Henry Clay's views of slavery Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Henry Clays count ons of break ones backholding - leaven ExampleTo put action to words, he, of his own free will, freed his slaves, many years before the Civil fight and the emancipation (NPR para 4). Clay was one of the people who President Lincoln admired a lot, and his fix for the emancipation must have emanated from this. In fact, Clay and Lincoln seem to have shared the very(prenominal) socio-political philosophy when it came to leadership. For instance, Clay is quoted as having give tongue to that he would rather be right than president. This was indication of how his view on slavery was hindering his political career. There have been conflicting arguments on how the abolition of slavery affected the economy of the United States. Some feel that the abolition was a big loss to the economy, peculiarly the southern parts of America which were too dependent on slave labour for their extensive untaught activities. Slave labour was fundamental in allowing the southern farmer s to be able to continue being large producers. In fact, although the southern parts constituted only about thirty percent of the population at the time, it was able to produce a majority of the agricultural products such as cotton which was in immense demand, and other food crops. With the abolition of the slaves, these farmers could not access the cheap and affordable labour the farmers were getting from the slaves. The economical impact of the abolition of slavery shtup also be considered in terms of the productivity of an individual. The headspring in this case would be, were slaves more productive while in slavery than they were while free? In one way, it can be argued that slaves, due to the fact that they were to work constantly, were more productive. A free someone on the other hand, can do work in one day which will unwrap him enough income to help his family for three days. In this regard, such a person may end up being idle for the rest of the days. This argument h as however been countered, especially by modern research on human motivation. For instance, Abraham Maslow, a psychologist, established that human motivation changes from time to time in a hierarchal manner depending on the various levels of human needs. These conflicting issues of slavery can be best seen in Henry Clays attitude towards slavery. Henry was a representative who influenced a lot of issues in USA politics and economics and at one time was openly opposed to slavery. Yet, in malignity of his stand on slavery, he himself owned slaves (NPR, 2010). This is an indication that although opposed slavery on moral grounds, he still could appreciate the economic importance of slavery. The other way in which the impact of emancipation can be considered is by looking at the value of a slave. Although the actual value of a slave could not have been calculated accurately, it can be estimated. A slave was bought at about $cc and was estimated to have a value of $800 to $100 when futu re value of his work is considered. It is estimated that there were four meg slaves, giving a value of $400 of the slaves who lived during the time of emancipation. This would mean that this value of the economy was destroyed retri only whenory by freeing the slaves. However, this argument is valid only in theory but falls gip in practice. Freeing a slave did not nullify his or her economic value but only shifted the value from one owner to another (from the slave master to the slave). In this regard, it cannot be said that freeing the slaves nullified their