Slavery and the North what you didnt learn in history class
[Music]
in the days
following the killing of george floyd at
the hands of the police
i watched a major debate unfold online
on the one hand many people saw this
killing
as a repeat of history it reminded them
of slave patrols
armed men keeping slaves from leaving
their enslavers
but many others disagreed this killing
happened
in minnesota they argued minnesota never
had slavery
american school teachers teach the civil
war as pairs of opposites
the union fought the confederates the
north fought the south
freedom versus slavery innocent versus
guilty
if you went through american k-12
education
there’s a good chance that you believe
that the union
and the north had nothing to do with
slavery or
that the north freed the slaves but
here’s the problem with that
it’s not true this simplified version of
history
lets people from the north look down on
the south
we so badly want to be the good guys
that we forget
that slavery was an economic institution
you didn’t have to own slaves to benefit
from slavery
america’s economy grew in the north and
the south
from slavery free states and slave
states
are not opposite they’re both part of
one
larger system until we face the truth
about this history we won’t be able to
solve today’s problems
that come from this history several
years
i have studied how money from slave
states
came to free states first i looked at
deeds
for land that enslavers bought in the
north
then i studied businesses in the north
that needed money from slavery for
survival
slavery fueled america’s economy until
1865
even in the free north and slavers made
money two ways
one way was by selling the things that
their slaves made
or grew for them the other way was by
selling the slaves
most slaves grew their crops in the
south which had better climate
and soil for farming but the money
didn’t stay in the slave states
and slavers spent money across the
country and the fact that
enslavers spent the money means that
people in the free north
took the money and then the north spent
that money from slavery
to expand their cities and towns cities
like saint cloud
and saint paul are by the mississippi
river this made it easy for people from
the south
to just sail up and spend their money
without that money
those cities would not have grown as
they did
in the early 1800s americans crossed the
mississippi river
and settled in the west native americans
were already on that land first
but our country stole their land from
them and fought them for it
and then our country sold that land to
people who wanted to buy it
and some of the buyers were in slavers
the moment that they bought that land
their money from slavery
became part of the economy there
some people who settled in the west saw
how much money
that enslavers were spending on land
they started selling land too
many of these people were sons of
enslavers but they did not want to own
slaves
like their parents did but they asked
wealthy enslavers that they knew back in
the south
to buy land from them these new
northerners
wrote ads in southern newspapers and
those ads
appeared right alongside ads for sales
of slaves
some enslavers bought land in the west
but they live full time in the south
the business from choteau and company
was run by
enslavers from the slave state of
missouri
at first this company owned american fur
company
which sold furs from the northwest
the company later shifted to selling
land in that area
this means that the people who work for
american fur company
and choteau and company lived in the
free west not the south
but their salaries were directly funded
by slavery
without slavery they would not have had
jobs
even though they did not own slaves and
they lived hundreds of miles away
another way that free states benefited
from the slave economy was through
tourism
southerners traveled north every summer
to escape the heat and for months each
year they spent money on
room and board food and other items
in the free north the richest
southern visitors were in slavers and
some free cities and towns
allowed them to bring one or so one or
two slaves with them for visits
after all when the summer ended the
slaves would be going back
it was a loophole of sorts northerners
looked the other way
willfully ignoring the horror of slavery
to benefit from tourism
and after all the free states would not
have slavery year round
so it was no big deal for them
when minnesota territory became a free
state in 1858
its residents did not force its tourists
to free the slaves
they brought with them again the slaves
would only be around for a few weeks
and the state badly needed enslavers
money
in fact minnesota later tried to change
into a slave state some of the lawmakers
who voted for slavery
had sold land to enslavers they wanted
to keep having southern buyers
this is what i mean when i say that
history is more complicated than what we
teach in high school
free states and slave states are not
opposites
they both benefited from slavery it’s
not enough
for people in free states to say
we never whipped anybody we never bought
or sold anybody
we just took money from people who did
it matters that people in the free north
took the money because
that money made the north what it is
today
that money came from sales that
separated family members away from each
other
that money came from whippings and other
violence that kept slaves working
we are all part of this same awful
history
in recent years some communities that
have roots in slavery have begun talking
about those roots
colleges and former slave states have
websites
about those roots so could colleges and
free states
museums across the south have exhibits
about their community’s roots
so could museums in the north you have
to be willing to admit to a horror
admitting to a horror means that you’re
saying that
you are not separate from what america
did
you are not separate from what america
is
instead admitting to the horror makes
you american
for some people putting slavery at
america’s core
is unpatriotic to them saying that
america did a bad thing
is saying that america is bad this is
not true
saying that america did a bad thing is
key to helping america heal
slavery made the south sick and it made
the north sick
too the sickness shows through
inequality
and police brutality knowing how america
got sick
is how we help america get better
today all of america’s legal slaves are
dead
but the places they built are still here
the country they built is still here
their work is as american as the fourth
of july
they matter as much to this country as
the founding fathers do
so learn about how slaves
shaped free states learn about how they
lived
and suffered when you learn about them
you honor them and when you honor them
you honor america thank you
you