The Rapid Growth Of The American Colonies During The 19th Century

The demand of tobacco cultivation in the Chesapeake resulted in an increase of the slave trade. Unlike indentured servants, Africans was not protected by English law, and was accustomed to intensive labor as well as resistant to many diseases. And because the Native Americans were more familiar with the land which in turn made running away easier, it was hard to keep Indians as slaves. Authorities wanted to improve the status of white servants thus taking away the perception that Virginia was a death trap. In the 1660s, Virginia and Maryland laws referred explicitly to slavery. As Tobacco cultivation continued to increase so did the condition of black and white servants divided. The laws became more stricter and freedom for blacks became nonexistent,

Other Europeans, Native Americans and West Africans were the groups thought to be most suitable for the economic demand of labor. Many of the early views of West Africans were received through the bible until written accounts of encounters with these people were made. These written accounts of the encounters of West Africans led to the idea West Africans could be brought over and sold in the Americas to work in chattel slavery. This in turn made them the ultimate choice for the labor force of the English. However the famous sale of twenty Africans to the colonists at Jamestown in 1619 by Dutch slave traders did not equate to the introduction of chattel slavery just yet. Many early African slaves were treated similarly to indentured servants brought in from England. They could work the land for a set number of years then after their term was up be freed and given a piece of land. Indentured servitude was not hereditary but their contract could be sold, bartered, given away or gambled away. These contracts gave away the servant’s labor but it did not give away the servant’s person. Despite this African presence, slavery was slow to arrive in Virginia because the mortality rate for indentured servants was so high during the first decades of the Virginia colony. Indentured servitude remained the primary source of labor in Virginia through the 1680s, until economic considerations made slaves the cheaper alternative.

A plantation economy, an economy founded on an agricultural mass production like tobacco, sustained the source of income of the Chesapeake regions, consisting Virginia, Maryland, and northern North Carolina. The early settlers soon realized the urgent need for labor in the New World. Due to the fact that many potential immigrants could not afford an expensive trip across the Atlantic, the Virginia Company developed the system of indentured servitude to attract common laborers. Since tobacco required intensive hand labor all year round, indentured servants have become vital to the colonial economy. "Virginia Servant and Slave Laws" represent the elaborate efforts of masters' to profit from indentured servants and slaves against runaway and

It was the constant trade to get slaves which made the colonists depend on slave labor. Slave labor was so profitable, most slave owners treated their slaves as property. Beatings, starvation, and overworking were common practices on the plantations. The slave owners didn’t care because they were making money from the

This (the rebellion of the indentured servants) among the fact that more labor was needed than in the New England colonies added to the African Slave population.

In the 1600's, tobacco became the main source of income for most of the colonists. The economic prosperity of the colonies was primarily dependent on the amount of tobacco produced. The growing of tobacco needed large amount of land, with a large stable work force. The increased demand for a large, stable work force combined with the availability and low price of African slaves, led to the use of slavery in the colonies. To the planter, slavery was the ideal form of labor that would be most beneficial to productivity of his crop.#

Luckily, for those in power, there was a precedent for unpaid labor in the form of indentured servitude. The workforce made up of those working off their travel, food, and room and board had already proved useful and cost-effective in this new market. As fully owned slaves began to arrive there grew a need to fully define the differences under the law. Virginia enacted the earliest of such laws which began to define the status of those of African descent within the colonies. According to one of the laws: ”…any negroe, molatto,

Tobacco was a main crop in colonial America that helped stabilize the economy (Cotton 1). Despite the fact that tobacco took the place of the other crops in Virginia, as well as replacing the hunt for gold with tobacco cultivation. It proved to be a major cash crop, especially in Virginia and Maryland (Weeks 3). Tobacco left many people financially troubled because other occupations were disregarded or not as profitable as tobacco farmers (Randel 128). The unemployment that tobacco brought about made many colonists poor and homeless (128). After the tobacco boom started, many men signed themselves to indentured servitude hoping to be freed and given land along with other promised goods (Tunis 79). Three hundred and fifty thousand

Slavery played a huge role in the colonies in developing the economy. Colonies depended on slaves for the economy as well as for the society and even their own personal needs. Southern colonies economic development was based on agriculture and the manufacturing of profitable goods such as tobacco, cotton, and sugarcane. In American colonies, the people who were successful often made their profits from the hard work of numerous enslaved Africans. Tobacco plantations used the largest percentage of African slaves imported into the United States. When the cotton gin was invented, it gave a rise to slavery

They had poor soil which would not allow them to grow crops, so as a result, they needed fewer slaves working on plantations. Their location would determine the success of the colonies. They were located on the coast, so they depended on fishing, whaling, and the production of ships. In the Chesapeake, they had an abundance of farmland, and tobacco was the main cash crop grown. Because their economy relied on agriculture, they would need more slaves to sustain wealth and keep up with the labor-intensive farming. Mostly young, white men came over and became indentured servants which led to a higher male population. After Bacon’s Rebellion, the labor switched from the indentures servants to African

Another change in the colonies occurred because of the need for more laborers. Amongst the British

Despite being held at the bottom of the social pyramid for throughout colonial times, the labor of the colonies would prove to be far from useless. While vast, open land was turned into numerous plantations in the colonies by rich planters, the plantations could not purely be run by their owners, creating a great need for labor. This lack of labor would eventually be solved through the use of African slaves, but after the first shipment of slaves to Jamestown in 1619, few were purchased due to high prices for an extended amount of time. The planters, however, would be able to fulfill their need for labor through English indentured servants. Through the use of indentured servants, basically free labor was provided to land owners, while

From 1607 to 1754, people’s views on governing themselves changed greatly. It began in 1607, with the settlement of Jamestown. They were a corporate colony, working for the Virginia Company, they were whole-heartedly British. The Great Awakening, the Enlightenment, and the Tradition of Neglect all introduced new ways for the American colonies to think of themselves as more independent. Although they still considered themselves part of the British Empire, by the end of this era they had discovered that they could make their own laws and constitutions that fit the way that their world worked as opposed to Great Britain.

Chattel slavery was a result of needing more labor force to grow the second highest crop wanted back in England, sugarcane. By the end of the seventeenth century demand of crops had reached the point to where Virginia and Maryland had converted

Tobacco emerged as a profitable commodity throughout the 13 colonies between the 1670s and the 1750s. A decrease in the indentured servant migration and the decline of the Native American population led colonial planters to search for a new source of labor, African slaves, to harvest tobacco leaves. The incoming slaves endured horrible treatment, including strenuous labor, cruel chastisement, and sub-human judicial processing. Subsequently, the inundation of slaves created normalized, widespread apathy toward the mistreatment of slaves and a disproportionate justice system.