Discuss the concept of “cruelty” as it applied to the treatment of African slaves during the Middle Passage segment of the Atlantic slave trade. Is it possible to use modern moral arguments to understand European and African participation in the
Atlantic slave trade?
Please provide the best answer for the statement.
The ideal answer should:
1. Explain that historians debate how much cruelty slave ship crews inflicted on African slaves. The goal of captain and crew was to deliver as many live African slaves as possible.
2. Point out that the slave trade required extremely large amounts of investment capital in ships, supplies, and crewmen.
3. Note that some historians argue that the ordeal of slaves on a ship was similar to the challenges experienced by indentured servants.
4. Explain that the lack of fresh water, adequate food, overcrowding, and extreme weather combined to inflict suffering on all passengers at sea during the colonial period.
6. Conclude that African women were sexually exploited during the Middle Passage, and this experience sets off the ordeal as unique compared to that of indentured servitude.
7. Conclude that cruelty and suffering are historically relative in that practices acceptable in the past are now considered inhumane. Cultures distinguish between what constitutes acceptable behavior to their own people on the one hand and to strangers on the other.
You might also like to view...
As president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis did not exercise the arbitrary power wielded by Abraham Lincoln because
a. of the South's emphasis on states' rights. b. there was such strong agreement on policy in the South. c. he did not believe in strong executive action. d. Confederate General Robert E. Lee's insistence on keeping his army out of politics. e. the Confederate Constitution gave him all the power he needed.
The real beneficiaries of the early Industrial Revolution, according to your text, were
a. the factory owners. b. recent immigrants who were able to obtain jobs in industry. c. rural farmers and sharecroppers who were in demand for food supply. d. the middle classes. e. women who had greater social mobility and earning power.
In 1989, the federal government appropriated $3 billion to fund the ________ Project, to accelerate the mapping of human genes.
Fill in the blank(s) with the appropriate word(s).
Summarize the religious movements associated with the Second Great Awakening.
What will be an ideal response?