The Role Of Slavery In Colonial America

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The first slaves came to the Americas in the early sixteenth century when the Spanish and the Portuguese brought slaves to the Dominican Republic (National Geographic Society). Slavery then spread to other areas in the Americas. The first slaves in the colonial United States were in Jamestown, Virginia in the early seventeenth century since the settlers needed a cheaper form of labor to build their economic foundation to sustain their colony in the eyes of the British crown. By the beginning of the eighteenth century it is estimated that between six and seven million slaves were in the colonial United States who worked for the then booming tobacco industry (Slavery in America). In this time, slavery was masked as yearly contracts for indentured …show more content…
Originally, slavery was started because of a demand for cheap and plentiful labor (Slavery in America). The concept was originally used by the Spanish and Portuguese colonizers who believed people who did not adhere to Catholicism were sub human and in need of saving, therefore, making it justifiable for them to mistreat and abuse people outside of the Catholic church (Wood). However, this concept saw scrutiny in the eyes of many other colonial powers since the people who were enslaved because they were not Catholic could become free if they choose to convert. This mean that labor could become temporary. Suddenly a new form of slavery arose, one that is based on race rather than religion. The colonizers in the new world then set the foundation of slavery by using African slaves since it is impossible to switch race and suddenly become free, thus solidifying the colony’s’ source of cheap labor (Wood). Slavery essentially built the economic foundation in colonial America due to its contribution to numerous cash crops such as rice, indigo, and tobacco. It became a significant portion of the southern economy and reached the point where almost one third of the population were slaves (Slavery in America). This indicates that even if slavery came into the question of one’s …show more content…
These new territories lead to the establishment of new states meaning Congress had to come to a conclusion of which new states were to be declared slave states and which new states were to be declared free. This conflict led to the Missouri Compromise where it was determined that Missouri would be declared a slave state while all new territory south of the 36°30′ parallel would be declared a slave state and all new territory north would be free (Halabi). However, this further set the cultural divide between the northern and southern regions of the United States. The north had the foundation of its economic prosperity and cultural identity through the Industrial Revolution and through urbanization. In contrast, the south prospered because of slavery and a livelihood in rural agriculture. By announcing slave and free states to the new territory acquired in the Louisiana Purchase and Organ territory, it was a method of the north and the south to push their ideology and culture to the new territory. The conflict between the north and the south set the foundation of the tensions regarding slavery in the Civil
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