Origins Of Slavery

In the reading of the “Origin of Negro Slavery” by Eric Williams he argues that there were multiple factors behind Negro slavery. The power of the Roman Catholic Church, in conspiracy with the powerful European Kingdoms of Spain, Portugal, and eventually Britain and France, allowed the practice of slavery. Since African Negroes were not of Christian faith, they were seen as infidels by the Catholic Church along with Muslims and Pagans. Williams professes that economic capitalization and the religious precept helped in sustaining slavery.

Today, slavery is not something you see in modern day society. For the most part, people are treated fairly while working, are given benefits such as holidays and the option to take a sick day when feeling ill, and are paid a good wage for their services as an employee. But unfortunately this was not the case back in the 1800s where slavery was popular among the southern parts of the United States.

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

Slavery has been a big part of American history ever since the first slave trade back in 1526, when many Africans set sale to the ‘New World’ from Europe.The reason why Americans looked to purchase slaves is also stated by some historians, “...the Americas looked to Africa as the preferred source of labor because slaves could be procured so cheaply here” (Inikori and Engerman, 30.) After realizing their benefits, they began to ship in more and more slaves from Africa. This was known as the Transatlantic slave trade and it lasted all the way from 1526 to 1867. During this time about a total of 12.5 million slaves had been shipped from Africa in all parts of the

The institution of slavery is a black mark on the history of America. The atrocities that were allowed to occur for hundreds of year are revolting to think about. History books and classes often detail the horrors of slavery, and the effects it had on our agricultural economy. However, they do not really explain why the practice of slavery was allowed to flourish in the colonies. They just present the facts of its occurrence. They do not consider the mindset of the people who thought it was justifiable to enslave a specific race. This paper seeks to answer this question using evidence from the studies of Degler, the Handlins, and Morgan. Slavery was not brought into

Slavery in the U.S. began when African Americans were brought to America, specifically to the colony of Jamestown, Virginia back in 1619. At the time, the United states had a separation between Whites, and African Americans, or in other terms, blacks. Slaves took up about two thirds of the state's population. Slavery was more popular in the South than in the North just like blacks were used for slaves way more than whites were . Slaves usually worked in fields either growing tobacco, rice, or indigo plantations. In the early 18th century, the main crop grown in the South that was processed by blacks, was cotton.

Somewhere between 10 and 12 million African slaves were forcibly moved from Africa to the Americas. Europeans would ship Africans to the Americas to make a profit and about 15% of them would die on the way to the Americas. The others who did survive would become “property” and bought and sold like animals. They would be sold to plantations to do work so that Europeans could make money and most of them knowing that they would never see their family together ever again. The leading cause of slavery from 1451-1870 was that Europe profited from the exploitation of the Africans which were used as slaves in the Americas in order to produce cheap materials for Europe.

Personally, a great number of historians seemed to agree that economic issues caused the prevalence and rise of slavery. Even though many Europeans may have already had preconceived notions about Africans being inferior, it seemed that equality among workers in the Americas was there, regardless of skin color. This was brought to light by Peter Wood’s Black Majority (1974) saying that in the early days of colonization, blacks and whites were fairly equal, however once crop need and cultivation expanded, the need for workers grew increasingly heavy. The only way to fill these worker slots it seemed was to purchase labor in the form of slaves. Moreover, whites seemed to justify this racism by the need for labor workers in the form of slaves.

Slavery has always remained at the forefront of early American history. Although it has proven to be rather unjust, it has had a profound impact on how we view the world today. As American colonies were becoming more established in America, English settlers begun to produce cash crops and other agricultural goods. However, as more and more of these agricultural goods were being produce, laborers also grew more in demand. In the beginning, many of the colonies established plantations. With these plantations, many owners would need a large abundance of laborers and workers. Although indentured servitude was prominent, it was not simply cutting it. As a result, many British colonists traveled to Africa and Haiti, as a means of collecting slaves. Held against their own will, many of these slaves were loaded on to large and crowded ships. Many of which, contained famine, and made many passengers susceptible to starvation.

The following paper will discuss the American slave trade, the anti-slavery abolition, the plantation, and the underground railroad. Slavery in the United States began when Dutch traders brought in the first African slaves to Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, to help out with the production of crops like tobacco and cotton. Later on the Spanish, Portuguese, French, and British ships started to bring slaves too.

While African slave trading was not uncommon in Africa, when Americas was established the Europeans knew they needed cheap labor to work there plantations and mines. Europeans was always interested in trades in the African nations, so in the fifteenth and sixteenth century the Europeans traders started to get involved in the slave trade. Portugal was the first European country to start the transatlantic slave trade. People were kidnapped and enslaved an taken from West Africa and taken to Europe and America to be trade or sold for raw materials and goods.Slaves were packed on a ship on a long journey to America,an there journey was not an easy one. While upon the ship the slaves lived in dreadful conditions some slaves became sick and

The U.S. slavery has immensely shaped not only the human history, but also the world of literature. I believe both the historians and writers use similar sources when it comes to crafting their works and text. The sources that shaped the ways writers and historians create their works about slavery are journals, diaries, pictures, videos, runaway slave advertisements, old newspapers, and slave traders' log books. Although there are many sources that show slave experiences, not all the sources are reliable. According to the podcast, in 50s and 60s, historians believe slaves' “testimonies” (Slate Plus Podcasts) do not pass the "legitimate source of information, that it met the verification test, [and] the authenticity test" (Slate Plus Podcasts).

The birth of slavery started in the one and only Africa. As the creators of civilization, and the builders of the world’s first cities, Africans logically were the first to have a need for slaves, as a source of free labor. This idea began to spread like a virus to other parts of the world. It finally made its way to the Americas. Dutch traders were the first to bring African slaves to the Americas, only to help aid the production of lucrative crops like tobacco. The treatment of slaves was disgusting and atrocious.

The Atlantic slave trade was in a time prod of expansion to the new world by the English and spanish. When the English got to the new world they needed a labor force to do there work on plantations. The native americans would not work for a long term labor force because they knew the land. The african slaves would be a good labor force but expensive to get a good slave would cost anywhere from 100$ to 300$ to buy. The English people were smart they would keep the slaves alive for at least two years to get there money back plus some and then when the slave died the slave owner could buy a new one. Slaver ships would go to africa and get villages of slaves to bring to the new world for labor work.

One important thing that I learned and found interesting out of chapter is the origins of African slavery and the expansion internationally during the time of American colonization. I have read and learned this first time about origins of the trade, even though it has played such a huge part in American history. I was shocked that Africans also had slavery, but it was different. Slavery was not permanent or a hereditary condition, and slaves were even absorbed into the societies that held them. I thought it was interesting slavery was when practice even before European involvement between different African societies. The Europeans would work their slaves to death and once captured and in slavery. The slave had no hope of ever escaping. It was