Slaves who revolted were depicted as beasts who could not be freed
because they would endanger society. Submissive slaves were pictured
as children in need of paternal protection from the evils of a
complex, modern world. They were never seen as men whose rights and
liberties had been proclaimed in the Declaration of Independence.
Growing Racism
As Afro-American freedmen sought to claim their rights as men and
citizens, they were confronted with constant resistance from whites
who were unwilling to accept them. Actually, pressure from the mass
of Northern white workers had contributed to abolition of slavery in
those states. In the Northern states slavery was forced to compete
with free white labor in a way which was not true of the plantation
economy of the South. White workers continually complained that
slavery was keeping their wages down and unemployment up, and in 1737
the governor of New York had asked the Legislature to investigate the
charges that slave competition contributed to unemployment. While
this attack had helped to undermine slavery, it had also exacerbated
tension between black and white labor.
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