Slavery in the New World
Origins
Immediate model of slavery comes from the Portuguese sugar plantations
off the coast of Africa.
Colonies in S. America (Brazil - Portuguese) and West Indies (Hispaniola Spanish) becomes centers of sugar cane production and leading importers
of slaves.
In turn, the Dutch, French, and English will gain possessions in the West
Indies and enter the sugar and slave trade.
Identured Servitude
Prime source of labor during late 1660s to early 1700s.
Relatively cheap supply of labor.
Headright system (Virginia Company, Plymouth Company, also
Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina). An award of
a large plantation to an individual on the condition that they transport
workers (indentured or otherwise) from England at their own
expense.
Failure of IS
o Prime land is scarce (friction with Indians).
o Gender imbalance.
o Discontent – Bacon’s Rebellion.
Slavery in the North American Colonies
The institution of slavery (a political and economic institute of society) will
follow the patterns (rules, practices, etc) established in the Indies.
In these plantations colonies of the South, there is the need for the
necessary labor to work the plantations.
The cash crops will be tobacco, rice, and indigo (cotton will not take hold
until much later).
Tobacco fuels hunger for land (it is a soil intensive crop) and the hunger for
labor (it is labor intensive, think of the manpower necessary for wide-scale
plantation farming.)
Labor is the problem of early colonial America (not enough of it.) Colonists
try Indians (a complete failure), indentured servitude, then slavery.
The Rise of Slavery
The major source of labor from 1730s forward.
Peak of slave trade 1760s-1770s.
Cheap surplus of labor.
No need to grant rights as Englishmen.
Royal African Co. loses monopoly.
Slave codes – Property.
Racial motivation.
Disadvantages overcome – Justified.
Slaves deaths aboard ships reaching the Americas as a percentage of
those embarked, by African region of embarkation, 1527-1866
Deaths/Embarked(%) Number of Voyages
Senegambia
10.9%
421
Sierra Leone
9.8%
231
Windward Coast
9.6%
111
Gold Coast
12.0%
654
Bight of Benin
11.7%
1,197
Bight of Biafra
19.1%
646
West-central Africa
9.1%
2,464
South-east Africa
19.3%
356
Region cannot be identified
17.4%
358
All Africa
11.9%
6,438
Mercantilism & Slavery
Found in Western Europe from the 16th to the late-18th century. Used as a
motive for colonial expansion and was a frequent cause of wars during this
time.
Main points of this economic doctrine:
Government control of foreign trade.
Positive balance of trade (mother nation).
High tariffs, especially on manufactured goods.
Exclusive trade with colonies.
Forbidding certain trade to be carried in foreign ships.
Export subsidies (mother nation).
Banning the export of gold and silver, even for payments.
Promoting manufacturing with research or direct subsidies (mother
nation).
Limiting wages.
When royal officials argued that colonies existed solely for the benefit of the
mother country they usually had in mind the wealth generated through
slavery.
Legacy of the Plantation Colonies upon the South
Plantation agriculture will hamper economic development of the
South in comparison to other regions of British N. America.
Land hunger.
Pattern for future race relations.