How did Slavery Develop in the
American Colonies?
A uniquely “American” social feature
Making sense of slavery:
• Comparing:
• Development in:
– The Chesapeake
– The North
– The “low country”
• Why all the detail?
• Not monolithic . . . A human relationship that changes
over time
• -Yet, by 1700 all British American colonies rely on
slavery
Making sense of slavery:
• Societies with slaves
– Slavery one form of labor among many
– Thus:
• Holdings smaller
• Status more fluid
• Not any less brutal
• Slave societies
slavery is central mode of production
master-slave relationship is model for all human relationships
How does the transition to a slave society happen?
Creating Societies with Slaves: The
North
First slaves in North:
were Atlantic creoles
An economically marginal region
Creating a Slave Society: New
Netherlands as a case study
“agricultural workers, who
are brought here at great
expense, sooner or later
apply themselves to
trade, and neglect
agriculture altogether.”
Slaves filled the gap –by
1638, 30% of New
Amsterdam’s population.
Slavery in New Netherlands
Social implications of
demand for labor:
Negotiate right to live and
work on their own
Create assimilated
community
The rest of the North:
• Overwhelmingly rural life
– Especially Hudson River Valley, New Jersey and PA
• Social circumstances:
– Live and work alongside whites
– Work at wide range of tasks
– Disproportionately urban
• Impact on Black culture – assimilation (and
negotiation potential), yet alienation
Societies with Slaves: The Lowcountry
• First settlers include former
Barbadians who hope to
transplant sugar plantations
and slavery
• Foiled by Amerindian neighbors
– relations not stable;
perpetual warfare
• Creates a frontier economy
Societies with Slaves: The Lowcountry
• Implications for enslaved people?
– Most are Atlantic creoles, with a lot of knowledge
about slavery and Europeans
– Lots of room for negotiation:
• Economy means work independence
• Can end up with time for their own use: develop own
economies
• External military threats – are armed, and potentially
can earn freedom
• Frontier presents an opportunity to escape
Maroon communities
Conclusions about 17th Century
American Societies with Slaves:
• slaves a small part of population
• harder to create an African-based culture
• economy dependent upon slaves – creates
opportunities for autonomy
• slavery just one form of non-freedom among
many types
Creating Slave Societies
• The transition in the Chesapeake:
• Shift from indentured servant labor to slaves
after Bacon’s Rebellion, 1676:
• Causes:
– Supply issues – cheaper slaves; fewer indentured
servants after 1680s
– Social issues – fear of social disorder based on
class antagonism
Shift to slavery in the Chesapeake
Consequences for African-American life:
• Slavery Africanized
– To whites, seem beyond the pale of civilization
• Sharp deterioration in quality of life
– Skewed sex ratios from importation of more males
– Shifts in work conditions: patriarchal masters
seek social control; create gang labor
– Slaves treated with new control and cruelty
• Brute force used to sustain new economic regime
• Laws distinguish whites from Blacks, both free and
enslaved
Creating a Slave Society: The LowCountry
• Discovering a staple crop: rice
• Degradation of Black quality of life
– New demand for slave labor;
Africanization of slavery
• Slaves now dominate population: by
1760, 60% of the population of region
• Transformation of work
– Rice plantation conditions deadly
– Population cannot reproduce itself
until 1760s
Creating a Slave Society: The Low
Country – Changes in 18th century
• Whites leave plantations:
patriarchy-at-a-distance
• New work system evolves:
task labor
– Self-policing of work
translates into autonomy
– Becomes a recognized right:
restrictions and the Stono
rebellion, 1739
• Relative cultural isolation,
and freedom
What about the North?
• Growing significance of
slavery after 1700:
– In shipping ports; commercial
grain plantations in NY, NJ and
PA
• Growing imports of slaves
from Africa directly
– Skewed sex ratios; family life
deteriorates
• Restrictions on manumission;
repression and anxiety
– 1741 slave conspiracy hysteria
Conclusions: Why the transformation?
• 1. Key is shift to staple crop production
• 2. Drives demand for importations of slave laborers,
and Africanization of slavery
• 3. Slaveholders solidify legal degradation and control
– (Feel control of human property essential to political voice
by 1787, 3/5 Compromise ensures extra representation
for slave-owning whites)
• Yet, process pretty different depending on local
circumstances:
– No one African-American culture . . .