Was slavery in the beginning of American history a necessary evil?

Question

Could we have gotten to where we are today without it?

Would we have had the resources to win the Revolutionary War?

TG- I see what you're saying but the North relied on the South's cash crops for industrialization.

jared- indentured servitude made up a small fraction of the labor force I think it would have been extremely difficult to get that many indentured servants but that would have been a good alternative.

Answer 1

I don't think slavery was a necessary evil at the beginning for America for getting into this position as we are in.
It's Dark chapter of our History.No American is proud of this and no one thinks that this should have been there in the early days of American history.

Answer 2

Now that I think about it, I can see both sides of the argument.

There were not enough workers that were willing/able to come here to work all the fields; especially the large plantations (not sure they were really needed) that would grow the tobacco and later cotton which drove the slave industry.

However, I feel that if slavery was not allowed, a way would have been found. Many people came over as indentured servants; and they worked off their voyage and then were allowed to seek their fortune- often working for the same families who brought them over in the first place!

However, I cannot say how history would have played out if not for the slave trade & its consequences. If you alter 1 small event in a person's life it may yield terrible consequences for the world- or great ones.

Answer 3

I can't help responding to the previous answer. It baffles me that someone could use "Love thy neighbor as thyself" to justify keeping millions of people in brutal bondage. Just amazing. I hope they never have to experience that kind of love.

It's always tricky to imagine what would have happened if things were different. Slavery was a key component of the plantation economy of the South. Growing labor-intensive crops like tobacco, indigo and cotton on a large scale would have been very difficult without it. But for another option, we only have to look north. Rather than huge plantations growing cash crops, the north had primarily small farms growing food. The difficulty of that life and the lack of material rewards is part of what drove many enterprising northerners into other occupations and spurred the beginnings of a mercantile and industrial economy. Ironically, without slavery, the south may have been driven to modernize sooner and ended up more wealthy and powerful, making them equal partners with the north, rather than the backward stepchild that inevitably lost the civil war.
But then, in that case, the war would never have happened.
Seems that without slavery, the US may have been better off over all.

Answer 4

No - slavery in the United States was never necessary and always evil. It was started by the English in the colonial period to create large plantations to create cotton for the industrialized cotton mills back in England. Obviously they could have bought cotton and tobacco from free farmers but chose not to. Slavery helped the English economy much more than the American one. Industrial expansion occurred in the USA after the Civil War when slavery was at last outlawed. The US may have advanced earlier had slavery never existed.

Answer 5

I believe that all things happen for a reason. Whatever the reason may be for slavery, it was necessary. This may not be a popular answer but I don't really care. I don't understand why people are so hung up on something that happened so long ago. Yes it was sad, but it is over now. There are still some people that make everything into a race issue, but did not the Bible say "Love you neighbor as yourself".

Answer 6

There is no such thing as "necessary evil." we wanted to rely on "necessities" to defend our evil doings, but the reality is, it was pure evil. Of course, in many other countries many years ago, captives became slaves, but what i'm saying is, we knew what we were doing, and even if it's bad, we reinterpreted it as a necessity to support our desires, which are to profit economically. we could have gotten to where we are today without it. it may take us to a different or many different routes, but if you look at other countries, they are successful without resorting to enslavement.

Answer 7

No, not nessessary.
Many countries have created econimical success with resorting to slavery.
Think of it this way:
How much more successful would US have been without slavery.

Slavery belittles the master AND the slave.