Post by Lady Sin Ra on Apr 16, 2007 12:18:59 GMT -5
The first eight out of 12 US presidents were slave owners. Slavery came to an end after the American Civil War which laster from 1861-1865. The institution of slavery began in the 17th century in the United States though it was practiced already in other areas of the world. Slavery has appeared through history in many forms and in many places. Slaves have served in capacities as diverse as concubines, warriors, servants, craftworkers and tutors. In America, however, slavery emerged as a system of forced labor designed for the production of staple crops. Depending on location, these crops included sugar, tobacc, coffe and cottin; in the southern United States, by far the most importants staples were tobacco and cotton. A stark racial component distinguished this modern Western slavery from the slavery that existed in many other times and places: the vast majority of slaves were black Africans and their descendants, while the vast majority of masters were white Europeans and their descendants.
Twenty Africans were purchased in Jamestown, Virginia as early as 1619 but the African population grew slowly during the 17th century in the English mainland colonies. During those years, colonists experimented with two other sources of forced labor: Native American slaves and European indentured servants. The number of Native American slaves were limited in part because the Native Americans were in their homeland; they knew the terrain and could escape fairly easily. Settlers found it easier to sell Native Americans captured in war to planters in the Caribbean than to turn them into slaves on their own terrain.
More important as a form of labor was indentured servitude. Most indentured servants were poor Europeans who wanted to escape harsh conditions and take advantage of opportunities in America. They traded four to seven years of their labor in exchange for transatlantic passage. At first indetured servants came mainly from England, but later they came increasingly from Ireland, Wales and Germany. They were primarily although not exclusively, young males. Once in the colonies, they were essentially temporary slaves; most served as agricultural workers although some, especially in the North, were taught skilled trades. During the 17th century, they performed most of the heavy labor in the Southern colonies and also provided bulk immigrants to those colonies. Improved conditions in England amongst other factors saw a sharp decline in the number of people willing to be indentured servants. This decline in the servant migration produced a labor crisis. To meet it, landowners turned to African slaves, who from the 1680s began to replaces indentured servants. For example the black majority of slaves in Virginia increased from about 7 % in population in 1680 to more than 40 % by the mid-18th century. During the first half of the 17th century, the Netherlands and Portugal had dominated the African slave trade and the number of Africans available to English colonists was limited because the three countries competed for slave labor to produce crops in their American colonies. During the late 17th and 18th centuries, by contrast, naval superiority gave England a dominant position in the slave trade, and English traders transported millions of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean.
The transatlantic slave trade produced one of the largest forced migrations in history. From the early 16th to the mid-19th centuries, between 10 million and 11 million Africans were taken from their homes, herded onto ships where they were sometimes so tightly packed that they could barely moved, and sent to the strange new land. Since others died before boarding the ships, Africa's loss of population was even greater. By far the largest importers of slaves were Brazil and the Caribbean colonies, together, they received more than three-quarters of all Africans brought to the Americas. About 6 % of the total ((600,000 to 650,000 people)) came to what is now the United States.
Slavery spread quickly in the American colonies. At first the legal status of Africans in America was poorly defined, and some, like European indentured servants, managed to become free after several years of service. From the 1660s, however, the colonies began enacting laws that defined and regulated slave relations. Central to these laws was provision that black slaves, and the children of slave women, would serve for life. By the 1770s, slaves constituted about 40 % of the population of the Southern colonies, with the highest concentration in South Carolina, where more than half the people were slaves.
Slaves performed numerous tasks from cleaning forests to serving as guides, trappers, craftworkers, nurses and house servants, but they were most essential as agricultural laborers. Slaves were most numerous where landowners sought to grow staple crops for market, such as tobacco in the upper South (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina) and rice in the lower South (South Carolina, Georgia). Slaves also worked on large wheat-producing estates in New York and on horse-breeding farms in Rhode Island, but climate and soil restricted development of commercial agriculture in the Northern colonies, and slavery never became as economically important as it did in the South. Slaves in the North were typically held in small numbers, and most served as domestic servants. Only in New York did they form more than 10 % of the population, and in the North as a whole less than 5 % of the inhabitants were slaves.
By the mid-18th centuy, American slavery had acquired a number of distinctive features. More than 90 % of American slaves lived in the South where conditions constrated sharply with those to both the south and north. In Caribbean colonies, such as Jamaica and Saint-Domingue ((present-day Haiti)), blacks outnumbers whites by more than ten to one and slaves often lived on huge estates with hundreds of other slaves. In Northern colonies, blacks were few and slaves were typically held in small groups of less than five. The South, by contrast, was neither overwhelmingly white nor overwhelmingly black; slaves formed a large minority of the population, and most slaves lived on a small and medium-sized holdings containing between 5 to 50 slaves.
The second distintive characteristic of slavery in the United States was in many ways the most important: in contrast to slaves in most other parts of the Americas, those in the United States experienced natural population growth. Elsewhere, in regions as diverse as Brazil, Jamaica, Saint-Domingue and Cuba slave mortality rates exceeded birth rates, and growth of the slave population depended on the importation of new slaves from Africa. As soon as the importation ended, the slave population began to declind. At first, deaths among slaves exceeded births in the American colonies, but in the 18th century the birth rates rose in those colonies, mortality rates fell, and the slave population became self-reproducing. This transition, which occured earlier in the upper than in the lower South, meant that even after slave imports were outlawed in 1808, the number of slaves continued to grow rapidly. During the next 50 years, the slave population of the United States more than tripled, from about 1.2 million to almost 4 million in 1860. the natural growth of the slave population meant that slavery could survive without new slave imports.
Natural population growth also hastended the transition from an African to an African American slave population. By the 1770s, only about 20 % of slaves in the colonies were African-born, although the concentration of Africans remained higher in South Carolina and Georgia. After 1808 the proportion of African-bon slaves became tiny. the emergence of native-born slave population had a numerous important consequences. For example, among African-born slaves, who were imported for their ability to perform physical labor, there were few children and men outnumbered women by about two to one. In contrast, American-born slaves began their slave careers as children and included approximately even numbers of males and females. Masters went through a similar process of Americanization. These born in America usually felt at home on their holdings. Caribbean planters sought to make their fortunes quickly and then retire to a life of leisure in England. American slaveholders, by contrast, were less often absentee owners. Instead, they typically took an active role in running their farms and plantations.
Twenty Africans were purchased in Jamestown, Virginia as early as 1619 but the African population grew slowly during the 17th century in the English mainland colonies. During those years, colonists experimented with two other sources of forced labor: Native American slaves and European indentured servants. The number of Native American slaves were limited in part because the Native Americans were in their homeland; they knew the terrain and could escape fairly easily. Settlers found it easier to sell Native Americans captured in war to planters in the Caribbean than to turn them into slaves on their own terrain.
More important as a form of labor was indentured servitude. Most indentured servants were poor Europeans who wanted to escape harsh conditions and take advantage of opportunities in America. They traded four to seven years of their labor in exchange for transatlantic passage. At first indetured servants came mainly from England, but later they came increasingly from Ireland, Wales and Germany. They were primarily although not exclusively, young males. Once in the colonies, they were essentially temporary slaves; most served as agricultural workers although some, especially in the North, were taught skilled trades. During the 17th century, they performed most of the heavy labor in the Southern colonies and also provided bulk immigrants to those colonies. Improved conditions in England amongst other factors saw a sharp decline in the number of people willing to be indentured servants. This decline in the servant migration produced a labor crisis. To meet it, landowners turned to African slaves, who from the 1680s began to replaces indentured servants. For example the black majority of slaves in Virginia increased from about 7 % in population in 1680 to more than 40 % by the mid-18th century. During the first half of the 17th century, the Netherlands and Portugal had dominated the African slave trade and the number of Africans available to English colonists was limited because the three countries competed for slave labor to produce crops in their American colonies. During the late 17th and 18th centuries, by contrast, naval superiority gave England a dominant position in the slave trade, and English traders transported millions of Africans across the Atlantic Ocean.
The transatlantic slave trade produced one of the largest forced migrations in history. From the early 16th to the mid-19th centuries, between 10 million and 11 million Africans were taken from their homes, herded onto ships where they were sometimes so tightly packed that they could barely moved, and sent to the strange new land. Since others died before boarding the ships, Africa's loss of population was even greater. By far the largest importers of slaves were Brazil and the Caribbean colonies, together, they received more than three-quarters of all Africans brought to the Americas. About 6 % of the total ((600,000 to 650,000 people)) came to what is now the United States.
Slavery spread quickly in the American colonies. At first the legal status of Africans in America was poorly defined, and some, like European indentured servants, managed to become free after several years of service. From the 1660s, however, the colonies began enacting laws that defined and regulated slave relations. Central to these laws was provision that black slaves, and the children of slave women, would serve for life. By the 1770s, slaves constituted about 40 % of the population of the Southern colonies, with the highest concentration in South Carolina, where more than half the people were slaves.
Slaves performed numerous tasks from cleaning forests to serving as guides, trappers, craftworkers, nurses and house servants, but they were most essential as agricultural laborers. Slaves were most numerous where landowners sought to grow staple crops for market, such as tobacco in the upper South (Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina) and rice in the lower South (South Carolina, Georgia). Slaves also worked on large wheat-producing estates in New York and on horse-breeding farms in Rhode Island, but climate and soil restricted development of commercial agriculture in the Northern colonies, and slavery never became as economically important as it did in the South. Slaves in the North were typically held in small numbers, and most served as domestic servants. Only in New York did they form more than 10 % of the population, and in the North as a whole less than 5 % of the inhabitants were slaves.
By the mid-18th centuy, American slavery had acquired a number of distinctive features. More than 90 % of American slaves lived in the South where conditions constrated sharply with those to both the south and north. In Caribbean colonies, such as Jamaica and Saint-Domingue ((present-day Haiti)), blacks outnumbers whites by more than ten to one and slaves often lived on huge estates with hundreds of other slaves. In Northern colonies, blacks were few and slaves were typically held in small groups of less than five. The South, by contrast, was neither overwhelmingly white nor overwhelmingly black; slaves formed a large minority of the population, and most slaves lived on a small and medium-sized holdings containing between 5 to 50 slaves.
The second distintive characteristic of slavery in the United States was in many ways the most important: in contrast to slaves in most other parts of the Americas, those in the United States experienced natural population growth. Elsewhere, in regions as diverse as Brazil, Jamaica, Saint-Domingue and Cuba slave mortality rates exceeded birth rates, and growth of the slave population depended on the importation of new slaves from Africa. As soon as the importation ended, the slave population began to declind. At first, deaths among slaves exceeded births in the American colonies, but in the 18th century the birth rates rose in those colonies, mortality rates fell, and the slave population became self-reproducing. This transition, which occured earlier in the upper than in the lower South, meant that even after slave imports were outlawed in 1808, the number of slaves continued to grow rapidly. During the next 50 years, the slave population of the United States more than tripled, from about 1.2 million to almost 4 million in 1860. the natural growth of the slave population meant that slavery could survive without new slave imports.
Natural population growth also hastended the transition from an African to an African American slave population. By the 1770s, only about 20 % of slaves in the colonies were African-born, although the concentration of Africans remained higher in South Carolina and Georgia. After 1808 the proportion of African-bon slaves became tiny. the emergence of native-born slave population had a numerous important consequences. For example, among African-born slaves, who were imported for their ability to perform physical labor, there were few children and men outnumbered women by about two to one. In contrast, American-born slaves began their slave careers as children and included approximately even numbers of males and females. Masters went through a similar process of Americanization. These born in America usually felt at home on their holdings. Caribbean planters sought to make their fortunes quickly and then retire to a life of leisure in England. American slaveholders, by contrast, were less often absentee owners. Instead, they typically took an active role in running their farms and plantations.