Slavery, and Its Negative (and Positive) Effects

Slavery, and its negative (and positive) effects on society, is not nearly as pervasive in today's modern world as it has been in previous centuries. One expert writes "early Christians repeatedly conceived of sin and salvation in terms of slavery and freedom" (DeWet, 2010, p. 27) and that "in fact, slavery had become so embedded in the ancient conceptual reality that it played an integral part in the cosmologies and theories of politics of even the most prominent of thinkers" (p. 27). A society such as the one described by the prominent thinkers of those days was a society that was far more advanced than most people like to imagine, and much of the overall growth of the society was a direct result of the slavery environment. A vast majority of the citizens owned slaves (while the remaining individuals were likely to be slaves).

Slaves could be bought and sold, punished or killed, with no input whatsoever. They could also, however, be set free, and many slaves earned their freedoms with various long and short-term actions that persuaded their owners to set them free. Many of these same slaves, went being set free, were oftentimes granted lands and income. D.B. Davis, in his book, The Problem of Slavery in Western Culture, states that even philosopher's such as Plato "saw the relation of slave to master as a kind of microcosm of the hierarchical pattern that pervaded society and the entire universe" (p. 84). With such a pervasive practice, its influence on society is bound to be very instrumental in accomplishing tasks that might not have been otherwise accomplished.

It seems that much of the psychological effects of slavery on those who were most affected by it (the slaves themselves) has never been totally documented, studied or examined; at least according to much of the available literature.

It's interesting to note that such lack of documentation might be correlated to the psyche of the slave owners; providing documentation of negative effects would surely have some negative effect itself on those who were benefiting the very most from the use of slaves in the first place. One recent study determined that the research shows that (at least in early American society) "mortgages on enslaved people allowed the resources so central to the expansion of local and regional economies to grow and circulate more easily; that this circulation, whether of slaves, goods, cash, or credit, was especially important on agricultural frontiers; and that there were human as well as economic consequences of this practice" (Martin, 2010, p 818). The economical consequences are quite evident, without slaves, early American colonization would have likely been a complete failure, or at the very least would have resulted in much slower growth, and the consequential societal improvements would have been lacking as well. The human consequences are much more insidious; tearing families asunder, creating heartache and despair, and becoming an impetus for a war between the states that would pit brother against brother and result in a loss of American lives that outweighs almost every other American war. It is probably better to forgo an examination of slave practices that directly affected the income levels of those who might actually benefit from holding slaves, especially from the slave owners point-of-view. Without relevance or data it would have been much easier for the owners to justify their ownership. However, the slaves knew better and constantly strove to attain personal freedom, the same personal freedom enjoyed by other citizens.

First of all, from a personal viewpoint, being a slave; being someone who was dominated by the actions of someone else, or being forced to take actions that I might not wish to take, especially under the threat of bodily harm or violence, would have a very negative effect on my psychology. Having been born and raised in a family atmosphere that greatly treasured 'free agency' to have that free agency taken away (no matter the circumstances) would be devastating to me. I could ask myself, would I have a different psychology if I had been raised as a slave like so many of the slaves in previous generations? The answer, is no, not me personally. I have such a sense of my right to choose, that I believe that such a highly developed sense is not something that I could easily be dissuaded out of. I also believe that my sense of freedom is much the same as other individuals, whether they are slaves or not. It would take a very strong argument to convince me that every single individual born on this planet was not imbued with that very same sense of freedom to choose. To be forcibly restrained from exercising that choice would weigh heavily on mankind's collective (and individual) soul.

Not only would the act of slavery restrain the slaves, I believe it also constrains the internal growth of the owners of those slaves. In more modern times we find that slaves here in America were oftentimes separated from their mothers, fathers and siblings, and were forced to manual labor under the threat of whippings and other physical hardships. One historian in a recent report quoted a former slave, Jacob Branch, who was born in 1851; Branch recalled that "I was bought and fetched here to Double Bayou when I was jes' free year' old. When dey splity up us fam'ley dey buy my mama and de two chillen. I ain' neber see my daddy no mo' and don' 'member him at all" (Traylor, 2011, p. 115).

It must have been very debilitating to be torn from your parent's arms and sold 'down the river' never to see your family again. The psychology of such an act was not only felt by the slave, but by those who enslaved.

These events could only take place in a culture that allowed such events under the guise of economic necessity. By treating the slaves as 'property', it essentially removed the stigma attached to owning such property. After all, it these people were not really people, but property, then it became much easier to justify their ownership. It also became quite a simple matter to treat the slaves with callousness and disregard as to personal feelings; after all, property did not have feelings. From the slaves point-of-view, such treatment must have been acceptable as well (for the most part) since they likely knew nothing else. Many of these individuals had been born and raised as slaves, and would not have rebelled against the system, knowing what awaited them if they did. Slaves and slave owners were both caught in a system that perpetuated cruelty and despair.

What the author discovered in writing this paper was that slavery affected slave and slave owner alike. In fact, the slave may (in the long run) have achieved a higher societal plane based on the confines of a system that kept him/her enslaved. Having to struggle against such an evil influence would lend itself to additional strength and courage bestowed upon the struggler. The act of enslaving another person would have negative consequences on both the enslaved and the enslaver. Those that fought against the institution likely realized that those negative influences would likely be the ruin of the concept of a free society. Many owners of slaves had fled the same stringent regime(s) that they now sought to impose on others.