In 2011, What Are Social, Political, and Economic Impacts of Slavery in the U.S.?

In 2011, what are social, political, and economic impacts of slavery in the U. S.? To review American history, â€Å"American Dream† is encouraging a lot of foreigners to immigrate to America where can let these immigrates willing to the better life which refers to the success of economy through individual efforts. However, there is a dark side, namely the slavery, in American history that should not be neglected. The impact of slavery can be recognized in three fields, namely the economic field, the political field, and the social field. Each field has been interacting with each other, there are some visible and invisible phenomenons that might be helpful to spell out what the social, political, and economic impacts of slavery in American in nowadays. From 1619 to 1869, America was the biggest western country which owns huge populations o slavers and strict system of slavery. Slavers didn’t have any rights, such as education, suffrage†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦etc. Simply put, slavers are not considered as people, they are the property of slave owners. The transition of the status of African-Americans, which has gone through too many struggles, is from slavers to African-Americans, in 1865, the United States Congress adopted The 13th Amendment Act, it explains that â€Å"neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. â€Å" It means that the slavery became a history of America. There is no denying that it is the long-term impact of slavery on economy in America, there are two economic transformations, which are triangle trade and industrialization, in American history. The structure of triangle trade is based on the business among Europe, America and Africa. At that time, the North America was the transfer spot between England and its colonies, it means that North America exported agricultural products to England, such as cotton, in the mean time, North America imported slavers. Due to the different economic systems between northern and southern states: industry and commerce were centered on the northern states, agriculture was centered on the southern states, the economic confliction was increasing and then changed to the political and social confliction. At that era, the northern states claimed that protectionism which claims America should take high customs duties to protect the development of industry and commerce, but this policy caused great damage of agricultural economy in southern states. because slavery was major foundation of economy in southern states, so the confliction between northern and southern states was unable to avoid. Another point is that America was not a federal government at that time, it was a confederation. According to the aforementioned, I do not think that northern states want southern states to be the dependency of England in some day, so the Civil War is avoidless process. Slavery is the foundation that forces America to be t he most powerful country in whole world, especially economic and social impacts. After Civil War, slavers get freedom and they enter into the labor market of industry, it improves the economic benefits and rapid industrialization, America was prospering before Great Depression. However, America has experienced some economic failures, such as Great Depression and Financial Tsunami. I think it is the long-term economic impact of slaver because American government adopted over-protected economic policy, and it is one of reasons which caused Great Depression and then American government has gone toward another extreme way, namely the over-liberalism, and it is one of reasons that caused Financial Tsunami. After the disaster of Financial Tsunami. The most important political impact of slavery is American changes to federation. The problem of confederation is that the confederation government does not have enough political, military and economic power to restrain each state, it means these states usually ignore the motions of confederation government. With the establishment of federation after 1865, America is toward the centralization, the interests of country is far higher and more important than the interests of each states. The racial discrimination is a long term problem in the American society, some white people think that they are more superior than other races, and it is called â€Å"White supremacy†. African-Americans are facing the racial discrimination since the era of slavery, such as the racial discrimination in Major League Baseball. An unwritten policy is called â€Å"gentlemen’s agreement† created a colored barrier in Major league baseball until 1947. The possibility of African-American players in Major League Baseball had been excluded. In the late of twentieth century, American government adopts â€Å"Affirmative Action† to try to improve the situation of black people through the structure of law, however, it caused the reverse discrimination. As William J. Wilson’s book, â€Å"The Truly Disadvantaged† noted , he claims that the racial discrimination and its damage were happening in the past, the education is the major factor which effects the economic success of black people because black people are in the bottom of the economic pyramid. In fact, I can not agree with this point because I think that the long-term discrimination is causing the unfair of education and social status, and these factors also influence with each other, this discrimination is invisible that has gradually permeated to the cultural, political, economic field. In nowadays, the racial discrimination still exists in the American society, as one survey from â€Å"Gallup Poll† in 2008 noted, the racial discrimination can be found in four specific problems—â€Å"lower average education levels for U. S. blacks, lower average income levels for U. S. blacks, lower average life expectancies for blacks, and a higher percentage of blacks serving time in U. S. prisons. † It was impossible that African-Americans can be the American president in two hundred years ago, but Barack Obama won the election of American president in 2008. To most people, the victory of Barack Obama is breaking the racial discrimination in the American society, but I do not think so. Because changing the law is easier than changing the opinion of people, especially the long-term concept. Works Cited 1. EH. Net. â€Å"Slavery in the United States. † EH. Net. The Economic History Association with the Support of Other Sponsoring Organizations. , 1 Feb. 2010. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. . 2. Wagley, K. â€Å"Slavery's Economic Basis and Impact on the Emerging United States. † Yahoo! Voices – Voices. yahoo. com. 30 Sept. 2009. Web. 04 Dec. 011. . 3. Wright, Gavin. Slavery and American Economic Development. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State UP, 2006. Print. 4. Wilson, William J. The Truly Disadvantaged. Chicago: University of Chicago, 1987. Print. 5. Jones, Jeffrey M. â€Å"Majority of Americans Say Racism Against Blacks Widespread. † Gallup. Com – Daily News, Polls, Public Opinion on Government, Politics, Economics, Management. Gallup, Inc. , 4 Aug. 2008. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. .