Slavery In America

Slavery: the result of racial superiority or economics? This question has risen many debates among historians, and rightly so as slavery dates back to ancient cultures like the Romans and the Greeks. Such practices even link back to ancient Mesopotamia in the Hammurabi code, the earliest known system of laws, to the founding of the New World. In all of these forms, slaves were used to benefit the economy through labor. Indeed, racism was a result of slavery because of the white superiority complex that was so prevalent in Europe, but it’s origins are not due to racial prejudice. The practice of slavery throughout history is not attributable to racism, but instead the effect of growing economic needs. Slavery in America started in 1619 when …show more content…
In ancient Rome, the slaves were used to work in the plantations, houses, or workplaces of wealthy citizens. ¨The Italian economy depended on abundant slave labor¨, and like the New World and the Caribbean, ancient Rome used slaves to better the economy. Ancient Greece also had slave labor that was ¨an essential element of the ancient world¨ because of their ability to contribute to the cultivation of crops, industrial work, and also domestic work. People became enslaved not because of their color, but because of varying factors like kidnapping, land conquests, debt, poverty, etc.. For example, in ancient Egypt, Egyptians were sold into slavery because of debt or because they sold themselves to escape poverty. One can see that however people were enslaved in ancient times, it was not because of racial prejudices but instead of the economic needs that had to be fulfilled. While the cost of slaves were expensive, the labor did make the owners money. The economic strain in the New World in the 1600´s introduced slave labor because it made sense to import workers who would do the hard toil where the owners would reap the profits. Especially in ancient times, people only became slaves because of economic reasons and would only work to benefit the economy. Like the Romans, Greeks, and Egyptians, the act of slavery in the New World originated from financial requirements needed to be met to

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