Evolution Of Slavery Throughout Colonial America

From “The Journal of Economical History”, Vol. 41, No. 1, author David W. Galenson provides a nine-page article published in March 1981 entitled “White Servitude and the Growth of Black Slavery” which I thoroughly read and will present my own analysis.

The origins and development of slavery in Britain’s North American colonies during the colonial period can be traced down to the fact that North American colonies were created for the economic profit of Great Britain. Reasons for the development of slavery in the North American colonies can be the switch to slavery from indentured servitude due to the desire of free labor and the results of Bacon’s rebellion, the introduction of cash crops such as sugar and tobacco and the introduction of the plantation system, and the easy access of slaves due to the triangular trade and the middle passage.

In the essay "The Evolution of Slavery in Colonial America," author Jon Butler examines the growth of the slave practice in the land which would become the United States. As the European nations began exploring North America, they overtook the native populations of the areas and turned them into unpaid laborers. However, these people were not enough to supply landholders with sufficient aid. To make up the necessary numbers, plantation owners utilized indentured servants and then a number of slaves imported from Africa. Indentured servants were people who would be taken from the Old World to the New in order to start a new life. However, since they would not have the necessary funds to pay for their transportation, their journey would be funded by either a manufacturer or a plantation owner and their debt would be paid off by working for their benefactor. Slaves were not given this opportunity. These were people who were taken from their homes and families and forced into labor by threat of violence or death. This practice did not begin in the United States, but America was still allowing slavery well into the 19th century, long after other nations had come to the conclusion that slavery was inhumane and brutal.

People used religion as a way to justify the act of slavery. They believed that God determined people’s places in life, so slavery was considered a “misfortune” controlled by God and not a social evil (Shi and Tindall, 91). Africans were also seen as “heathens” which lead people to believe that they had the right to enslave the Africans (Shi and Tindall, 92) The Africans brought the skills they had in Africa with them which made them very desirable in the American economy. Also, there was the creation of the slave code allowed slave owners more control over their slaves activates and movements (The Virginia Slaves

The earliest signs of human bondage can be found in Ancient Rome where slaves were used for a large array of professions. Likewise, the slavery found in colonial North America had slaves included in every facet of the region’s economy. Colonial North America quickly grew dependent on African race-based slavery as the backbone to its economy. The first African Americans arrived to the New World near the coast of Jamestown in 1619 in the Chesapeake region (Clark-Pujara, 9/19). It was the first region to establish a society with slaves. One could say that African race-based slavery in the Chesapeake region developed because of the region’s economic dependence on tobacco production, scarcity of white indentured servants, increasing longevity for African Americans in the New World, and colonists establishing slave laws and codes.

By the 1630s, about 1.5 million pounds of tobacco was hauled out of Chesapeake Bay (and almost 40 million towards the 1700s). The Chespeake was hospitable for tobacco cultivation and it blew up the tobacco economy.

Slavery is defined as the state of a person who is a chattel of another1. When must people hear this term they think about African Americans struggle in early American history. They conjure up visions of the American Civil War and the iconic image of the great emancipator himself, President Abraham Lincoln. The truth to be told though, slavery in United States history predates those events and figures. It actually started before the United States was even founded. Slavery in the United States actually was rooted in Colonial North America. As different nations raced to settle North America they used the cheapest labor to progress their cause economically. But, the

I probably wouldn't be bold stating that most people are at least relatively familiar with the darker roots of our country's history. We have performed many an admirable feat during our tenure as the “greatest country in the world”, but it still seems difficult to forget where we started and how long a road it was to walk down. Slavery was instrumental in the foundation of the early United States, as awful as that may be to accept. It helped us become the power we are today by allowing early Americans the ability to become huge crop producers and thus, be a boon to the American economy. And while the reason for keeping slavery around may not have changed much, the treatment that slaves received varied dramatically from the 18th to the 19th

The study of slavery in the development of early America is an extremely complex, yet vitally important part of American History. There are hundreds of thousands of documents, debates, and historical studies available today. According to Ms. Goetz, the assistant professor of history at Rice University, who states, in The Southern Journal of History, that in addition to geographic and chronological diversity in the America’s, assessment of experiences of colonial slaves is extremely complex, “especially in the context of three European colonial powers, vigorous Indian groups, and free and enslaved blacks”(Goetz, 599). In studying the institution of slavery, careful investigation and analysis of the developing colonies, including their

The Europeans tried to enslave the Native Americans but found it to be very difficult as it was easy for them to escape and rejoin their tribes and in such a time, there were power in numbers. On the other hand, it was not so easy for Africans to escape and travel back to Africa, and if they did attempt to escape, the punishment in most cases was death. Slavery was profitable and the slaves were sustainable to the tobacco plantations. The African were physically able to work under harsh conditions and another key aspect is that although the African slaves were from Africa they came from different parts of Africa and were diverse in language and skills. The diversity especially in language made it hard for them to rebel. Since, they spoke different dialects it made it hard for them to communicate with each other, rebuttal, and more importantly made it hard for them to organize and to stage any form of rebellion.

Slavery and race developed early American life in the colonies, because of the desperate need of food and the motivation for profit that urge slave traders and planters continue slavery and the urge for poor whites to want superior status and the consequences for escape and rebellion of a slave.

Slavery in the United States existed from the beginning of European colonization. Colonizers for decades imported from Africa, thousands of people for slave labor for the conquerors. The situation began to change after the War of Independence of the United States, when the thirteen colonies revolted against the government of the United Kingdom. Announcement Declaration of Independence in 1776 and its recognition in the Treaty of Paris, London seven years later, gave birth to a new state. At that time, outlined a visible distinction between the northern and southern states in terms of the approach to the issue of slavery. In subsequent years, successive states of the north of the continent prohibit the import and sale of slaves. Things were different in the south of the country. Here, in contrast to the rich and modernizing the north, low high-tech economy based on the cultivation and require as many hands to work. The demand for

Slavery was a principal factor in the development of colonies and southern states in the 17th and 18th centuries. The number of slaves in early colonial settlements was low, as there was a multitude of geographical, and socioeconomic factors in play. Early colonial settlements had slaves, albeit a small number of them. The labor system within these colonies primarily consisted of indentured white servants, not to be confused with slaves, tilling the crops and doing other various other menial jobs within these colonies. However, this governing model of indentured servitude led to a lot of dissatisfaction and resentment from the indentured white servants. One could say that they were disillusioned with the fact that they were kept essentially as slave labor. Oftentimes, it would take indentured servants years and years to pay off their initial dues, and by that time they would have incurred additional expenses that would only set them back further. The ever-growing resentment and fear of some sort of upheaval led the white plantation owners to find an alternative source of labor to meet their ever-growing labor needs. Thus, the plantation owner turned to enslaved African-Americans.

The first permanent British colony was established in 1607 in Jamestown, setting off a chain of events that would lead to a great migration to the Americas. Early years in the colonies were difficult; and colonists often faced conflicts with natives, risked starvation, and had much difficulty finding stable sources of food and support. These colonies were settled in hope of wealth and monetary gain, as well as for religious freedom, and it were these desires that shaped how everyone in the colonies lived their daily lives. It influenced early colonists, convincing them to leave their native land and search for a new home, it sparked contact and conflict with Native Americans, and caused the rise and culture of slavery. Religion and wealth shaped 17th century North America and made it what it is today.

Slavery was people forced to serve a master without pay, it shaped the United States economy greatly by giving them wealth, and white culture thought they were superior and African American culture was affected notably because of slavery, and the politics of the United States had to struggle for power in congress.