The Emergence of Slavery

The Emergence of SlaveryA. Background1. There is a long history of slavery

in the world. In the ancient world, prisoners of war became slaves, such as in Roman society.

2. Later, people from the Russian steppes were enslaved, thus earning the name slavs from which we get the word slaves.

3. An African slave trade existed from ancient times with black slaves being sold in Africa and throughout the Mediterranean area.

The Emergence of SlaveryB. When the Spanish discovered the gold, silver and gems

in America they took what was already mined, but then searched for the places that the Indians found these materials. When they found these places, they needed workers to mine them.

The Emergence of SlaveryC. They also discovered that sugarcane grew well on the

islands in the Caribbean. Sugar was the equivalent of oil today in terms of net worth. Thus, they needed workers to grow the sugarcane.

The Emergence of SlaveryD. There was not enough free

labor (colonists) coming over to do the jobs. Thus, they turned to slavery.

E. First Indians were enslaved, but made poor slaves for 2 reasons:

1. They could escape easily and run back to their people. They were hard to recapture.

2. They died en masse due to European diseases.

The Emergence of SlaveryF. The Spanish then turned to Africa for slaves. Merchants

began supplying African slaves to the Spanish in return for American goods. This became known as the triangle trade because the triangular trade route.

The Emergence of Slavery1. Traders would load European goods on their ships to

trade with the Africans in return for slaves.

2. Then they took the slaves to America and traded them for molasses, sugar, tobacco, etc.

3. Then they returned to Europe and exchanged the American goods for European goods and started the route over again.

The Emergence of SlaveryG. Using African slaves in America was successful for three reasons

1. They had nowhere in which to run.

2. They had basic immunities to European diseases.

3. Many also had a natural immunity to malaria due to a DNA mutation. Even the Europeans did not have this. This was very helpful in the mosquito-infested swamps where sugarcane grew.

The Emergence of SlaveryII. Slavery in the English ColoniesA. The Southern colonies' economy was based on labor-

intensive crops meaning they required many workers to produce them. These included tobacco, rice, and indigo (as was sugarcane for the Spanish). The problem was that they could not get people to work for them due to the availability of free land. Why work for someone else when you can farm for yourself?

RiceTobacco Indigo

The Emergence of Slavery

The following is the formula that explains the reason for the shortage of labor in the Americas.

MUCH CHEAP LAND + LABOR-INTENSIVE CROPS = SHORTAGE OF LABOR

MUCH CHEAP LAND

LABOR-INTENSIVE CROPS

SHORTAGE OF LABOR

Why do I want to work for you? I can get my own land.

We need workers for doing all this work.

We can’t grow crops on all of our land & maximize profits if we can’t get more workers.

The Emergence of SlaveryB. The English went through the same basic process as the

Spanish:

1. Try to hire workers (no luck except with some indentured servants)

2. Make slaves out of the Indians (same results)

3. Buy African slaves (same success)

WantedGood field hand for

rice farm in the Georgia colony. Good

pay.

The Emergence of SlaveryC. Why slavery?

1. Although slaves were very expensive, slavery solved an economic need/problem.

2. Slavery was not the best answer, nor a moral answer, but it was an answer to a problem.

3. Thus, people did not buy slaves because they were lazy but because they were greedy.

The Emergence of SlaveryD. Why did slavery occur mainly in the South?

1. The Middle Colonies had non labor-intensive crops (wheat).

2. The New England colonies had no real commercial farming.

3. Thus, neither area needed slaves and so slavery never really developed there.

The Emergence of SlaveryCommentary

Slavery was an expedient solution to a problem. However, expediency is no excuse for immoral behavior. By choosing slavery, our ancestors doomed us to live out the consequences of their decision which still haunt us today, almost 400 years later. We should let this sad chapter of our history remind us that the decisions we make today can affect our heirs far into the future.