Colonial Immigration and Slavery

Objectives Explain how European immigration to the colonies changed between the late 1600s and 1700s. Analyze the development of slavery in the colonies. Describe the experience of enslaved Africans in the colonies.

Terms and People indentured servants – poor immigrants who paid for passage to the colonies by agreeing to work for four to seven years triangular trade – three-part voyage that brought enslaved Africans to America Middle Passage – route across the Atlantic in which enslaved Africans were carried in brutal conditions Phillis Wheatley – first African American to publish a book of poems

Which major groups of immigrants came to Britain’s American colonies in the 1700s? In the 1700s, great numbers of Europeans from Germany and Scotland immigrated to the colonies. These newcomers reshaped American colonial society.

Immigrants from many backgrounds brought diversity to the colonies Immigrants from many backgrounds brought diversity to the colonies. Many immigrants from England came as indentured servants. They agreed to work for four to seven years to pay for their passage.

New groups immigrated in the 1700s Scots and Scotch-Irish Germans Became the largest immigrant group Became the second largest immigrant group Motivated by poverty and easy legal access as part of Great Britain Motivated by war, taxes and religious persecution Worked as merchants in the tobacco trade and farmed from Pennsylvania to the Carolinas Mostly settled and farmed in Pennsylvania

Diversity in the colonies meant that No group was large enough to impose their beliefs on other groups. People realized that when they got along, everyone benefited.

Colonists used slaves as a source of labor. Farmers, particularly in southern colonies, needed a work force to grow labor-intensive crops of tobacco, rice, and indigo. Virginia passed a law decreeing that any servant, not a Christian in their native land, was to be enslaved. Traders began to purchase slaves from African merchants and transport them to the colonies to sell to plantation owners.

Africans were taken by force from West African countries to the colonies and Europe.

By the mid-1700s, the triangular trade was well-established. Manufactured goods were traded for captured Africans. Slave traders carried Africans across the Atlantic in the Middle Passage. Enslaved Africans were sold to colonists for raw materials. Traders took raw materials to England to be turned into manufactured goods. By the mid-1700s, the triangular trade was well-established.

During the Middle Passage, Africans were shackled together into small spaces below a ship’s deck.

Slavery in the Southern Colonies was cruel. Enslaved Africans worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, in fields, growing labor-intensive crops. Most enslaved Africans were given limited clothing and food and lived in crude huts on plantations. Enslaved Africans were closely supervised by white overseers who often whipped those who resisted being enslaved. Slave labor represented a small minority of the workforce in New England and in the Middle Colonies. They worked as farmhands, sailors, dockworkers, and house servants.

Africans reacted to enslavement by Rebelling Uprisings of Africans against their white owners often occurred. Running away Africans ran away and lived in forests and swamps, or fled to Spanish Florida where they were free. Resisting Africans subtly and purposefully worked slowly or feigned illness.

Some freed slaves spoke out against slavery. After he gained his freedom, Olaudah Equiano wrote a widely read book about his enslavement.

Enslaved Africans contributed to the development of a new American culture. They modified African instruments and music, and created new musical traditions. The banjo is a modified African instrument. Phillis Wheatley became the first African American poet to publish a book of poems in America.