Colin Dayan’s claims on the master’s savagery and absoluteness towards their slaves during the Atlantic Systems are so correct, and unfortunately, were true. So many slaves were lost to due to capital greed, rather than the slaves having a potential in their own lives. In the Narrative of the of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1845) by Frederick Douglass and the Dred Scott decision in 1857 provide examples through primary sources of slaves that have experienced torture, murder, cruelty, and ignorance.
Even as early as a baby, mothers like Douglass’s were separated and worked through different farms to destroy the mother and child’s emotional connection as they grew older. Douglass was so used to ignorance as far not knowing his own age. Masters were afraid if slaves were educated, they wouldn’t keep them in control. Slaveowners offered as little information as possible to their slaves to insure no risk or defiance. Douglass experienced his aunt beaten nearly to death multiple times as a young child by his master that severely effected his mental stability, always seeing that as the norm for slaves. Slaves like Douglass were so used to how they were treated that they thought that was the way of life. It was the norm to see your friends and family being whipped out of anger or mere pleasure by a white man. The Dred Scott decision was caused by a dispute between a slave and his master on crossing an anti-slavery state and being considered free by his owner. The court ruled saying that the master has the right to free their slaves, not the states that are declared anti-slavery states. Also, the Constitution doesn’t recognize blacks and slaves as citizens and weren’t granted citizenship of the U.S.
Although the social norm in the 1800s among whites were to own slaves, it is still seen as monstrous and inhumane to do so. A man holding another’s man’s basic right is the ultimate example of dehumanization. Beatings and holding back knowledge is ridiculous and robs the master’s sense of being a human. Believing that one race is superior or dominant over the other was seen as prosperous in some states, but many masters just saw it as a means of survival, obviously for themselves of course.
