Max Alfonso
4/12/13
Period 1
African Americans
Colonial Labor * Indentured Servants* were white servants bought from England by many settlers to help solve the labor shortage in North America * Many came willingly but some were , forced to come * Free passage to America and land in return for 6-7 years of work * Delayed the onset of slavery
Start of Slavery in British America * Demand for slaves grew due to the tobacco based economy of the Chesapeake * Middle Passage* journey to America in dark, filthy ships. Many Africans died during this passage. * Royal African Company* maintained a monopoly on trade in the mainland colonies and managed as a result to keep prices high and supplies low * Mid 1690’s its monopoly was broken and trade was now open to English merchants on a competitive level, prices fell, and the number of slaves increased * Slavery increases dramatically in the 1600s * Introduced by the Dutch * Triangular Trade* was economic system used between Europe, Americas, and Africa in the 1600-1800s * Bacons Rebellion* made slavery more appealing, due to the rising fear of Indentured Servants * Barbados Slaves Codes*:first formal statute governing the treatment of slaves, which provided for harsh punishments against offending slaves but lacked penalties for the mistreatment of slaves by masters. * Set legal precedent for legal status of slavery
Geography of Slavery on the basis of Economy * Northeast Colonies Economy: Use of slaves and indentured servants-shipbuilding, fishing, lumber, subsistence farming, manufacturing * Middle Colonies Economy: Use of slaves and indentured servants -shipbuilding, small farms, trade-cities begin to grow her * South Colonies Economy: Use of slaves-Cash crops*: tobacco, rice, indigo, etc. * Greatest dependency on slaves compared to other colonies * South Carolina
Slavery in US Pre -Revolutionary War * Virginia colony was first to purchase slaves * Slaves were at the center of South’s economy, due to growth of cash crops* * South Carolina’s (first slave society in US) economy revolving around rice fields was dominated by slavery * Development of Plantations*, where slaves worked. It was self sufficient. * The growth of slavery on the mainland was tied to the profitability of the reliance upon rice and tobacco. * Stono’s rebellion*(1739) was when 100 slaves killed their masters, gathered arms. And headed South of Florida, but a white army soon crushed them. * First slave uprising that created fear among the whites Slavery in US during Revolutionary War * Slave participation was limited * British encourages slaves to leave and disrupt the American economy and social structure * The exposure of liberty galvanized the slaves and they rebelled which resulted in execution * Led to the Southern states not participating in the revolution * Exposed the South’s reliance upon it’s slave based economy * Crispus Attucks was the first African American casualty during the Boston Massacre*
Slavery in US Post-Revolutionary War/Rise in Sectionalism* * Rev. War helped some slaves gain freedom by slaves 1. Being able to run away, and 2) they petitioned for their freedom and sometimes won * The Revolution bought about idea of freedom, liberty, and individual rights. * Questioned the fundamental basis of slavery * During the Jeffersonian Era a law passed stating that Africans Am couldn’t be educated, in order to prevent uprisings * Differences between North and South led to many important compromises * Disagreements in the representation and taxation of slavery, resulted in the 3/5 compromise* * South wanted the slaves for representation not taxation to increase their power in House of Reps. but North wanted to count them as for taxation not representation to minimize the South’s power in the House of Reps. * Majority of