In Part I of his book Many
Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America, Ira
Berlin discussed the ways Atlantic Creoles, highly cultured peoples of mixed
race, shaped the charter generations of African slaves in mainland North
America. Part II moved forward chronologically and focused on the Creoles’
successors: the plantation generations, which spread and led to the degradation
of black life across North America. Part III, the final section in Berlin’s
book, discussed what he referred to as the revolutionary generations. Berlin’s
argument focused on the third transformation in the lives of black people in
the mainland North America. Seizing the ideas of equality, slaves challenged
their masters’ authority, though often unsuccessfully. Berlin claimed that this
transformation differed according to the various situations in each region. Freedom
only succeeded in the North, and even that was slow and imperfect. Slaves in
the Upper South fought hard, but slavery did not crack. The planters of the
Lower South clamped down very hard, crushing any thoughts or musings of
abolition. The Lower Mississippi Valley emerged with a sharp division between
the degraded plantation slaves and the flourishing urban Creoles. Berlin’s
organization in this book was impeccable when compared with another book from
our class by Edward Gray.
The great
democratic revolutions of the eighteenth century—the French, the American, and
the Haitian—set the stage for the third transformation for black people in
North America. As mentioned above, slaves took hold of the “egalitarian ideal”
and pushed against their masters’ control. They fought to remake themselves and
often demanded freedom. The American Revolutionary War offered new leverage and
opportunity to challenge both the institution of chattel bondage and structure
of white supremacy. Some planters offered their slaves freedom in exchange for
military service. The planters’ concessions slowly chipped away at their
position within the slave society.[1]
The context
and rhetoric of universal equality permeated the American Colonies during this
period. Slavery did not mesh with this emerging rhetoric and further
strengthened slaves’ hands. An evangelical upsurge, focused on universal
equality before God, accompanied the socio-political focus on the same. Slaves’
physical liberation became intertwined with their spiritual liberation. The brutal
slave society of Saint Domingue caught wind of the revolutionary changes in
France, and a dispute between free people soon escalated into a full-fledged
slave insurrection. By the time the French could get to the island, a free
Haiti had emerged. The events of Saint Domingue resonated throughout North
America. Free people—slaveholders and non-slaveholders alike—were terrified at
such a possibility. Slaves pressed for more control over their own lives, while
slave owners smothered the slaves’ expectations and increased their control.[2]
Berlin
Argued that freedom progressed very slowly and unevenly. Only a very small
fraction of slaves were actually liberated during this period. In fact, there
were more people in bondage after the revolutionary generations than before.
Planters fought to reopen the slave trade, a fight which they eventually won. Slave
owners pondered the implications of the Declaration of Independence on the
Peculiar Institution. This led to a dangerous and twisted reading of the
Declaration: if indeed all men were created equal, then perhaps those slaves
who remained in their degraded state were not men at all. Thus, the document
that set in motion the freedom of many thousands of people led to the
repression of thousands more.[3]
The Age of
Revolution, as Berlin referred to it, set in motion two “profoundly different,
overlapping, and sometimes conflicting reconstructions.”[4] Liberated
people redefined freedom, and enslaved people redefined slavery. As bondmen became
free they took on new names, jobs, and residences. They created families, and
those families came together to form new communities. Those communities created
institutions such as churches, schools, and political caucuses, which white
people did not like. Slaves, at the same time, pushed for what advantages they
could obtain, such as matters of labor discipline, cultural independence, and
institutional independence. Over time, distinctions between free Blacks and
slaves became very pronounced. Slaves moved westward toward new plantation
lands, while free Blacks moved toward the city. By the end of the revolutionary
generations, this divergence led to legal status becoming the most important
distinction among Black people in North America.[5]
Berlin
began his assessment of each region with the only example of freedom winning
out: the northern states. Nowhere, he argued, did the ideas of the American
Revolution hit black society harder than in the North. Revolutionary ideals moved
northern slavery backward, first eliminating the remnants of slave society,
replacing them with a society with slaves, and eventually transforming it into
a free society. This was, however, a very slow and “torturous process.” New
York and New Jersey implemented gradual emancipation, locking some slaves into
bondage until death and others’ children into bondage for decades. Even after
slaves were freed, they remained in a degraded state plagued by discriminatory
laws and practices that were aimed at keeping black people dependent.[6]
Despite the
difficult position freed slaves in the North found themselves in, they worked
hard and quickly to give meaning to their new status. Freedmen changed their
names in an attempt to take control. Moving into new residences, free Blacks found
their own jobs and pursued new careers. Freedmen created new communities to
build strength and identity as a group, and these new communities created
institutions. Churches, schools, and fraternal societies were common among
these new Black communities, and offered new opportunities for growth within
the larger, white society. A new leadership class emerged and worked hard to
maintain unity within these African-American societies. But with new solidarity
came new division. Legal, cultural, and racial status became sources of hot
contention within the new societies: slaves against former slaves, rural
cultures against urban cultures, blacks against people of mixed race. In
tragically ironic fashion, once slaves were freed from the oppression and
discrimination of slavery, they created new forms of the same amongst themselves.[7]
Berlin
transitioned his argument from the Northern colonies to the Upper South.
Previously in his book, Berlin referred to this region as the Chesapeake, which
created a more pronounced division between the colonies of Maryland and
Virginia and the colonies of the Deep South. It was perhaps a rhetorical
gesture to start using the name Upper South in this section, because this
period distanced the Chesapeake colonies farther from the North and pulled them
closer to the Deep South. As in the Northern colonies, slaves hammered hard
against the institution of slavery. Unlike in the in Northern colonies, the
institution did not budge. The republicanism and evangelical focus on equality
battered the social and political rhetoric that flourished during this period. Yet
amongst all the rhetoric, the colonies of the Upper South barely faltered.[8]
Despite its
core dependency on slavery, some areas on the periphery devolved into societies
with slaves. This was perhaps mostly a result of declining economic need for
slavery in these few areas. Many slaves in these areas were freed, and there
began to emerge a simultaneous expansion of black slavery and freedom that
redefined black life in the Upper South. These two groups did not strictly
diverge among cultural and economic lines as similar groups did in the North. In
the Upper South, slave and free blacks united, and occupied the same families,
churches, communities, and workplaces. A two-caste system emerged in the region
that placed the stark boundary between whites and blacks that would define this
region throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.[9]
The
Revolutionary rhetoric that made such changes in the North and the Upper South
echoed much differently in the Lower South. Though the American Revolution
disrupted slavery, the victory over the British affirmed planters’ power. These
slave owners obtained new tools with which to both maintain and expand slavery.
There was no abolition as there was in North; there were no musings of
emancipation as there were in the Upper South. The Lower South maintained its
slave society to the fullest extent. They reopened the Atlantic slave trade and
reaffirmed their commitment to the institution and expansion of slavery.[10]
The restoration and growth of slavery in the
Lower South redefined life for African-
Americans. The black majority on the plantation, along with the increased importation of African slaves deepened the connection between Africa and America. The relatively small number of free blacks joined slaves in urban areas to expand their liberty. They dared not use the language of the Declaration of Independence, for the planters in the Lower South took any egalitarian rhetoric as inciting insurrection. Much like the black communities in the North, the small number of free blacks separated themselves from the bondmen and left them to fend for themselves. There was no unity between black people of different legal status or racial composition. A three-caste system emerged within the Lower South: white on the top, brown in the middle, and black on the bottom.[11]
Americans. The black majority on the plantation, along with the increased importation of African slaves deepened the connection between Africa and America. The relatively small number of free blacks joined slaves in urban areas to expand their liberty. They dared not use the language of the Declaration of Independence, for the planters in the Lower South took any egalitarian rhetoric as inciting insurrection. Much like the black communities in the North, the small number of free blacks separated themselves from the bondmen and left them to fend for themselves. There was no unity between black people of different legal status or racial composition. A three-caste system emerged within the Lower South: white on the top, brown in the middle, and black on the bottom.[11]
The last region
Berlin focused on was the lower Mississippi Valley, which experienced a very
sharp division between slaves on the plantation and Creoles in the cities. The
Revolution benefitted free blacks in the cities as they were relied on to join
the military in case of invasion. These Creoles looked to the American-European
world to establish their roots. The free black population grew dramatically in
urban areas, and their communities pressed for full equality as they grew in
wealth. Plantation slaves, on the other hand, experienced rapid growth that
surpassed any other region in North America. Sugar and cotton shot to the
center of the plantation world, which placed the lower Mississippi Valley in
the center with them. Spanish authorities reopened the slave trade and
transformed the Valley into a slave society. Expansion and “reafricanization” further
separated urban free blacks from their plantation counterparts, creating a
three-caste system similar to that of the Lower South.[12]
Berlin presented
his argument immaculately throughout the book. He organized each of the three
parts meticulously to provide a clear flow within and between sub-arguments. His
organization was much easier to navigate than the other textbook from our
class, Colonial America: A History in
Documents by Edward G. Gray. Gray’s organization was adequate at best. There
were times throughout the book when it was hard to pinpoint his argument. It
seemed as though Gray compiled a random assortment of primary documents and
tried to jam them together into one book. Berlin, on the other hand, had a
clear argument with very clear sub-arguments in every part and every chapter of
his book.
The Age of
Revolution had a wide variety of effects on slavery in the individual regions
of North America. Slaves in the North experienced slow but eventual
emancipation. Slaves in the Upper South rarely experienced freedom, but they
were closely tied to free blacks. Plantation slaves in the Lower South
experienced a tightened grip by their masters, while slaves of the lower
Mississippi Valley experienced this tightening perhaps even more than in any
other region. Berlin’s organization, unlike Gray’s, made it very easy to
navigate and understand his argument. Overall his argument succeeded. He
progressed through the three parts of his book clearly and portrayed the
consistencies and differences in a well constructed manner. Berlin masterfully
conquered this topic in a powerful and enticing way.
[1] Ira Berlin, Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North
America, (Cambridge: Harvard U.P., 1998), 219.
[2] Berlin, 220-223.
[3] Berlin, 223-224.
[4] Berlin, 224.
[5] Berlin, 224-227.
[6] Berlin, 228.
[7] Berlin, 229.
[8] Berlin, 256.
[9] Berlin, 256, 289.
[10] Berlin, 290.
[11] Berlin, 291.
[12] Berlin, 325-26.
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