Slavery and Freedom

When most people think of slavery, they think of the mindless cruelty inflicted on the African Americans all for the sake of the wealthy landowner's greed. Although this may have often been the case, there was another initial reason for slavery. Contrary to popular belief, and ironically enough, slavery was used to gain freedom in Virginia.

How can one speak of liberty and freedom for all people while at the same time enslaving another? Actually several of America's spokesmen for freedom owned slaves, from George Washington to Thomas Jefferson. This sounds hypocritical, but they did have their reasons for holding slaves.

Thomas Jefferson, for instance, hated debt. He felt that if one man was indebted to another, he could not truly be free, and a republic required independent citizens. He also greatly disliked urban workers. Since their livelihoods depended on consumer demands, he felt they also were not truly free. Therefore, they did not benefit the republic either.

These groups of people, in Jefferson's eyes, had unstable lives that could at any moment lead to poverty. He also believed that efforts to cope with poverty could come to threaten liberty. Therefore, upon considering abolishing slavery, he realized that if slaves were to be released, they would just become more of the idle poor, and that would lead to a declining republic. He believed that once the slave was not forced to work, he would not work to support himself and instead would join the ranks of the poor. Consequently, he never released any of his slaves.

In addition, England sent their poor to America, increasing America's problems. At first, many of these poor died from diseases, but later they served terms under the existing planters with hopes of having their own homes in a few years. Yet, when many of these freemen had served their terms, they could not afford land and were added to the poor. Most of these freemen were young men and because of threats from Indians, they had to be armed. This proved to be a potential threat to the wealthier landowners. These poor men could revolt against them at any moment.