negative economic effects and certainly had
long term negative effects by further segregating the white, wealthy,
slave owners from the people who could not afford slaves. This in
turn reduced the amount of jobs available to people who otherwise would
have taken them, but were instead filled with slaves. The short
term social impact was negative, and certainly fostered a divided
country mentality. Furthermore, it created a mental point of
tension as it was attempted to segregate some humans as
sub-humans. This mentality certainly had very long term
repercussions and is still prevalent today.
XXXXX
Yes, the colonists would still have used slaves because it was socially
acceptable to do so. Even more so, among those who could afford
slaves, there was probably significant pressure to own them as a status
symbol. Certainly positions such as a "wet nurse" were not due to
a labor shortage, but used more as a symbol of prosperity.
© Erik Smith 2005
Licensed under the GNU
Free Documentation License