Chapter 4Slavery and Empire

Mr. Logan GreeneAP United States History

West Blocton High School

Chapter Objectives• Trace the development of the system of slavery, and discuss the way

it became entrenched in the Americas.• Describe the effects of the slave trade on both enslaved Africans and

on the economic and political life of Africa.• How did slavery in the North differ from slavery in the South?• Describe the process of acculturation involved in becoming an

African-American. In what ways did slaves “Africanize” the South?• Explain the connection between the institution of slavery and the

building of a commercial empire?• In what ways did colonial policy encourage the growth of racism?

Beginning of African Slavery• African slaves first came to the New World to work

the Spanish sugar plantations of the Caribbean• At the same time the Portuguese began expanding

major sugar production in Brazil• At the same time the Dutch expanded the desire for

sugar in Europe adding to demand and cementing the need for the plantations

• The slaves originated from areas in Western Africa were communities practiced sophisticated farming techniques and adapted well to plantation life

The African Slave Trade• Over the 400 years of the slave trade approximately

10 – 12 million slaves were moved from Africa to the New World

• The vast majority of these slaves went to the sugar plantations of the Caribbean or South America (in fact only 1 in 20 went to the British colonies)

• Most slaves were young men aged 15 to 30 most suited for fieldwork

• Virtually all the countries of Europe participated in the slave trade with African traders

Enslavement and the Middle Passage• Slavers routinely caught Africans, split up family and

ethnic groups, and then penned them until shipment to the New World

• The travel across the Atlantic was known as the Middle Passage in which hundreds of slaves were put into small spaces on slave ships

• There was no sanitation and a death rate of 20% was not uncommon and considered acceptable by traders

The New World• Many times the cargo of a ship would be sent to a

single wealthy planter or slave trader who would then keep the slaves he wished and sell the rest

• Other times the group was auctioned off one by one to the highest bidders

• In the English colonies the majority of slaves were sent to work the fields of the tobacco plantations in Virginia and the Carolinas

The Effect on Africa• As the slave trade increased and European power

became global power Africa lost its semblance of independence and power

• West Africa especially collapsed both culturally and economically

• Many leading West Africans quit independent endeavors such as farming to instead become slave catchers

North American Slave Societies• The first African slaves arrived in 1619 but for the

first few decades Chesapeake planters still used mostly indentured servants creating an odd situation of a society with some slaves

• However, by 1675 the Chesapeake was turning into a truly slave society where the majority of labor was completed by enslaved Africans

• As the slave trade increased heavily in the 1700 the English tightened restrictions and rules on slavery setting the stage for an explosion of tobacco plantations

Tobacco Colonies• As the 1700’s began the European desire for

tobacco increased heavily so the colonies responding by increasing production (up to 25% of the value of all colonial exports)

• Tobacco expansion led to a correlative increase in slavery

• As well the Tobacco plantations began practicing with slave families and births

• By 1730 the slave populations of the Chesapeake were self-sustaining

Deep South• As South Carolina grew into a full fledged colony

slavery grew immediately• Originally, South Carolina practiced Indian slavery

but quickly switched over to African slavery by the 1730s

• As opposed to the Chesapeake area with sometimes small tobacco plantations, South Carolina practiced rice cultivation which led to major large scale corporation style plantations with at least 30 slaves

Slavery in the North• None of the northern colonies were “slave

societies”• However, in some of the commercial farming areas

of the middle colonies especially slavery was an accepted form of labor

• As well in most of the port cities of the North most of the wealthy families had at least some house servants

• However, the Quakers of Pennsylvania were vehement anti-slavery proponents

From African to African-Americans• As many Africans arrived in the 1700’s they were met by

numerous “country” Africans who had been born in America

• These groups intermingled and combined colonial cultural identities with traditional African cultural ideals into what became an “African-American” society

• Logically slaves were completely dominated by their work lives and the relationship to this work depended on the size of the plantation, on smaller farms they might work side by side with their owners where as on large farms they might be out of touch with their owners

Families and Communities• Slave codes prevent slave marriages and family

legal status but the family unit still was maintained as the center of slave culture and life

• Planters commonly sold family members to break up families and prevent the possibility of rebellion

• Despite this throughout the large plantation areas where families were not broken up so commonly family units began many traditions that built the ideal of the “African-American”

Culture• As the 1700s wore on the development of African-

American culture• This was due to high birth rates and a continual

influx of slaves• African-Americans showed their pension and talent

for music, song, and dance while on the plantations• As well, there was even a distinctive African-

American language

Southern Africanization• As slave culture was more of a part of high levels of

Southern society there was more of an infiltration of African ideals into the South

• African cooking techniques appeared in Southern food

• African women raised high class white children• African-American song and dance could be seen in

white styles

Resistance and Violence• Overall, the slave system was built on violence, fear, and

brutality• Despite the constant mental suffering Africans constantly

fought back against their overseers• When caught, those who ran were severely punished to be

used as examples• Organized revolts did occur including New York in 1712,

Virginia in the 1720s, and Chesapeake in 1730• Also isolated smaller revolts occurred in the deeper South• These revolts were brutally put down

Slavery and Empire• Slavery and the products from it greatly improved

Great Britain’s economic power• Later the cotton produced by the South jumpstarts

the Industrial Revolution by fueling Britain’s cotton mills

• Slavery also perpetuated the Triangular Trade from Europe to Africa to America which built the backbone of European commerce for two centuries

Mercantilism• European powers believed colonies existed SOLELY

to benefit the mother country and created a new system of international economies known as mercantilism

• Mercantilism existed to control colonies and make sure maximum amounts of wealth were funneled back to the mother country

• Power in countries was rested solely in the amount of gold and silver it acquired

Wars for Empires• Numerous colonial wars break out over trade and

various issues between the great European powers• All of these wars aimed to deal the decisive blow of

mercantilism and dominate world commerce• All of these wars led to continued conflict between

France and Britain especially with Spain and the Dutch constantly dragged into the fray

British Colonial Regulation• Britain consistently passed regulatory actions to

control the colonial economy and keep the bounds of mercantilism as strong as possible

• Parliament passed the Navigation Acts between 1651 and 1696, these acts controlled trade and named certain items that could only be shipped to England

• As well, England set out strict measures to control colonial business ventures and keep the colonies at a certain level of financial dependence

Colonial Economy• Despite the restrictions of the Navigation Acts the

colonial economies still flourished• The agricultural producers of the colonies produced

great number of crops for sale and profited immensely

• The merchant classes sold the items under the Navigation Acts to their maximum profit and also sold whatever goods they could profit on that were not under the Acts

• This created a varied and extremely healthy economy

Slave Structure• Slavery produced a specific social structure of high

class planters at the top, merchants and smaller planters came next, and lastly were the yeoman farmers and free blacks who survived through subsistence farming

• At the same time all white colonists shared in being above their black counterparts and laws existed to prevent this from being corrupted

• Marriage between races was forbidden; however, mixed race individuals were born and this led to difficult circumstances for all invovled

Chapter Objectives• Trace the development of the system of slavery, and discuss the way

it became entrenched in the Americas.• Describe the effects of the slave trade on both enslaved Africans and

on the economic and political life of Africa.• How did slavery in the North differ from slavery in the South?• Describe the process of acculturation involved in becoming an

African-American. In what ways did slaves “Africanize” the South?• Explain the connection between the institution of slavery and the

building of a commercial empire?• In what ways did colonial policy encourage the growth of racism?