Slavery, Rebellion And Revolution

Slavery, Rebellion And Revolution

Slavery, Rebellion and Revolution in the Americas
There are many factors that cause revolutions, and through time these factors build up and develop into ideas, then ideologies, and eventually into actions. To reach the point of beginning a revolution one must go through struggles and oppression that builds a great level of resentment to the living conditions that one is living; eventually one will fight to victory. For instance to end slavery, the same idea stated above applied; this paper will focus on identifying what processes enslaved communities took in order to resist oppression, and how did resistance led to a revolution. Haiti was the first black state in the Americas to liberate themselves from the enslavement of the “privileged orders”. Once the liberation occurred it commenced a domino effect and was a “pivotal date in the history of the New World” (William-Myers).
Resistance is a vital component in gaining any type of liberation. Pre-World War II School of Progressivism “represented a school of thought that sought to project the benevolence of a slave system and the acquiescence- Tabula Rasa mentality of the slaves” (Myers). This school argued by Ulrich B. Phillips writer of American Negro Slavery (1918) basically stated that the slave system was kind and did good to the blank state of mind of the enslaved. This state of mind was induced not only into the white oppressors but also into the minds of the oppressed, the Africans, in order for resistance not to occur and to distract the minds of the enslaved to prevent Africans from revolting. In spite of Phillips beliefs that the slave system was kind to the African, he also felt that slavery was inefficient and wasn’t profitable for Europeans, in fact it was an extra baggage for them due to the fact that Africans were, “useless”. Phillips doesn’t consider the abuse, the maltreatment and the forceful maneuvers of the Africans utilized by the white oppressors as a factor that builds...