The United States has a troubling history of plundering and subjugating other people. Gross human rights violations have been perpetrated under the guise of the ‘White Man’s humanly duty’ to save the world. This modus operandi was perfected at home when slavery was a glorious industry, thanks to inexhaustible but, in retrospect, implausible moral justifications that underpinned it.
American elites contorted many justifications for racial subjugation and continued enslavement of mostly Africans. Proponents of slavery resorted to downright racism, purporting that people of African descent were innately inferior to whites This discrimination enjoyed profound moral backing from Spencer’s social Darwinian, which underpinned laws and policies that operationalized enslavement. For example, Darwinism not only views competition for survival as instinctive but also encourages society tolerate, encourage, and celebrate the inequalities arising from such relentless struggle. Finally, enslavement of Africans was seen as part of the White man’s moral duty to extend the benefits of Anglo-Saxon civilization to the inferior race(s). The justifications for enslavement notwithstanding, a more intriguing question is the benefits America reaped as a consequence.
The institution of slavery brought numerous benefits to mostly White plantation owners. Cotton was at some point the greatest pillar of the US economy. Slavery ensured cheap abundant human capital for the labor-intensive cotton farming, which allowed the country to meet local demand and advance its influence in the global market. In other words, cotton plantations created numerous employment opportunities, revenue, and other economic benefits. Interestingly, the benefits of slavery were so many that they spilled over to non-slave holders. A more obvious benefit was the availability of casual laborers to help with just about any degrading, low-paying job available. Moreover, white non-slave holders were assured of generations of white privileges whenever slaves were used as examples to reassert white supremacy, such as through lynching. Indeed, slavery had numerous direct and indirect benefits to certain ethnic groups.
In conclusion, Africans were enslaved because their enslavers believed that they were inferior. The way slaves were treated, however ethically obnoxious, was seen as their initiation into civilization. Interestingly, Whites, slave-owners and non-slave owners alike, benefitted more than the inferior people they purported to save and uplift.
Bibliography
Locke, J. L., and B. G. Wright. The American yawp: A massively collaborative open U. S. History textbook, Vol. 2: Since 1877. 2019.