Introduction
Legalized slavery joins the ranks of the most condemned and feared realities of the past. From a historical viewpoint, exploring slavery’s roots and trends involved in forced labor systems’ development in the Thirteen Colonies offers valuable lessons for humanity. The slave system actively grew in the 17th century due to the emerging profitable agricultural opportunities that differed depending on the territory, causing differences in slave populations.
The Growth of the Slave Labor System
The gradual growth and institutionalization of the slave labor system in the American colonies was due to the increasing demand for affordable labor. At the dawn of the 1600s, the so-called New World developed an intense need for agricultural crop production, resulting in the intensification of Africans’ migration across the Atlantic (Corbett et al., 2021). The necessity for cash crops was especially high with regard to tobacco and sugar plantations, prompting the popularization of slave labor. Despite their initial reliance on servant labor, the English colonists in North America started to give pride of place to importing African slaves by the end of the 17th century (Corbett et al., 2021). By the mid-1620s, over 300.000 Africans had been sent to the New World to find themselves having to obey the rules of violent slave societies (Corbett et al., 2021). Therefore, slavery’s growth was inseparable from an increased establishment of plantation farms.
Colonies’ Reliance on Slave Labor: Comparison/Explanation
Some colonies, including Virginia and South Carolina, relied on slave labor more than colonies in the north, which was linked with various areas’ differing agricultural potentials. The Virginia Colony was known for its increased reliance on enslaved populations’ labor. In particular, Africans brought to that colony would have to process and harvest tobacco for the rest of their lives (Corbett et al., 2021). Virginia’s opportunity to establish a tobacco-based economy, which promised significant profits, contributed to the search for cheap labor (Corbett et al., 2021). Between the 1670s and the 1730s, South Carolina had one of the highest ratios of enslaved plantation workers to freed laborers among the American colonies (Grant, 2015). As for South Carolina’s preference for slave labor, the increased demand for unfree workers stemmed from the combination of the area’s agricultural factors with the African population’s awareness of how to grow rice (Grant, 2015). South Carolina was suitable for the cultivation of rice, one of the labor-intensive but profitable plants (Ferguson & Goldberg, 2019). These considerations made the imports of unfree labor an attractive option for some colonies.
Reliance on Slave Labor and Its Impacts on Colonies’ Development
The American colonies’ differing agriculture-related motivations to acquire slave labor affected their development by causing economic and social changes. In Louisiana, despite its agricultural capacity, slaves’ family rights were respected (Usner, 2014). In the pre-slavery period, Virginians heavily relied on the indentured servant system and the so-called headright system to cope with the existing labor demands (Corbett et al., 2021; Mittelberger, n.d.). Until 1619, immigrants from Africa working as servants could still purchase their own land as slavery had not been institutionalized (Corbett et al., 2021). By 1619, Virginia had acquired some economic stability from tobacco cultivation, making transitions to cheaper slave labor even more attractive (Corbett et al., 2021). The economic motivations for the institutionalization of slavery resulted in the emergence of a planter class, attempts to justify racial inequality, and financial gains (Corbett et al., 2021). Thus, inter-colony differences had profound impacts on colonies’ development.
Conclusion
In summary, the themes of profitability and lands’ agricultural potential prompted the growth of slave labor systems, creating inter-colony dissimilarities in the degrees of reliance on unfree labor. The constantly growing demand for commercial crops caused plantation development and the utilization of slaves of African descent. The feasibility of crop cultivation in various colonies contributed to differences in diverse territories’ reliance on slaves rather than servants.
References
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Ferguson, L., & Goldberg, K. (2019). From the Earth: Spirituality, medicine vessels, and consecrated bowls as responses to slavery in the South Carolina lowcountry. Journal of African Diaspora Archaeology and Heritage, 8(3), 173-201.
Grant, D. (2015). “Civilizing” the colonial subject: The co-evolution of state and slavery in South Carolina, 1670–1739. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 57(3), 606-636.
Mittelberger, G. (n.d.). Gottlieb Mittelberger on the misfortune indentured servants. American History from Revolution to Reconstruction and Beyond.
Usner, D. H. (2014). Rescuing early America from nationalist narratives: An intra-imperial approach to colonial Canada and Louisiana. Historical Reflections/Réflexions Historiques, 40(3), 1-19.