The origins of slavery in Colonial America are complex and there are several theories that have been proposed to explain the trade.

Indentured servitude

Some historians, notably Edmund Morgan, have suggested that indentured servants provided a model for slavery in 17th century Virginia. In theory, indentured servants sold their labor voluntarily for a period of years (typically four to seven), after which they would be freed with "freedom dues" of cash, clothing, tools, and/or land. In practice, indentured servitude was a violent system; some English men and women (felons and those who were kidnapped) were compelled to become indentured servants, and in the early 17th century, many indentured servants did not live long enough to be freed. The principal significance of indentured servitude, Morgan argues, is that it accustomed 17th century Virginia planters to use physical violence (including beating and rape) to compel workers to work. This set a precedent for the violence of African chattel slavery, which the British colonies first adopted on a large scale in the 1660s and 1670s. Edmund Sears Morgan (b. ... An Indentured servant is an unfree labourer under contract to work (for a specified amount of time) for another person, often without any pay, but in exchange for accommodation, food, other essentials and/or free passage to a new country. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into slavery. ...

Slavery amongst Native American tribes

Another view on early colonial slavery is that of historian Alan Gallay. His book on the Indian slave trade describes the flourishing trade during the 1600s in Virginia, South Carolina, and elsewhere in America. Indian tribes had practiced a form of slavery since prehistoric times, sometimes for the purpose of ritualized torture and sacrifice, and sometimes for assimilating other tribes.^[1] The way in which Indians treated war captives was witnessed and eventually emulated by European colonists, especially the practice of scalping. Native American Big Mouth Spring with decorated scalp lock on right shoulder. ...

This view is considered inaccurate by many modern historians because of the nature of American Indian slavery. In North America , among the Native Americans, slavery was more a 'right of passage' or system of assimilating outside individuals into groups rather then a property or ownership right. Richard White, in 'The Middle Ground' gives a clear explanation of the complex social relationships between American Indian groups and the early empires, including 'slave' culture and scalping. ^[2]

Another valuable explanation of the use of Negroes slaves as opposed to American Indians comes from an unlikely source. Ulrich Phillips argues that black people made better slaves for several reasons, and were therefore the best answer to the labor shortage in the New World. American Indian slaves were familiar with the environment, and would often escape with success into local groups. Black slaves had much more difficulty surviving in far different world once they escaped, this often acted as a barrier. Also, early colonial America depended heavily on the sugar trade, which lead to Malaria, a disease the Africans were far less susceptible to then European slaves. Black people also easily stood out. Phillips also suggested that there was something inherently valuable for slavery in the Negro race. These racist beliefs have long been abandoned, but some historians still value his economic arguments which suggest that the choice was made more for efficiency. ^[3]

The first African slaves

Until the early 1700s, African slaves were difficult to acquire in the colonies that became the United States, as most were sold in the West Indies. One of the first major establishments of African slavery in these colonies occurred with the founding of Charles Town and South Carolina in 1670. The colony was founded mainly by planters from the overpopulated sugar island colony of Barbados, who brought relatively large numbers of African slaves from that island. For several decades it was still difficult to acquire African slaves north of the Caribbean. To meet labor needs, colonists had practiced Indian slavery for some time. The Carolinians transformed the Indian slave trade during the late 1600s and early 1700s by treating slaves as a trade commodity to be exported, mainly to the West Indies. Alan Gallay estimates that between 1670 and 1715, between 24,000 and 51,000 Indian slaves were exported from South Carolina — much more than the number of Africans imported to the colonies of the future United States during the same period.^[4] This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... West Indian redirects here. ... Indian slavery was the practice of using indigenous peoples of the Americas as slaves, which existed with the Spanish from the earliest days on the Caribbean islands they first settled. ...

The first African slaves arrived in present day United States as part of the San Miguel de Gualdape colony (most likely located in the Winyah Bay area of present-day South Carolina), founded by Spanish explorer Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón in 1526. The ill-fated colony was almost immediately disrupted by a fight over leadership, during which the slaves revolted and fled the colony to seek refuge among local Native Americans. De'Ayllón and many of the colonists died shortly afterwards of an epidemic, and the colony was abandoned, leaving the escaped slaves behind on North American soil. In 1565, the colony of Saint Augustine in Florida became the first permanent European settlement in North America, and included an unknown number of African slaves. Winyah Bay is a coastal estuary that is the confluence of the Waccamaw River, the Pee Dee River, the Black River and the Sampit River in Georgetown County in eastern South Carolina. ... Official language(s) English Capital Charleston(1670-1789) Columbia(1790-present) Largest city Columbia Largest metro area Columbia Area  Ranked 40th  - Total 34,726 sq mi (82,965 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 260 miles (420 km)  - % water 6  - Latitude 32°430N to 35°12N... Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón (1475? - 1526) Spanish explorer A licentiate and sugar planter on Hispaniola, Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón commanded six vessels with 500 colonists, supplies and livestock, sailing from Santo Domingo in mid-July, 1526. ...

The first Africans to be brought to English North America landed in Virginia in 1619. These individuals appear to have been treated as indentured servants, and a significant number of African slaves even won their freedom through fulfilling a work contract or for converting to Christianity.^[5] A few successful free men of color, such as Anthony Johnson, acquired slaves or indentured servants themselves. To many historians, notably Edmund Morgan, this evidence suggests that racial attitudes were much more flexible in 17th century Virginia than they would subsequently become.^[6] A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America. ... Official language(s) English Capital Richmond Largest city Virginia Beach Area  Ranked 35th  - Total 42,793 sq mi (110,862 km²)  - Width 200 miles (320 km)  - Length 430 miles (690 km)  - % water 7. ... An Indentured Servant (or in the U.S. bonded labourer) is a labourer under contract to work for an employer for a specific amount of time, usually seven to eight years, to pay off a passage to a new country or home. ... Anthony Johnson was a black man in the Virginia Colony in the 17th century. ... Edmund Sears Morgan (b. ...

The development of slavery in 17th-century America

The meaning of slavery hardened in the second half of the 17th century, and imported Africans' prospects grew increasingly dim. During the second half of the 17th century, the British economy improved and the supply of British indentured servants declined, as poor Britons had better economic opportunities at home. At the same time, Bacon's Rebellion of 1676 led planters to worry about the prospective dangers of creating a large class of restless, landless, and relatively poor white men (most of them former indentured servants). Wealthy Virginia and Maryland planters began to buy slaves in preference to indentured servants during the 1660s and 1670s, and poorer planters followed suit by c.1700. (Slaves cost more than servants, so initially only the wealthy could invest in slaves.) The first British colonists in Carolina introduced African slavery into the colony in 1670, the year the colony was founded, and slavery spread rapidly throughout the Southern colonies. Slaves might also be beaten to death and killed if they ran away. Northerners also purchased slaves, though on a much smaller scale. Northern slaves typically dwelled in towns and worked as artisans and artisans' assistants, sailors and longshoremen, and domestic servants. Bacons Rebellion or the Virginia Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony, led by Nathaniel Bacon. ... The Carolina Colony grants Haystack of 1663 and 1665 The Province of Carolina from 1663 to 1729, was a North American British colony. ...

Curiously, chattel slavery developed in British North America before the legal apparatus that supported slavery did. During the late 17th century and early 18th century, harsh new slave codes limited the rights of African slaves and cut off their avenues to freedom. For example, a 1691 Virginia law prohibited slaveholders from emancipating slaves unless they paid for the freedmen's transportation out of Virginia.^[7] Virginia criminalized interracial marriage in 1705, and subsequent laws abolished blacks' rights to vote, hold office, and bear arms. ^[8] The first full-scale slave code in British North America was South Carolina's (1696), which was modeled on the Barbados slave code of 1661 and was updated and expanded regularly throughout the 18th century.^[9] Slave codes were laws passed in colonial North America to regulate any state of subjection to a force, and were abolished after the U.S. Civil War. ... The Barbados Slave Code of 1661 was the English legal code set up to provide a legal base for slavery in the Caribbean island of Barbados. ...

The Atlantic slave trade to North America

Only a fraction of the enslaved Africans brought to the New World ended up in British North America-- perhaps 5%. The vast majority of slaves shipped across the Atlantic were sent to the Caribbean sugar colonies, Brazil, or Spanish America. Throughout the Americas, but especially in the Caribbean, tropical disease took a large toll on their population and required large numbers of replacements. Many Africans had a limited natural immunity to yellow fever and malaria, but malnutrition, poor housing and inadequate clothing allowances, and overwork contributed to a high mortality rate. West Indian redirects here. ... Magnification of grains of sugar, showing their monoclinic hemihedral crystalline structure. ... Tropical diseases are infectious diseases that either occur uniquely in tropical and subtropical regions (which is rare) or, more commonly, are either more widespread in the tropics or more difficult to prevent or control. ... Malaria is a vector-borne infectious disease that is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. ...

In British North America the slave population rapidly repopulated themselves, where in the Caribbean they did not. The lack of proper nourishment, poor health, and depressed sexuality are possible reasons. Of the small population of babies that were born to slaves in the Caribbean, only about 1/4 survived miserable conditions on a sugar plantation.

It was not only the major colonial powers in Europe such as France, England, the Netherlands or Portugal that were involved in the transatlantic person trade. Small countries, such as Sweden or Denmark, tried to get into this lucrative business. For more information about this, see The Swedish slave trade. It has been suggested that Benign colonialism be merged into this article or section. ... This article is 150 kilobytes or more in size. ... Motto (French) God and my right Anthem God Save the King (Queen) England() – on the European continent() – in the United Kingdom() Capital (and largest city) London (de facto) Official languages English (de facto) Government Constitutional monarchy  -  Queen Queen Elizabeth II  -  Prime Minister Tony Blair MP Unification  -  by Athelstan 967  Area... This article needs cleanup. ...

Example of slave treatment: Back deeply scarred from whipping

Image File history File links Slavetreatment. ... Image File history File links Slavetreatment. ...

The rise of the anti-slavery movement

African and African-American slaves expressed their opposition to slavery through armed uprisings such as the Stono Rebellion and the New York Slave Insurrection of 1741, through malingering and tool-breaking, and most commonly, by running away, either for short periods or permanently. Until the Revolutionary era, almost no white American colonists spoke out against slavery. Even the Quakers generally tolerated slaveholding (and slave trading) until the mid 18th century, although they emerged as vocal opponents of slavery in the Revolutionary era. The Stono Rebellion (sometimes called Catos Conspiracy or Catos Rebellion) is one of the earliest known organized acts of rebellion against slavery in the Americas. ... This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, or Friends, is a religious community founded in England in the 17th century. ...

Following the Revolution, some of the new states began to write constitutions that eliminated slavery, though the new Constitution of the United States limited the ability of the Federal Government to interfere with slavery, or for a time, the slave trade.

The United States prohibited the slave trade in 1808. (Most states had already banned it within their borders.) However, after the War of 1812, the US made a claim that slaves were property and so the United Kingdom should return them, or pay compensation for them, according to the terms of the Treaty of Ghent which ended that war. This dispute was mentioned in the Treaty of 1818.^[10]. Combatants United States Great Britain Canada Bermuda Eastern Woodland Indians Commanders James Madison Henry Dearborn Jacob Brown Winfield Scott Andrew Jackson George Prevost Isaac Brock† Tecumseh† Strength •U.S. Regular Army: 35,800 •Rangers: 3,049 •Militia: 458,463* •US Navy & US Marines: (at start of war): •Frigates:6 •Other... Signing of the Treaty of Ghent The Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24, 1814, in Ghent, (Belgium), was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. ... The Convention respecting fisheries, boundary, and the restoration of slaves between the United States and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, also known as the London Convention, Anglo-American Convention of 1818, Convention of 1818, or simply the Treaty of 1818, was a treaty signed in 1818 between...

The French colony of St. Domingue abolished slavery in the massive slave uprising that accompanied the Haitian Revolution; emancipation was officially proclaimed in 1793. Haiti was the first American government to abolish slavery, and the Haitian Revolution inspired some copycat movements in North America, notably Gabriel's Rebellion of 1800, which failed. The United States finally abolished slavery by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution in 1865. Combatants Haiti France Commanders Toussaint LOuverture, Jean-Jacques Dessalines Charles Leclerc, vicomte de Rochambeau, Napoleon Bonaparte Strength Regular army: <55,000, Volunteers: <100,000 Regular army: 60,000, 86 warships and frigates Casualties Military deaths: unknown, Civilian deaths: <100,000 Out of the 60,000 men sent betweeen Feb. ... Gabriel (1776–October 10, 1800), today also known as Gabriel Prosser, was a slave born in Henrico County, Virginia who planned a failed slave rebellion in the summer of 1800. ... Amendment XIII in the National Archives Amendment XIII (the Thirteenth Amendment) of the United States Constitution officially abolished, and continues to prohibit, slavery, and, with limited exceptions such as those convicted of a crime, prohibits involuntary servitude. ...

Fernand Braudel on American slavery

Fernand Braudel has said: Fernand Braudel Fernand Braudel (August 24, 1902–November 27, 1985) was a French historian. ...

Such hardships are not to be laid at the door simply of the planters, the mine-owners, the moneylending merchants of the Consulado in Mexico City or elsewhere, the harsh officials of the Spanish crown, the sugar- and tobacco-dealers, the slave-traders, or the grasping captains of trading vessels.... they were essentially middlemen, agents for other people.... In reality the root of the evil lay back across the Atlantic, in Madrid, Seville, Cadiz, Lisbon, Bordeaux, Nantes or Genoa, without question in Bristol, and in later years Liverpool, London and Amsterdam. (Braudel, 1984, p. 393).

Braudel quotes Karl Marx: ""The veiled slavery of the wage-workers in Europe needed, for its pedestal, slavery pure and simple in the New World." Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London) was a German philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. ...

See also

• Slavery
• Slavery in Canada
• History of slavery in the United States
• Slavery in the Spanish New World colonies

Slave redirects here. ... Slavery in Canada was first practised by some aboriginal nations, who routinely captured slaves from neighbouring tribes as part of their accepted laws of war. ... Slave sale in Easton, Maryland The history of slavery in the United States began soon after Europeans first settled in what became the United States. ... Slavery in the Spanish colonies began with local Native Americans. ...

Notes

1. ^ Gallay, Alan. (2002) The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South 1670-171. Yale University Press: New York. ISBN 0-300-10193-7, pg. 29
2. ^ White, Richard. (1991) The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521424607
3. ^ Phillips, Ulrich. American Negro Slavery Echo Library (2006) paperback edition, ISBN 978-1406832082
4. ^ Gallay, Alan. (2002) The Indian Slave Trade: The Rise of the English Empire in the American South 1670-171. Yale University Press: New York. ISBN 0-300-10193-7, pg. 299
5. ^ Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia (New York: Norton, 1975), pp.154-157.
6. ^ Edmund S. Morgan, American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia (New York: Norton, 1975), pp.327-328.
7. ^ Alan Taylor, American Colonies (New York: Viking, 2001), p. 156.
8. ^ Alan Taylor, American Colonies (New York: Viking, 2001), p. 156.
9. ^ Alan Taylor, American Colonies (New York: Viking, 2001), p. 213.
10. ^ LexUM (1999). Convention of Commerce between His Majesty and the United States of America.--Signed at London, 20th October, 1818. Canado-American Treaties. University of Montreal. Retrieved on 2006-03-27.

For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (87th in leap years). ...

Further reading

• Aptheker, Herbert. American Negro Slave Revolts.New York: International Publishers, 1963.
• Berlin, Ira. Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1998.
• Donglin, Yi Origin of American Slavery
• Braudel, Fernand, The Perspective of the World, vol. III of Civilization and Capitalism 1984 (in French 1979).
• Genovese, Eugene D. Roll, Jordan, Roll: The World the Slaves Made. New York: Pantheon, 1974.
• Gutman, Herbert G. The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925. New York: Pantheon, 1976.
• Huggins, Nathan. Black Odyssey: The African-American Ordeal in Slavery. New York: Pantheon, 1990.
• Levine, Lawrence W. Black Culture and Black Consciousness: Afro-American Folk Thought from Slavery to Freedom. New York: Oxford University Press, 1977.
• Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. New York: Norton, 1975.
• Schwalm, Leslie A. A Hard Fight for We: Women's Transition from Slavery to Freedom in South Carolina. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1997.
• White, Deborah Gray. Ar'n't I a Woman? Female Slaves in the Plantation South. New York: Norton, 1985.
• Williams, Eric, Capitalism and Slavery. 4th edition, 1975.

Fernand Braudel Fernand Braudel (August 24, 1902–November 27, 1985) was a French historian. ... Edmund Sears Morgan (b. ...

External links

• Immigrant Servants Database