LIFE IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA 1807 1861
SLAVERY IN AMERICA COTTON SLAVE TRADE AND THE SOUTHERN RESPONSE
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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it was a form of resistance
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it spared their friends’ feelings
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it helped them learn English
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it allowed them to buy freedom
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Detailed explanation-1: -Many resisted slavery in a variety of ways, differing in intensity and methodology. Among the less obvious methods of resistance were actions such as feigning illness, working slowly, producing shoddy work, and misplacing or damaging tools and equipment.
Detailed explanation-2: -As one scholar has put it, “slaves ‘naturally’ resisted their enslavement because slavery was fundamentally unnatural.”1 Forms varied, but the common denominator in all acts of resistance was an attempt to claim some measure of freedom against an institution that defined people fundamentally as property.
Detailed explanation-3: -"Day-to-day resistance” was the most common form of opposition to slavery. Breaking tools, feigning illness, staging slowdowns, and committing acts of arson and sabotage–all were forms of resistance and expression of slaves’ alienation from their masters.
Detailed explanation-4: -Because they were living under the domination of their masters, slaves knew that direct, outright, overt resistance-such as talking back, hitting their master or running away-could result in being whipped, sold away from their families and friends, or even killed.