19th Century American Slavery

19th-century American slavery was a system where millions of Africans and their descendants were forcibly taken from Africa and held as property in the Southern United States. They had no personal freedom, were treated as commodities, and worked primarily on plantations growing tobacco, cotton, and other crops. Despite some legal debates and abolitions in the North, slavery heavily influenced the economy and society of the South. It was marked by brutal conditions, lack of rights, and significant resistance, culminating in the Civil War and the eventual end of slavery with the 13th Amendment in 1865.