Introduction

The past of slavery in Texas, is of great concern and relevant to the present societies. It began in 1821, when Moses Austin got a go ahead to start an Anglo-American colony near the banks of Colorado and Brazos. Before the project commenced, some people claim, the area had few Negro occupants in towns such as Bexar but the number was insignificant. Most Negroes in Bexar were maidservants to wealthy families living in the area. When Europeans started arriving from United States, the growth of opulent low lands of Texas triggered the commencement of a new era. This paper seeks to clear the air around slavery in Texas, its role in the political, economic, social systems of the time.

 Main Argument

 The bone of contention lies in building Texas on the backbone of slavery or take the normal route and employ workers who require payment after a day’s work. In the year 1896, W.E.B Dubois argued that the national prohibition placed on importation at the beginning of 1808 was ineffective and was of no consequence since people found alternative routes even after reinforcing the ban on importation later in 1810. In the coming years, other scholars claimed that Dubois exaggerated post-1808 imports because he could not differentiate between American inhabitants and ships bringing in Africans into American regions and other systems moving them to various destination especially Cuba (Kelley,2008,406). Simply put, the ban was an attempt at regulating slavery by stopping importation of Africans to serve as slaves in Texas firms. While some scholars have no doubt that Africans found their way into American soil even after the ban, most concur that the number was minimal.

 In a breakthrough survey conducted in 1969, Phillip Curtin stated that unlawful trade was minute and could not sway demography among Black Americans populaces. In addition, David Eltis’s book on the end years of transatlantic trade, ascertained that after a tremendous increase in the number of slaves within the first decade or more and then implementing the ban on slave trade, the number of slaves declined tremendously (Kelley, 2008, 408). For instance, in 1820, the number of slaves dropped to 2300 from ten thousand. However, given the subtle nature of slave trade, no one can be certain that the number of slaves dropped after putting a ban on importation or to what extent was the ban effective as people found various ways of smuggling slaves into Texas. However, most scholars argue that the number of slaves entering the border after the ban was not significant to render the ban useless or ineffective.

The second reason was political and nurtured from Texas’s borderland area. The Mexican government tried their level best to keep Texas from becoming part of America (Kelley, 2008, 414). Mexico took some strict measures in ensuring Texas remained part and parcel of Mexican government. Mexico was against slavery despite Anglo protests, which disrupted progress and growth in Texas plantations. Therefore, the internal wrangles within Texas hindered progress.

 Factors contributing to slavery in Texas

Texas was a hub for slavery because of the large number of plantations within Brazoria County. Correspondingly, Brazoria County encouraged the importation of illegal slaves into Texas. On the other hand, African Americans went to Brazoria looking for job opportunities due to the presence of industrial centers in the area. Hence, the two factors integrated bringing African Americans into Brazoria County(Kelley, 2008, 420). Furthermore, fast increasing demand for slave made items such as cotton, encouraged expansion of agrarian farmsteads from the coast into the mainland and slaves did most of the work within those farmsteads.

Counter argument

Most of the times, scholars claim that Texas slavery only lasted for two decades, thus insignificant. Texas slavery is exceptional due to the involvement of other nations such as Mexico (Shelton, 2007, 157). Depending on the situation, Texas had people against the trade and some were for it. Early slave-owners had few slaves but the number was enough to construct a plantation. For instance, Groce had 99 slaves and that was enough to complete a plantation near the Brazos River. Hence, slave-owners used the slaves as cheap labor and ensured they got a profit from the farms slaves cultivated for them. In terms of social life, slaves satisfied the sexual desires of their masters consequently leading to another dimension of oppression through prostitution. During the 1850s, brothels sprung up meeting the needs of seamen.

In summary, At the start of 1840s, immigrants from various parts of Europe streamed into Galveston with an aim of buying farms and building their wealth. Some of the immigrants from geographical zones such as Germany were not racists  hence interacted freely with  slaves, a fact, slaves took note of. Hence, slaveholders saw immigrants as a threat to slave communities. Consequently, anyone not strict on slaves could not enter into the cities. In short, slavery negatives outweigh the positive and at the end of it all, innocent Black Americans suffered due to the inhumane treatment they faced from their masters. On the other hand, people who owned slaves tried their best to make profit out of the free labor offered.

 

 

 

 

References

Kelley, Sean. "Blackbirders and Bozales: African-born slaves on the lower Brazos River of Texas in the nineteenth century." Civil War History 54, no. 4 (2008): 406-423.

Shelton, Robert S. "Slavery in a Texas Seaport: The Peculiar Institution in Galveston." Slavery and Abolition 28, no. 2 (2007): 155-168.