Slavery, Freedom, and the
Struggle for Empire
Chapter 4
Slavery & Empire
• Slavery was vital component of
world commerce
• Asiento – an agreement whereby
Spain subcontracted to a foreign
government the right to provide
slaves to Spanish America
• Britain won the asiento from
Dutch following war
• Triangular Trade – Caribbean
biggest market for American
colonial commodities
Africa and the Slave Trade
• Most African rulers took part in the
slave trade – few Europeans
ventured inland from the coast
• Africans traded for guns and used
guns to gain power over neighbors
• Middle Passage – transport of
slaves to New World; disease
claimed 1 in 5 slaves but also high
death rates for white crews
• Less than 5% of slaves came to
American colonies
• Rise of slave population mainly due
to natural increase
Slavery in the Colonies
• Three distinct slave systems in
American colonies
 Tobacco-based plantation slavery
in Chesapeake (VA, MD)
 Rice-based plantation slavery in
South Carolina and Georgia
 Non-Plantation slavery in New
England and Middle Colonies
Chesapeake Slavery
• Largest and oldest slave system
was tobacco-based plantations
• As Virginia expanded – so did
slavery
• Elite wealth became more
concentrated – society more
hierarchical
 Large planters
 Lesser planters / landowning yeomen
 Indentures, tenant farmers (>half of
white population by 1770), convicts
 Slaves
Chesapeake Slavery
• Whites increasingly considered free blacks to be dangerous
• Free blacks lost right to employ white servants, own guns,
and subjected to a special tax
• Free blacks could not strike a white for any reason
• 1723 Voting rights revoked
• Freed slaves required to leave colony – free blacks a tiny part
of population
Slavery in Carolina
• Slavery based on rice and indigo
plantations – increase in cultivation
= more slaves
• By 1730s 2/3 population was black
• Initially slave trade of Indians
conducted by the Creeks – later
stopped as Indians feared white
encroachment
• Due to experience of slaves w/rice
cultivation and malaria slaves often
left to themselves to work under
the “task” system
Georgia
• Georgia the last and poorest of
colonies
• Founded by philanthropists under
James Oglethorpe as social
experiment
• Georgia to be haven of poor – only
poor could emigrate there
• Forbade liquor, slavery, and the
passing of farms through
inheritance
• Settlers revolted – colony
surrendered to the crown in 1751
• Became much like South Carolina
Slavery in the North
• Small farms predominated in
North - few slaves
• Most worked as artisans,
stevedores, or personal servants
• Few slaves = fewer laws
• Severe beatings outlawed, slaves
could bring suit in courts, and
own and pass on property to
their children
Slavery in the North
• Slave populations higher in New
York, New Jersey, and
Philadelphia
• Slave numbers dwindled as wage
labor began to make more sense
due to economic variances
• Slaves an expensive long-term
investment
Slave Culture
• During the 1700’s most slaves had been born in Africa
• As time progressed slaves lost tribal identity – identities
became synthesis of music, art, folklore, language, etc.
• Some slaves came to colonies as Christian or Muslim but
most practiced traditional African religions
• Christianity often blended with African elements such as
voodoo
Slave Culture
• Smaller farms of Chesapeake exposed
slaves to more white culture – many
learned English
• Rice plantations of South Carolina &
Georgia harsh – low birthrates meant
continued importation of slaves
• Less contact w/whites created a more
African-based culture (Gullah)
• House servants assimilated more
quickly into European culture
• Sexual liaisons between slave and
master created new class of free
mulattos
Resistance to Slavery
• Runaway slaves – many fled to
Spanish territory in Florida,
uninhabited swamps, or passed
for free in cities
• Slave Uprisings
 First in New York 1712 – burned
houses and killed 9 whites
 Other rebellions during Indian
wars
 Some runaway slaves caught and
enslaved by Indians
Resistance to Slavery
• The Stono Rebellion 1739
 War of Jenkins’ Ear between England
and Spain
 Group of South Carolina slaves (new
from Kongo) seized weapons
 Marched south to Florida burning
houses & barns, killing whites
 After hard battle, group dispersed by
colonial militia
 More than 24 whites & 200 slaves
killed
 Remnants fled made it to Florida
where they were armed by Spanish
and helped beat back attack by
Georgian militia
Democracy in America
• There was more democracy in
America than in Britain
• In both places voting rights were given
only to landholders – but more
common people owned land in
America than in Britain: between 5080% of adult white men in America /
<5% in Britain
• In only a few colonies could
propertied widowed women vote
• Depending on the colony Jews,
Catholics, Protestant dissenters like
Baptists, and Quakers could not vote
Democracy in America
• Propertied free blacks could vote
in the Southern colonies but
later lost that right
• In the North, free blacks could
vote but local custom often
barred them
• Generally, Indians could not vote
• The people only existed on
election day, representatives
generally ruled without regard to
their constituents
Democracy in America
• The real power lay with the
appointed officials such as the
governors of the 9 royal colonies
appointed by the king and the
proprietors of Maryland and
Pennsylvania
• Only governors in Rhode Island and
Connecticut were elected by the
people
• In New England most town officers
were elected – in other colonies
they were appointed by the
governor
Democracy in America
• In South Carolina, men had to own
500 acres of land and ten slaves to
sit in the assembly
• In New York, most of the assembly
were family members of the great
landed Dutch patroons
• People normally deferred public
office to the educated wealthy
elites
• Elections often won by those who
served the most food and liquor
Assignment
• Students will individually or in pairs research the political relationship
between the British Crown and the colonies
• A diagram will be created showing this relationship
• The diagram will include powers and responsibilities of all the levels
of government
• Ensure that exceptions/difference between colonies are noted
Privy Council
Governor
Colonial
Legislature
Board of Trade
The Great Awakening
• Concerns that westward expansion,
individualism, and growing commerce
was undermining religion
• Revival of religious fundamentalism
(international phenomenon)
• George Whitefield – passionate
minister; sermons praised God as
merciful; salvation was possible
through repentance and surrender to
God
• Jonathan Edwards – emotional style of
preaching; Sinners in the Hands of an
Angry God
Jonathan Edwards
The Great Awakening
• Religious revivals first shared
“American” event
• Churches split into “Old Lights”
(traditionalists) and “New
Lights” (revivalists)
• Harvard and Yale – established
to produce American ministers
The Spanish Empire
• Spanish settlement clustered
mainly around small urban areas
such as St. Augustine and Santa Fe
• Attempts to colonize Texas resulted
in mission at San Antonio and
other smaller missions
• Populations remained sparse
• Russian claims on California
sparked renewed mission San
Diego, Los Angeles, Monterrey, San
Francisco
• But population remained sparse:
LA in 1800 had only 300 people
Spanish Mission at Los Angeles
The French Empire
• Population and economy of French
Canada slowly expanded
• Farms sprouted along St. Lawrence
River
• Exploration led to settlement at
New Orleans
• French settlement dwarfed by
English
• New World seen as punishment by
French – not opportunity
• French trade penetrated deep into
Midwest and alliances w/Indians
caused tensions w/English settlers
The French & Indian War
• The Ohio Valley became a middle
ground between the French,
British, and competing Indian
tribes
• Indians had learned direct warfare
w/Europeans was suicide so they
attempted to play one empire off
against the other
• By 1750, white settlers were eyeing
the rich Ohio lands
• Ohio lands were awarded to the
Ohio Company, owned by Virginia
elites, by the Virginian government
The French & Indian War
• This grant threatened the Indians
living in the area and also
Pennsylvanian land speculators
who also claimed the area
• In response, the French increased
their presence there
• 1753 – George Washington was
sent by VA governor to determine
intent of French in the Ohio
• 1754 – Washington returned to set
up fort at Three Rivers with 2
companies of soldiers
George Washington
The French & Indian War
• Washington found that the French
already constructed Fort Duquesne
• He & Indian allies attacked a small
French party killing its commander
• French claimed this was a peace
party sent out to negotiate
w/British and Washington was an
assassin
• Washington retreated to an open
meadow and hastily constructed
Fort Necessity
Fort Necessity
The French & Indian War
• Fort Necessity was attacked by
French & Indians – Washington
forced to surrender
• This sparked a global conflict: The
Seven Years War
• British sent a large force under
General Braddock to take the
French fort – Washington
volunteered as an aide
• Braddock was ambushed – 2/3 of
his 3,000 men killed or wounded
• First two years war went badly for
British and colonies – forts and
settlements destroyed by Indians
The death of General Braddock
The French & Indian War
• Britain expelled French (Acadians)
from Nova Scotia – remnants
settled in Louisiana
• Turning came with new Prime
Minister William Pitt
• Britain dedicated more troops and
ships to war
• Several French strongholds
captured including Quebec and
Montreal
• Most French islands in Caribbean
also seized
The French & Indian War
• The Peace of Paris 1763 – France
ceded all of Canada to Britain, Spain
ceded Florida to Britain, and Spain
was given France’s vast Louisiana
Territory
• Britain entered the war already in
debt from previous wars with the
Dutch and French
• The Seven Years War increased the
debt and added costs of maintaining
expanded territories
• Debt from war also helped cause
severe economic problems in France
as well
Pontiac’s Rebellion
• The removal of France from North
America eliminated the Indians’
balance of power diplomacy
• 1763 – Indians of the Ohio and
Great Lakes formed an alliance
Under Chief Pontiac and holy men
to revolt against British Rule
• Indians besieged Detroit and
destroyed numerous British posts
killing hundreds of whites
Pontiac’s Rebellion
• British counterattack slowly
erode Indian will and tribes
surrendered one-by-one
• To stop any further Indian wars,
Britain issued Proclamation of
1763
 Prohibited white settlements west
of proclamation line
 Forbade Indians from selling land
to whites
The Paxton Boys
• Settlers and land speculators outraged
– wanted new lands open for
expansion
• Indian attacks on Pennsylvanian
settlements broke peace Quakers had
kept w/Indians
• Settlers complained colonial
government not helping against raids
• Settlers massacred several Indians and
marched on Philadelphia to kill more
• Intercepted by Benjamin Franklin –
brought news of government support
Colonial Identity
• Collective threat posed by war
had instilled in some a broader
identity
• Albany Plan of 1754 drawn up by
Franklin to form colonies into a
loose union was rejected
• After war, colonists were a little
closer
• War had also tightened bonds
between colonies and Britain