The Relationship Between Slavery and Freedom Essay

The Relationship Between Slavery and Freedom For Edmund S. Morgan American slavery and American freedom go together hand in hand. Morgan argues that many historians seem to ignore writing about the early development of American freedom simply because it was shaped by the rise of slavery. It seems ironic that while one group of people is trying to break the mold and become liberated, that same group is making others confined and shattering their respectability. The aspects of liberty, race, and slavery are closely intertwined in the essay, Slavery and Freedom: The American Paradox. The contradictions between slavery and freedom are very apparent throughout history. America started out with the intentions of becoming separate†¦show more content†¦It is a great debate as to why they treated that small group so poorly. Jefferson felt very strongly about the freedom of an individual. His idea of freedom was that the individual was independent, and not under the control of a government for example. There were two main things that Jefferson was concerned with, debt and distrust of men who were landless workers (124). With the first he felt that while under debt a man had very limited freedom of action. The landless workers he felt were very dependent. They had to work because there was no land for backup. In these times owning property was an important part of being a free man. Perhaps this led to slavery for those who did not own land. Many think slavery was always race based, but Jefferson?s position shows a different view. The problem with the landless workers escalated to its height in 1676 when about one fourth of freemen in Virginia did not own any land of their own (132). Many of these men wandered about, living dangerous and non goal oriented lives. These people were causing big problems among the Virginia population. While they needed the immigrants to work, when they were turned free they went out of control. Eventually this led to Bacon?s Rebellion. The problem was similar to that in England so they treated it the same way, with many tough restrictions of liberty (134). In efforts to control everything the government ended upShow MoreRelatedThe Relationship between Slavery and Freedom in Provincial Chesapeake753 Words   |  4 PagesThe Relationship between Slavery and Freedom in Provincial Chesapeake Edmund S. Morgan has presented an interesting question regarding the question of the colonists treatment of slavery as a special circumstance, one that is separate from freedom. The promotion of freedom by the Virginia settlers to their own kind, but not to those whose skin was a darker shade, exhibits the tough judgment calls that had to be made to help the colony survive. 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