FREE ESSAY ON EARLY 1800S

EARLY 1800S

There were many changes taking place in the US around the year 1800. The frontier land was
constantly being pushed back by new settlements and would contribute to the history of
slavery and African Americans. Louisana was purchased in 1803 and freedom-loving young
settlers as well as successful cotton plantation masters moved west to try and exploit
the unsettled land. This conflict was complicated by the Industrial revolution and
development of the cotton gin which only promoted the use of slavery. The freedom-loving
young settlers I mentioned were only one brand of explorers to the West. The other type
of settler was the freedom-loving "exploit whoever I can along the way" type of settler
who took many slaves with them and used the West to expand cotton production.
African Americans played a large role in the exploration of the West. When Lewis and
Clark set out in 1803 to explore the Louisiana Territory, Clark took his trusted slave
York along. York distracted the Indians and provided food for Lewis and Clark through his
skilled hunting and fishing. After the expedition was over, York was given his freedom
and it is said that he returned to the West and became an Indian chief. The fur trade
allowed many blacks to take a leading role in establishing the West. Africans bridged the
gap between Indians and Europeans and became key to the success of the fur trade in these
developing states.
The exploration of the West was slowed by the political stress of this time period. The
War of 1812 offered African-Americans yet another chance to serve their country. While
blacks weren't recruited as such to fight in the war, many blacks took up arms. New York,
however, in 1814 passed an act that would raise two regiments of men of color. Each
regiment would have about 1000 blacks that would be paid equal to that of whites. General
Andrew Jackson, needing more soldiers, recruited many blacks to his company in the fall
of 1814. Many of these free blacks fought in the Battle of New Orleans. Jackson commended
these soldiers and promised that the president would be informed of their conduct and
that the nation would join in praising them.
The War of 1812 allowed the cotton kingdom to grow unrestricted with plenty of new lands
to develop. By 1840, in the Alabama-Missippi region, almost half a million blacks were
present and most were slaves. Cotton-production was prominent, of course, in the Southern
states but was becoming more present in the South Central states as well. Wealthy
citizens were practically fleeing the Northern trade states to go make a fortune in the
cotton kingdom that had developed. The West was considered a chance to make possible the
development of a great 'empire of liberty' in the New World. However, these ideas of
"freedom to all" were dependant on the successful use of slaves on the cotton fields.
Expansion by the white Southerners was not to promote Democracy but to promote slavery
and have it become so entreanched in the economy of the country that it would never be
taken away from them.
The domestic slave trade became much more profitable once the African trade was closed in
1808. Settlers in the new frontier realizing the potential for wealth were hungry for
slaves. The South, not being able to keep up with the new frontier states, was forced
into slave breeding to promote their economy. Slaves were mated strictly for the purpose
of selling them to the cotton kingdom in the West. Slave traders were considered inhumane
but forcing black women to have children at 13 and 14...or to have 5 children by the age
of twenty was considered much more respectable at the time. Inherent in this practice,
the majority of these families were broken up to fetch higher prices than if they were to
be sold as a family. To avoid the label of a slave seller, masters would hire out their
slaves indefinitely to the West through hiring agents who would regularly collect the
money and prepare the papers. Slave hirers were very highly esteemed and no stigma was
attached to being a slave-hiring agent. 
Although domestic slavery was very profitable, there was still regular, illegal African
trade taking place. American ships were bringing an estimated 15000 Africans annually to
Texas in the mid 1830's......this is of course 30 years after the law that importing
slaves was deemed illegal. By the 1850's the African slave trade was, for all practical
purposes, legal once again. African slave traders were given the opportunity to post bond
when they were caught which was rare because most looked the other way during the 1850's.
The South Central states were the only states that were opposed to the reopening of the
African trade because their domestic trade through slave breeding had become so
profitable. The flourishing cotton kingdom in the West would of course override any ideas
to end the African trade; and the African trade would continue until the Civil War.
African-Americans were the driving factor in the exploration of the West. Whether it be
York who helped Lewis and Clark in their exploration of the Louisiana Territory, free
blacks that fought for their country in 1812 or slaves who turned the wilderness of the
West into successful cotton and sugarcane plantations