Slavery in the American Colonies

Slavery in the Colonies

The Triangular Trades

1. British manufactured goods were sent to Africa and the colonies

2. Colonial products were sent to Europe 3. Slaves from Africa were sent to the New World 4. Since trade centered upon slavery in some form,

free colonists believed that freedom meant in part the power and right to enslave others

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Atlantic Trade Patterns

“Triangle” TradeSlaves, Molasses, Rum & other Colonial trading

Smuggling

The Middle Passage

1. What is it? Trip across the Atlantic 2. Slaves were crammed aboard ships for

maximum profit3. Shipping insurance

a. Sharksb. Slave ships in port

Slavery in the Colonies

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Architect’s design of a Slave Ship

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The Slave Trade in the Atlantic World, 1460–1770

Slavery in the Colonies

Chesapeake Slavery

1. Chesapeake slavery was based on tobacco 2. Chesapeake plantations tended to be smaller

and daily interactions between masters and slaves were more extensive

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Slavery in the Colonies3. Slavery made the Chesapeake a region with elaborate

hierarchy of degrees of freedom

TOP

BOTTOM

LARGEPLANTERS

YEOMAN FARMERS (OWNERS)

INDENTURED SERVANTS& TENANT FARMERS

(RENTERS)

SLAVES

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Slavery in the Colonies

4. With the consolidation of a slave society, race took on more and more importance as a line of social division

a. Liberties of free blacks were stripped away

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Slavery in the Colonies

Slavery South of the Chesapeake: The Rice Kingdom

1. South Carolina and Georgia slavery based on rice 2. Rice and indigo required large-scale cultivation3. “Carolina is in the spring a paradise, in the summer a

hell, and in the autumn a hospital”4. Demand for slaves makes South Carolina and Georgia

predominantly slavea. By 1770, the number of South Carolina slaves had reached

100,000, well over half the colony’s population

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Major trade exports

Rice & Indigo

Tobacco

Foodstuffs (wheat, beef,

corn, fish)

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Slavery in the Colonies

Slavery in the North

1. Subsistence family farms means slavery was far less important

2. Less fear of slaves meant that slave laws were less harsh than in the South

3. Slaves mainly in cities, particularly in New York and Philadelphia

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Slavery in the Colonies

African-American Cultures

1. In the Chesapeake, slaves learned English, were part of the Great Awakening, and were exposed to white culture

2. In South Carolina and Georgia, two very different black societies emerged a. Rice plantations remained distinctly African b. Urban servants assimilated into Euro-American culture

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Slavery in the Colonies

Resistance to Slavery

1. A common thread for African-Americans was the desire for freedom a. Many slaves ran away to Florida or cities

2. The first eighteenth-century slave uprising occurred in New York City in 1712

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Slavery in the Colonies

Natchez Revolt 1729

1. slaves unite with local Indian tribe2. kill 1/10th of Louisiana Europeans3. French ally with other tribes and enslaved Africans4. Natchez and slaves defeated

Stono Rebellion 1739

1. slave revolts are constant2. largest slave revolt pre-Revolutionary War3. 100+ slaves stopped by white militia

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Slave Population 1770