In the readings by Henretta the slave trade is talked about quite frequently. The way I see it is without slaves we wouldn't have made the progress we have today, and that’s pathetic. Just because whites were to lazy to do the work necessary for producing goods they turned to people of a different color skin and discriminated against them because of that. What if the tables had turned and the Africans took over the whites and turned them into their slaves? How different would our world and cultures be today? To me it is easy to relate slave trade to the holocaust because obvious relationship between the two is discrimination because of cultural differences. In both cases whether they were Jewish or Africans they both lost the feeling or self worth, dignity and their cultural identities all together. Why did so many people step in to stop the holocaust yet the slave trade put more than 15 million Africans under control of wealthy whites who felt they had more power over everyone?
In skemps readings the conflicts that arise between Benjamin and William never seem to diminish. After Benjamin had given William so many opportunities to do well in life by actively participating in his printing businesses he continually refused the opportunities. It was very difficult for Benjamin to understand why his son was so different then he was. William was so resentful of his father’s passions because he constantly took part in public affairs. Benjamin tried to be a good father but it was very hard for him to watch his son defend the king and empire because it was very hard for him to get recognition being a colonist. How would you deal with your child continually rejecting the opportunities you gave them?
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I can see a little resemblence between the slave trade and the Holocaust, but they are two very different events.
The slave trade was used for economic purposes. It was a business. Some people even volunteered to be slaves (indentured).
The Holocaust consisted of mass murders of innocent people. The victims were killed, and that was the only purpose.
When thinking about the Holocaust and the slave trade, during the slave trade the United States was gaining power, and the concept of nationalism was not as unified during this period for everybody was either out for wealth, land, of freedom of some type. There was no specific event to get people to take action for a slave reform, at least during this time. Pearl Harbor definitely gained the support of a more unified American people, not to mention a growing powerful nation waiting to flex its muscles to prove military supremacy to the world.
The world would have defiantly been different if things had been reversed although I think the slave trade consisting of people from Africa was a long time in the making. Like professor Webber mentioned in Lecture, allot of anti-black sentiment existed long before America made them into their slaves. I think that made it easier for people to take an idea that already existed and turn it into what became the slave trade. Although the Holocaust and the slave trade had similarities in that many people where discriminated against, I think the reasons behind the discrimination where different. I also think it was easier for people to step in and help end the Holocaust because there was only one way to see it, as a genocide. The slave trade served as an economic gain and also at that time slaves where not considered to have rights or value other than economic, so I think it was easier for people to justify it. I think the greatest similarities are that both events where truly horrific and that we are still fighting the prejudices that each event caused today.
I agree with the first comment, what Thomason said made more sense to me than the original posts ideas comparing the Holocause and the slave trade. The slave trade was a horrible event, but it was not genocide to the degree of the Holocaust. I also think the idea of the slave trade being for economic purposes is different than the "cleansing" of a race.
The slave trade had little to do with "cultural" differences (although admittedly white colonists did not consider black Africans to be equal human beings, as can be seen later when slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person in the Constitution). Colonists (for strictly economic neccesities not laziness) also tried Native Americans as slaves but they proved to be unwilling (some Native Americans actually owned African slaves). It should finally be remembered that it was Africans that captured the slaves that were then sold to Europeans, Americans, and Arabs. Finally it was whites who ended the practice, first in Europe and then with great bloodshed of their own in the United States.
I can understand why William was not very happy with his father. Benjamin made William watch over his family in the colonies, while Ben went to England. Also it would be hard being Benjamin Franklin's son, always living in his shadow and being known as Ben Franklin's son rather than William Franklin
I agree that slaves were a terrible solution to American problems, but America probably wouldn't have had hardly as strong of an economic buzz without the slave trade and everything would've been different. It wasn't just laziness that stopped American white guys from doing everything themselves, but high demand and opportunity. It was an ugly use of what they made out to be a resource. At the same time, if the American morals were different from the start, you could wonder how that would have changed how America developed. But even if it changed how it developed, without the slave trade it may not had the strength and will to be independent.
I also agree that the slave trade and the Holocaust were similar... but again, they were two different events having two different purposes. I think the slave trade was more justifiable because it was used for economic purposes and though it was a horrible event, it did help America become what it is today. The Holocaust was a horrible event that solved nothing. No one gained anything from it...it was seen as a genocide.
To address your first comment about the reading in Henretta, I would like to add to your point; “The way I see it is without slaves we wouldn't have made the progress we have today, and that’s pathetic.” Society lowered the societal value of African Americans. This is based primarily on color and geographic location, but this gave whites a reason to put them into a very low class in society. This lower class of African Americans ended up leading to slavery, which you comment as “without slaves we wouldn't have made the progress we have today.” I would disagree, only that because of slaves, we became very lazy and less hard working. If history were changed, and the use of slaves were abolished, without a doubt whites would continue working for their own trade, whether they had “employee’s” or not.
I don't think that William was necessarily rejecting Benjamin. I think he too wanted to have his own way of doing things. He saw how successful his father had gotten by working at something he loved. I think William in turn wanted that same satisfaction. He did use some of Benjamin's help, but not all of it. William wanted to make his mark in life by himself, but i think eventually realized he could get further with Benjamin's help.
I believe that the slave trade and the Holocaust were both alike and different in several ways. Both of these events were harmful to innocent people and caused many hardships. The slave trade was used more for economic purposes, while the Holocaust was used for getting rid of certain types of people. Both of these events discriminated one certain culture/type of person.
One of the largest differences and almost problems with comparing the Holocaust with the 17th and 18th century slave trade is era and purpose. During early America or the colonial time period, the purpose as mentioned several times for the slave trade was for monitary value. Nobody cared to step in to stop the slave trade right away bc it was a booming economic advance to many people who before had no hopes of progressing in wealth without an aristocratic name. It was strictly business deals buy, sell, make money. Slaves were seen no different than profit profit profit. They weren't even seen as human, more as livestock ready to be traded. The Holocaust occured almost a hundred years after any resemblence of the slave trade. The sole purpose was the annhilation of a people. Not even necessarily one specific race, but those who all lacked identity within the "perfect race." Sheer genocide of millions of people was at hand. No one viewed victims of the Holocaust as less than human, other than the offenders. Granted differences in religion, background, and heritage played a major role, however not as large as the definate color lines drawn between black and whites during the slave trade era. The two are alomst incomparable accept in contrast.
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