Free Blacks Compared To Slaves Essay Research

Paper

The next few paragraphs will compare blacks in the north to blacks in the south in the 1800?s. In either location blacks were thought of as incompetent and inferior. The next few paragraphs will explain each group?s lifestyle and manner of living.

Up north all blacks were free. The population of blacks in the north was about 1% in 1860 after the American Revolution. The blacks up north had minimal rights. The blacks could not vote, because of stipulations or they were just told that they could not vote by laws of their area. The New York Convention created one stipulation that was created to exclude blacks from voting in 1821; the law stated that blacks could not vote if they did not own property. Most blacks were having a tough time getting jobs in the south. So if a black person could not generate income how were they supposed to buy a home?

In the north the blacks only had menial jobs. Menial jobs were basically jobs that you needed no skill and received small pay. Jobs of skill were kept away from blacks. If blacks tried to get the skill jobs they were either turned away or beat up by workers. About 95% of blacks in the 1800?s were working menial jobs. The jobs that the blacks acquired were the jobs that whites would not take. Whites just thought of blacks as dumb and incapable people, they were only capable for menial jobs.

Blacks in the north were separated from their white counterparts in everyway. Legislators were always creating laws to keep the races divided. Many states tried to impose laws that would segregate schools. The whites did not want black kids going to the same school because if blacks and whites mingled there could be inter marriage. Even the trains were segregated. Negroes had to sit on a certain part of the streetcars and whites on another. Blacks were not allowed to go to certain cities because people thought that they brought down the property value. Imagine people thought just the presence of blacks could bring down property value down.

Blacks in the south were not free. Southern blacks were forced to work all day for no pay. As soon as the sunrise the slaves had to work until sunset. Blacks in the south had no choice to take a day off or not. If the weather was good the slaves were usually out working. Southern blacks were also deemed as property. A slave could not leave the farm without permission. If someone ever helped a slave escape they could be charged with theft or even worst.

Blacks in the south had no right to vote. Even though blacks represent about 40% of the population in the south they did not have the right to vote. Southern blacks were kept ignorant. Blacks were not allowed to learn to read. It was against the law to teach a slave how to read. Many whites believed that if a slave learned how to read he would be capable to learn how to escape.

Some slaves were even loaned out. For example some slaves would buy their rights from their masters and then work for other people for wages. Some slaves were even granted permission to live on their own and pay their own board. These types of slaves had basically the same rights as northern slaves. These types of slaves went as they pleased but still had no freedom or rights.

Blacks in no part of the country during the 1800?s were free. If you lived up north you had few rights and many roadblocks on your way to being equal to whites. Granted blacks up north had more rights than those of the south but they still did not have much. The only difference between free slaves is basically the location in which they live in.