Spanish American War and Slavery Essay Example
Spanish American War and Slavery Essay Example

Spanish American War and Slavery Essay Example

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  • Pages: 6 (1491 words)
  • Published: December 13, 2021
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The westward expansion was the 13-day war fought in Mexico in 1836. This war brought about the indecency of Mexican people. The Texas who was the original inhabitants of the region won the war. The end of the war marked the beginning of slavery and slave trade. Many slaves started being transported to America from my other continents. The position of the black and therefore was to be regarded as a tool of labor in most plantations and manual labor. Different races in the countries received different treatment compared to the other. This was however speculated through the leaders or the commanders of the war. The war soldiers were being forced into the war just to work for the attainment of the victory by the master side.

Many races suffered the consequences of the war as either being slaves or losing their pro

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perty. There was much destruction on both the economic and humanity side. Those captured during war had to suffer the causalities by either being forced to work on behalf of their master races or even work as slaves on plantations. The black race was introduced during this time as a slave races and depicted as the lowest in society. These wars actually had many impacts on the race centrality and differences. These wars acted as basis for the racism in the world. The essay critically examines the centrality of races during Westward expansion after the civil wars, the Spanish American wars and the culture of Americans during these respective times.

Race centrality in the Spanish American wars

Spanish America became a more racially mixed community as compared to other societies in the region, the union of

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these many races actually had so many dynamics and this was evident in the Spanish wars (Acun?a, 25). The Americans had been freely intermarrying with the Spanish people. This showed the cultural interactions between these two races. Emphasis was placed on men but ignored the existence of females especially in matters that affect the community. In most occasions in the region and political areas, men were entrusted to take charge of these areas. There had been no differences in races before but on the onset of the Spanish American wars, the differences were so wide and noticeable.

However, in the higher Spanish officials and management, wives and families were common, but were considered among the rest of the colonial population and treated similarly. Their position was almost none-existence. The Spanish America society gave almost instant rise to mixed-race inhabitants from all other continents. This was characterized by the various intermarriages available in the country. Nonetheless, the onset of the Spanish wars and Americans, there raised a cast system to organize the races into classes based n the Indian blood. This classified was unlike the original African- American slave classifications (Dijk & Pacific, 14).

The mestizos were prevented from going into various offices and therefore held no job positions. The leading race was the Spanish descendants while the rest of the other communities had little representations and fewer rights. This is actually the current problem in the continent where after indecency; the race still holds most leadership roles. The mestizos continue to feel underrepresented yet they played a huge role in the attainment of independence of America.

Slavery

The culture of mestizo becomes the major issue that was considered the

cause of racial discrimination in America. The fall of the Indian population gave the Spanish an upper hand in search for cheap labor. The slaves were imported from the West Africa to work in sugar plantations in the Caribbean and in the mines in the South America. The intermarriage between these two different races was forbidden. The more demand for slaves from Africa explain the current high population of the black race in the country. African were viewed as lower race and disadvantaged. The Spanish American races were considered higher than the rest of the races around the countries. The position of the blacks was low and often perceived as labor oriented.

Cultural Mix in America

The interaction among different races like Africans, Europeans, Spanish American and American gave rise to the rise of a charming culture brew (Silver, Christopher & John, 28). The main religion was Catholicism but was only for the other races unlike the slave race the African slaves who continued to hold to their religion. The two cultures combined and a new culture flourished. Different races preferred staying in the separate regions preventing any interference from any race. This forced a basis for racist division in the society based on color of the skin and the perceived amount of none European blood was reduced. This created chances for discrimination of none- European blood races and were given little opportunities as compared to the other races.

Civil wars in America and their impact on races

There were many transformations in America, which had impacts on the races in the country. In the second half of the 17th century experienced many transformations in the history of slavery

and slave trade in America. The civil wars had so many changes on the demand for the slavery to work in the plantations to meet the demands of the market, which by then had high demand manufactured goods. The enslaving of people based on race was experienced in the lives of the African American especially those living in the North America. There was emergence of hereditary race slavery that was gradual for the many decades they lived in the country. As a result of the various change in the country, the act of racial slavery was becoming rampant and was propelled by the leaders of the time who formulated and implemented laws that were very discriminative and that was punitive especially to the less advantaged races and mostly to the none-European blood. It was considered unnatural because it was the outcome of the powerful competition by government to have economic stability through production of goods by use of slaves.

This created room for discrimination of the slaves. Laws were placed to control the movement of the people and their actions in the countries. The hereditary enslavement was based on color and religion. The war slaves were mistreated and considered unfit for the European environment (Thompson, Antonio & Christos, 44). They were however enslaved for life. There was a notion that those slaves who received Christ or became Christians were to be freed. This implied that those races that wanted freedom had to convert to Christianity to be liberated. This state dictated that any child born by a slave automatically become a slave. The period of civil war was a difficult time for London and her inhabitants.

This required that she had fresh demand for labor at home. Stiff penalties were imposed on the governments that grabbed young people and sold them as slaves.

Indigenous Americans captured during wars persistent to be incarcerated, the demand increased but only a few were present after the wars. African slaves then become available through the Atlantic slave that kept on expanding. There was a rash by Europe countries to transport slaves, as this was the profitable business at the time. During the Cubic war was fought between America and Cuba with support from Spanish army. The Cuba army had both blacks and white. All these races were considered equal and therefore reinforcement was geared to winning the war. These wars were sparked by humanitarian factors of the rulers of the countries.

CONCLUSION

Historical experiences like slavery and slave trade had very negative impacts on the lives of modern governments. The present situations and conditions facing many countries in the world are because of the historical experiences that took place in the past. Historical legacies like colonialism and neocolonialism act as pinpoint for many sufferings among third world countries. Slavery and slave trade affected the perception of different races in the world. This experience portrayed the black race as being backward and naïve. Its contribution in society was only to provide labor and market for production purposes. Wars in America actually shaped the history of the countries until the present. The effects of the war that encouraged interactions by all races in the world, explains the present culture of America today. Slavery and the history of slave stand out to be the explanation for the origin and development of

racism and discrimination in the world.

Work Cited

  • Acun?a, Rodolfo. Occupied America: A History of Chicanos. , 2015. Print.
  • Dijk, C . Pacific Strife: The Great Powers and Their Political and Economic Rivalries in Asia and the Western Pacific 1870-1914. , 2015. Internet resource.
  • Silver, Christopher, and John V. Moeser. The Separate City: Black Communities in the Urban South, 1940-1968. Lexington, Kentucky: The University Press of Kentucky, 2015. Print.
  • Thompson, Antonio S, and Christos G. Frentzos. The Routledge Handbook of American Military and Diplomatic History: The Colonial Period to 1877. , 2015. Print.
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