Free Custom «Slavery and Republicanism» Essay Paper

Introduction

The installation of the democratic institutions in the United States of America was objected on the complete and eternal annihilation of the slavery throughout the country. Although the political courses taken by Democrats and the Republicans differed substantially, the aim of both parties was to equalize and to smooth the social tensions in the American society.  Moreover, the two political forces fervently aspired to defend the political, economic and other rights and privileges of the women, granting them the electoral and other rights.                                         

The aim of this paper is to outline the efforts taken by the Republicans to protect the installation the slavery institution and the female discrimination at the first stages of the democracy construction in the United States of America. Another section of this work examines the differences and similarities between the life of a slave and an average worker of an industrial North. Lastly, the paper discourses over the transition from slavery to the wage system and speculates whether this process indeed annihilated the slavery or merely legalized such a phenomenon and workers were nothing but minimally compensated slaves.

 

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Republicans, Women and Slavery

When the Constitution of the USA was adopted, and the Federal System of the country has been approved, two major political forces emerged on the horizon of the country. The Democrats fervently supported the idea that drastic and immediate changes should be launched. To be more exact, the mentioned above party’s members were the initiators of the slavery abolition and general social harmonization of the society, in particular, on the rights and the privileges of the women.

Their major political opponents, the Republicans, lead by the most prominent United States politicians and thinkers, in their turn, vigorously opposed the democratic trends, claiming that their radical nature can totally destroy the well-ingrained elements of the society. One of the major assumptions was that the eradication of the slavery institutions can fatally blow the economy of the newly born United States of America. Still, it is undecided by the scientist: whether this decision was lobbied by the big slave-owners or it was dictated solely by the outlook the Republicans had to the development of the US economy.

As far as the rights of the women were concerned, the position of the Republicans was steadfast and firm. They considered that the female were not mentally capable of taking decision and, therefore, shall be completely subordinated to their husbands or fathers. Moreover, the discriminative character of their proposal included the prohibition to occupy certain posts and to have the electoral rights for women. No scientific or other explanation has been provided to substantiate that policy. Seemingly, realizing the potential and the female want to take part in the political and social processes of the country, the Republicans decided to put artificial obstacles to their development and integration of the political institutions.

The Life of a Slave and a Northern Industrial Worker

Having contrasted and compared the living standards of a slave and an industrial worker employed on a factory of the industrially developed Northern Regions of the United States of America, it can be recapitulated that the installation of the wage system has simplified the life of the ordinary workers. The economic aim of both social classes was the same: the wage workers and the slaves were used for providing manual labor. However, generally the position of the wage employees was better. First and foremost, they enjoyed basic freedoms, rights and privileges. They were free to choose the place of their residence; they were not impeded by the state authorities to express their opinion freely and unboundedly.  Moreover, although it was comparatively small, they received payment for their industrial performance.  Their marital status was determined by their own discretion and the owner of the enterprise was legally prohibited to interfere to the process, making the employees free persons.

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The only similarity among the slaves and the employees were the living standards of these social classes. To be more exact, both groups dragged out a pity existence. The access to the basic sanitary facilities and healthcare system was practically unfeasible for those working population representatives, although the wage workers were nominally granted these rights under their insurance contracts.

Economically it was impossible to remove the slavery immediately. The most suitable and financially substantiated way to remove this stigma of the United States history was the transition to the wage system, which enabled to retain the workforce, while fulfilling the proclamations of the revolution. At the same time, it was made possible to fill with the workforce required the labor market of the USA and to meet the grown needs of the American civil society. Another important accomplishment of the transition was the creation of the prerequisites for the subsequent personal development of the newly formed United States citizens. 

Overall, it can be inferred that although both the Democrats and the Republicans supported the Revolution, the views on the development of the United States Economy were diametrically opposite. While the first group firmly opposed the prolongation of the slavery and further discrimination of the women, the second was the most ardent adherents of those trends, claiming that rapid changes of the social structures will definitely have a negative impact on the development of the economy. Ultimately, the history has corroborated the notion that the democrat approach was a proper one.