Southern Economy
Good
Soil & Rivers
Large farms =
plantations
Self-sufficient
Cash crops: tobacco,
rice, indigo
Southern Society
Planters
Small Farmers
Women
Indentured Servants
Slaves
 Native
Slavery
Americans escape easily
–Why do you think this is?
 First
African American Slaves:
1619: Jamestown
 Indentured Servants 1670’s
–What is the difference between an
indentured servant and a slave?
 Slavery:
economic foundation
Triangular Trade
Sugar from West Indies
Made into Rum in New
England
Rum/ Guns sent to Africa
Slaves to West Indies

Triangular Trade
Middle Passage
The
voyage that brought
enslaved Africans across
the Atlantic Ocean to
America or the West
Indies
The Slave Ship
Slave Auctions
The Institution of Slavery
Plantations,
Farms,
Domestics, Urban, Artisans
80-90% of slaves worked in
the fields
Slaves could be rented and
owner received wages
Slave Culture and Family
Made
pottery of homeland
Musical traditions / Dance
Oral history
–Why don’t we have written
records? Who were the “writers”
of history?
Raised
each others children
Marriage Ceremony
How
did slavery differ
from indentured
servitude?
Inherent racism???

• Virginia, 1639: The first law to exclude "Negroes" from
normal protections by the government was enacted.
• Maryland, 1664: The first colonial "anti-amalgamation"
law is enacted (amalgamation referred to "race-mixing").
Other colonies soon followed Maryland's example. A
1691 Virginia law declared that any white man or woman
who married a "Negro, mulatto, or Indian" would be
banished from the colony forever.
• Virginia, 1667: Christian baptisms would no longer
affect the bondage of blacks or Indians, preventing
enslaved workers from improving their legal status by
changing their religion.
• Virginia, 1682: A law establishing the racial distinction
between servants and slaves was enacted.
All servants imported and brought into the
Country. . . who were not Christians in
their native Country. . . shall be accounted
and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and
Indian slaves within this dominion. . . shall
be held to be real estate. If any slave
resists his master. . . correcting such
slave, and shall happen to be killed in
such correction. . . the master shall be
free of all punishment. . . as if such
accident never happened. –
 Virginia General Assembly declaration,
1705

What
conclusions can
you draw from the
documents?
Slave Codes

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In court their testimony was inadmissible
Nor could they own property;
Even if attacked, they could not strike a white
person.
Slaves could not be away from their owner's
premises without permission
They could not assemble unless a white person
was present;
They could not own firearms;
They could not be taught to read or write,
They were not permitted to marry.
Slaves
could be beaten
In Virginia, courts did NOT
consider it murder when a
slave died during punishment
Resistance and Revolt
Faking
illness
Breaking tools
Running away
VERY FEW INCIDENTS
OF VIOLENCE
Stono Rebellion
September 9, 1739
 South Carolina
 Organized by native Africans who were from
the Central African Kingdom of Kongo

– Some spoke Portuguese

Led by Jemmy Cato
– He was literate
 WHY WAS THIS DANGEROUS?
– May have been a former soldier
– Belonged to the Cato / Cater family near the Stono
River
Stono Rebellion

20 slaves escaped headed to Spanish Florida
– Spanish promised FREEDOM and LAND near St
Augustine to slaves who escaped from British rule
– WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS?
Eventually the force turned to 60-100
 Whites subdue the resistance (~25 whites
killed, ~ 50-60 slaves killed)
 Survivors were sold to the West Indies


Effect: NEGRO ACT OF 1740
Why
did the Stono
Rebellion fail?
(hint: look at the notes from the video we watched!)
Why
did slavery begin in
America? Why did it last?
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/US
ASauctions.htm
 Chronicles of slave auctions
