How Successful Were Slaves

farmers who had a difficulty making a living off of the crop because of the work that

• They worked 4-7 years to pay off landowner for their passage to America. Once debt was paid they received clothes, tools, livestock, crops, and possibly some land. Most did not receive any of this because they died.

Was slavery an economic engine for the Southern economy before the Civil War? Men like Senator and businessman James Henry Hammond would say yes immediately without a second thought. People like Hammond believed that slavery in these times were critical to the growth of the southern economy. They made points such as that agricultural sales were a main percentage of business in the south and with the large area of fertile land that slave ownership was a necessary evil. Along with those, the decades preceding the civil war, the north began to industrialize, which in turn created a large demand for cotton, which was heavily supported by slavery. Not only was slavery a supporting crutch for the immense cotton market, but also slave trade proved to be a highly profitable market of his own. Finally, from the perspective of a plantation owner as a business enterprise, owning slaves proved to be most effective by implementing business strategies, much like Henry James Hammond’s. Without slavery, small planters would have been unable to make a steadfast profit, leaving the cotton industry to rely on large plantation owners who would mainly invest their fortune in British luxurious imports, instead of diversifying and reinvesting in schooling or infrastructure. I personally believe that James Henry Hammond and others were correct, with exception to my ethical beliefs, that slavery was a key factor in the growth and preservation of

Were promised that if they survived the contract, they would be given food, clothes, tools, 50 acres of land and tobacco seeds

When black slavery first started in the United States, all the slaves were being imported from Africa. Slowly overtime slaves were being born in the United States instead of solely being brought from Africa. The birth rate of the slaves was not high enough to depend on the reproduction of slaves in the south though. This resulted in a combination of both American-born slaves and African-born slaves on plantations. Eventually, there was a division between the two groups of slaves in the Southern part of the United States.

Slavery was brought to America in the 1600’s taking millions of Africans from West Africa. But in 1804 the North voted to abolish slavery but the South refused making states escape the union.Slavery in the South had an effect on the economy, but also on the slaves.Frederick Douglass, who was once a slave with his family in Maryland suffered greatly, but still pushed on and finally escaped and became a national leader of the abolition in the south movement.He made a narrative about his life as a slave and stated that the purpose of the narrative is to “throw light” on the American slave system.The goal of this paper is to discuss three aspects his narrative discusses that he “throws light” on, his position against the feelings of defenders of

In Virginia, the Chesapeake Bay area during the 1600s the slave community evolved over a long period of time. Problems occurred regarding their labor that had an important influence on the switch to a society dominated by slave labor. During the 1600s labor in the Chesapeake shifted to slave society because of a shift in culture, economic issues, and frustrations of the tobacco market boom. Each of these reasons all relates back to the labor problem the colonists were facing in Virginia.

their farms going while they were away, but when they got back they were forced to paid money.

The government did not pay them until 30 years later. They brought their slaves with them on the move (Peppas 2013, 30). They bought part of the Choctaw territory because they had a hard time finding land that they wanted (Native History Association).

was missing key data to support his claims of slavery being unprofitable. Phillips completely left out the overall productivity of a slave, which was the ultimate difference in the revision of 1958. A major factor Conrad and Meyer took into consideration concerning production was the reproduction rates for females. Their researched showed that “prime hand wenches produced anywhere between 5-10 kids, and was one-half to two-thirds productive as prime field hands” (C.M. 106-107). However, an average 3 months time is lost due to pregnancy. After calculating return rates they found that women bearing 10 children would have an 8.1 percent rate of return and a women with 5 children will have a 7.1 percent rate of return. Furthermore, the rate of return per slave averaged out to 10 percent (Weiher).

Slave did plowing, hoeing, protecting the crops from pests, planting, weeding and harvesting

But, the wages for such labor were quite minimal. African laborers were also employed to construct roads and railways for communication, and even yet these jobs provided very inadequate funds for living expenses and decent survival.

and had developed skills useful to the plantation owner. They were often in working positions

When Nina, Florens, and Sorrow were not doing housework they were maintaining the farm. Unlike free blacks Nina, Florens, and Sorrow did not receive payment for their labor. This comes up later in the novel when Williard and Scully, two slaves from a neighboring farm who helped the Vaark’s constructed their second home. The gates blacksmith receives payment from Mrs. Vaark upon completion of the gate. We are then told “He [Williard] knew Vaark was getting rich from rum investments, but learning the blacksmith was being paid for his work, like the men delivering building materials, unlike the men he worked with in Virginia, roiled Willard” (Morrison 176). This here explains the difference in compensation between the free part of society and

Throughout the years, slavery has been regarded as a profitable investment that fueled economic growth in both Spain and Portugal, but the reality is that it was only profitable in the beginning as it began to depreciate towards the end of slavery. The latter part is precisely the reason slavery ended because it was no longer profitable to slave owners. The cheap labor provided by the African slaves that ensured many Europeans’ wealth eventually backfired as slavery made European slave owner’s dependent on trade rather than self-sustainable. Slavery not only led to dependency and depreciation, but also to wars and disparity amongst Latin American colonies.