White Slavery in Colonial America

In the 1700’s and 1800’s, the planter elite class of the American South conspired with both federal and state governments and other whites to institutionalize slavery in order to protect their economic and social power and way of life. Their efforts were generally wide spread, simple, blatant and generally very effective.

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.

During the 19th century slavery was a very prominent and controversial issue between the north and the southern states. In the South, most people believed that slavery was a profitable way of life and if the slavery was to be abolished it would then affect their economy. On the hand the northern had different opinions about slavery and intended to stop it. The fact that the perception were different between the two led to a very difficult situation in resolving the issue.

In 1619, Virginia was an isolated British settlement on the Chesapeake Bay. It was sparsely populated by men trying to make the colony profitable for England. But the colonists were devastated by hunger, disease, and raids by Native Americans. So when the White Lion, a badly damaged Dutch slave ship arrived, carrying 20 kidnapped black Africans, the colonists bartered food and services for the human cargo. The Africans started working for the colonists. They would work 7 years of hard labor in exchange for land and freedom. But when colonies started to prosper, the colonists were reluctant to lose their labor. Since the Africans did not have citizenship, they were not subject to English common law. They were workers with no rights.

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

Throughout American history slave has resist their master, the system and the idea of slavery. These resistance has became of a key stone in the history of slavery. To understand what these resistance is, we will look at incident of the past to analyze how slave in the past resisted their master, the system and the idea of slavery.

In this assignment I will be taking a further look into the history of slavery. When thinking of slavery the immediate thought that comes to mind is all the negative aspects of the system. Prior to this research, I was unaware of slave systems that were not based on the long labor hours and the torture of slaves. Granted, there were still forms of slavery that practiced these brutal rituals, where slaves were treated as animals and were malnourished. One prime example of this, is the book titled “Am I Not A Woman And A Sister”, looks at the history of a Bermudan slave named Mary Prince. Another example of slavery that will be incorporated in this paper will come from a source about a woman slave named Semsigul, born in Caucasus an area that

Slavery was a very divided issue in early American history. It was the backbone of the southern economy and lifestyle, but also a immoral way to treat people that was contradictory to ideals which America liberated itself upon. Slavery continued to expand because of new economic growth, but many slaves were also freed from their bondage during this time because of religion and the new ideologies that America gained in becoming a country. Most slaves responded to these hardships hardship through active and passive resistance, whereas free African Americans became more outspoken and formed communities in response.

In a time where research was not a primary source of knowledge, most physicians and slave owners were forced to create their own their own practices based on observations. Throughout the Antebellum South, many slaveowners learned of the immunities and adaptations to the environment that their slaves possessed. However, due to the poor living conditions in the slave homes, many families were susceptible to parasites and other diseases. Often, these diseases were treated by other slaves in their family, but in other cases their owners called a white doctor to care for them (Black Health on the Plantation: Owners, the Enslaved, and Physicians). Before a doctor was called, the slaves would often use herbal remedies or religious prayers

Slavery became an established activity in America by 1600’s. The slaves were mostly to provide free and cheap labor. Apart from America, slavery was practiced in other parts of the world throughout history, and in fact it can be traced back to the time of the ancient civilization. With industrial revolution especially with the rise of sugar plantations, the slaves were used to grow sugar in the periods from 1100. This intensified between 1400 and 1500 when Portugal and Spain ventured into sugar growing in the eastern Atlantic regions. The growth of the plantations required labor, hence African slaves were bought from Africa, to provide labor.

While slavery was a horrific thing that led to the mistreatment of millions of black people, it had the power to last for centuries. When looking closely at historical accounts it becomes easier to see why this horrible practice was able to sustain for so long. One of the reasons was because the economy of Colonial America relied heavily on the labor of slaves. Farming, the slave trade itself, and the harsh treatment of slaves were all driven by the greed of slave owners. Another reason that slavery lasted so long was racism. During this time, the black population was considered inferior to the white population. This helped to promote the cruel behaviors that occurred in slavery. Lastly, many whites actually felt that the slaves were treated

Slavery has been around for thousands of years, but suddenly in the eighteen hundreds people started to oppose it. The New York Tribune wrote “Time Machine 1846,”and the Washington Post published “West African Country struggles to come to terms with its slavery past”; two articles that investigate the topic of slavery in the nineteenth century. In west Africa there is a small country along the coast called Benin. The whole country is in controversy over the country’s history and whether or not they should support their slavery past. In 1846, a man by the name of Northrup witnessed a slave auction and the cruelty of buying slaves. These two articles have similarities but are also quite different.

African American Slavery began during the 1600s where Europeans first used Africans as their laborers and moved the Africans to the new settlement in the colonies. Though it seemed unlawful and unconstitutional at the time it served very well to the economy, especially to the southern colonies which mass-produced cash crops such as tobacco and indigo in South Carolina and Georgia by the early 1700’s.

Slavery contributed to the building of a British commercial empire. It lead to giant profits for Britain. Most profits came from the triangular trade where slaves, plantation products, and manufactured goods. The slave colonies in the Caribbean also produced 69 percent of raw cotton for the textile mills. This starts the development of the cotton gin and a boost in cotton plantations located in the United States. Slavery starts the growth of manufacturing by creating an enormous colonial market for exports. Between the 1700 to 1740 American and African need for manufactured good made up almost 70 percent of the British exports. The great effects of these are terrifically shown by the growth of English ports like in Liverpool and Bristol. At

From the Greeks to the New World Colonies, the majority of the West is guilty of having taken part in slavery over time. It is fascinating to observe the differences in the quality of life of slaves of various societies, particularly in line with the important aspect of race and ethnicity. The purpose of this paper is to identify which of these four Western civilizations (Sparta, Athens, Rome and the New World Colonies) provided their slaves with the best and worst treatment according to this angle. To guide my research, I will look for the moment specific races were identified as inferior and more prone to enslavement by Westerners, and how race or ethnicity impacted the role, the tasks, and the treatment slaves received in the society they evolved in.