Rough Draft 1 - Peer Review (2)

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History

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Dec 6, 2023

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Philip Mizhiritskiy Professor Hayes 09/26/2023 Rough Draft In the 17th century, English explorers landed on the shores of an unknown land they called the 'New World'. Inspired by hopes of a better life and new opportunities, European settlers migrated into territories that held both a promise and a fresh start. These diverse lands were already home to various Native American communities, each with its unique traditions and stories. Initially, new settlers struggled to obtain the necessities and resources needed for survival which led to indigenous people offering them assistance during these difficult times. Unfortunately, as more settlers entered the new lands, eager to establish themselves, began to recognize the value of the land and its resources. Becoming aware of the untapped potential of the ‘New World’, caused the relationship between settlers and the Native Americans to begin to crumble. The social structure and different perceptions of the world led the two cultures to collide and cause conflict. As time progressed, the “New World” dynamic began quickly turning as settlers began to expand into new lands. The complexity surrounding race, labor, and the desire for profit was significant during the initial settlement in the New World. These elements interact and influence one another which in turn was crucial for establishing a foundation for societal norms, economic structures, and culture that would leave a critical mark on the colonies for generations to come. With Europeans expanding their settlement in the colonies, the ideology of racial hierarchy began to separate the people of the ‘New World’. It began with “Columbus onward, they hoped that labor would be provided by native peoples who could be forced to work for their new masters. Europeans were seeking souls to convert, planters seeking crops to export, or officials seeking taxes to collect, forced labor helped to give them what they wanted” ( ( Clark, Hewitt, Brown, Jaffee, 24). Settlers were quickly convinced that the Native Americans who were

Philip Mizhiritskiy Professor Hayes 09/26/2023 Rough Draft already living on the land and providing assistance to them did not understand the value of the land they were living on and the untapped resource potential. As a result, settlers' desire for land and resources often led to conflicts and forced relocations of Native American communities. They began stripping native Americans of their identity, pulling the culture and tribal roots out of them. This movement pushed people to believe in the idea of Columbus who stated “The native people should be good and intelligent servants (Clark, Hewitt, Brown, Jaffee 8) and quickly began to realize the opportunities that would be available to the settlers if they were able to establish a stronger labor force. With the success of creating a racial hierarchy system, settlers were able to separate the Natives and Africans from others and began to believe Colombus’s standpoint looking for a chance of economic success. As soon as the spread of settlers expanded, the racial hierarchy system began to come into swift effect and indicate a new lifestyle for the native people who did not share the same socio-economic structures. Referring to this transition was an underlying racial prejudice. Africans were not merely perceived as a source of inexpensive labor they were regarded through the lens of racial inferiority. Such perception was justification for their mistreatment on economic grounds. The intentional denial of basic human rights to enslaved Africans, including depriving them of surnames, was no accident instead their mistreatment was more acceptable (Hayes, The Evolution of Slavery, September 14). When the Europeans came to the conclusion that their views were becoming the foundation of society, they pushed for the chance at free labor in order to build personal success. At the time, they realized that plantation work was up and on the rise so they turned to free labor as the option. The establishment of race classes justified the enslavement of Africans and set the stage for centuries of racial tension and discrimination. The colonies were becoming established with racial hierarchy and it in turn began the use of African slave labor.

Philip Mizhiritskiy Professor Hayes 09/26/2023 Rough Draft As the basis of racial hierarchy was established labor became intertwined with the different classes and justifications for slave labor. Race defined the labor workforce and the social status of the people of the colonies. In the providence of South Carolina, African slaves “ issue and offspring, born or to be born, shall be, and they are hereby declared to be, and remain forever hereafter absolute slaves, and shall follow the condition of the mother, and shall be deemed, held, taken, reputed and adjudged in law, to be chattels personal, in the hands of their owners and possessors, and their executors, administrators, and assigns, to all intents, constructions, and purposes whatsoever (South Carolina Slave Code McCord, David p.397). The settlers could rationalize the cruelties of lifelong slavery and the denial of basic rights by degrading Africans and reducing them to a status beneath their white new settlers. Managing the narrative was a key component of this racialized labor system in addition to managing the bodies. Africans were viewed as inferior, which made it simpler to take advantage of them for financial benefit. The chase for riches had its own set of challenges, especially when it came to issues of race and work. The hunger for more profit became the main push that set the tone for how people saw race and labor during that time. The harsh working conditions endured by enslaved Africans went beyond labor productivity, they showed the limits that the settlers would push between profit-seeking motives and racial biases. As a “plantation economy then developed, and the lure of profits helped to overcome the moral objections to slavery ((Clark, Hewitt, Brown, Jaffee, 87) settlers were looking to justify the harsh route it took in order for them to gain economic success. The ultimate objective was clear: maximize profits by exerting control over a racially designated 'inferior' group. The diversity in slaveholding practices, from vast plantations to smaller farms, displays the extent to which the settlers would go for free labor no matter how rationalized the benefit was.

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