“Slavery and the Making of America”. Historical context and analysis. Essay

The connection between Colonial America, Atlantic trade and slavery helped in the development of the American colonies. Without slavery, it would have unmanageable for European colonists to develop the New World (Morgan 6). It is also inconceivable that colonists and settlers could have managed to settle and develop America without slave labour. Slave labour is the essential reason American was able to produce major consumer goods that became the basis of global trade of tobacco, cotton, rice, etc. (Dodson).
Slavery and the Making of America is a documentary made by PBS that discusses the role played by slavery in developing America and making their masters rich. The documentary has several an eye-opening life stories of slave life and the harsh conditions they had to face, while helping to build America at the same time. The documentary justifies that global trade and American economy grew, on the back of hard labour and mistreatment of African American slaves in from 1619 to 1865.
Historical Context
The documentary presents an account of life of African Americans from the point the first 11 were brought to America in 1619 to 1865 when the final one was freed after the Union won the Civil War. Slavery and the makings of America tells the story of the 250 years African American oppression through the hands of their masters. At the same time, it also provides detailed information on the role African American slaves played in the development of the America were all get to see today. Slavery was the only solution as the Colonists failed to enslave the American Indians and for their colonies to grow they needed free labour.
African American slaves, not only provided their masters with the critical labour, they also had to endure a condition where any child they fathered was born a slave. It is also worth noting that, "the country that says to the world we bring ourselves into existence on the principle of human freedom is the country that is, in many ways, founded on the principle of human slavery" (PBS). Also, the person who wrote the Declaration of Independence, used to have 250 slaves of his own Thomas Jefferson contradicts his own beliefs. Overall, the setting of plantation economy was fitting for bringing black men and women from Africa through Atlantic slave trade and making them work in farms and live like animals.
Analysis
Quotes
Apart from slavery and plantation economy, several white Americans used to invest in auxiliary industries such as insurance, shipping, and the slave trade. The documentary reveals, "The major profit came from the human cargo of enslaved Africans. Slave trading had become the basis of an international economy" (PBS). This meant the White men were making money from both sides of the trade as they used for investment in ship building which brought slaves to America, insurance on ships that made them money if ships went down, and slave trade that helped planters like them to easily buy slaves to work in their farms.