1. Origins of Slavery in America
APUSH – Spiconardi

2. Why Slavery? Profits Africa has a history of slavery*
Sugar, tobacco, and rice were extremely profitable
Plantation owners wanted to maximize their profits
Slave labor allows for maximization of profits
Africa has a history of slavery*
Supplying slaves was a way of life in the West African State of Dahomey
European guns were exchanged for slaves
Dahomey exported 20,000 slaves annually
Slaves could not claim the protections of English common law as could indentured servants
Terms of service never expire
*Some kingdoms like Benin had prohibited the export of slaves

3. The Middle Passage Conditions Statistics
Refer to Olaudah Equiano’s excerpt
Statistics
11 – 12 million slaves make journey to the New World
70% of slaves are male
Most females go to East Africa and Asia
Mortality rates
3 week journey = 5% mortality rate
3 month journey = 20% mortality rate
1.5 million died overall (14%)
1 in 10 voyages had a staged revolt
100,000 died in these insurrections

4. Slavery in the Colonies
The United States imports 6% the slaves who journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean
70% go to VA and SC
20% to Maryland
10% to the North

5. Slavery in the Chesapeake
The first Africans arrive in VA in 1619.
No mention of slavery until 1640s
John Punch
African indentured servant who ran away to Maryland
As punishment, a judge sentenced him to lifetime servitude
Two European men were also caught, but sentenced to extended indentures

6. Slavery in the Chesapeake
On average, a slave owner owned slaves
Slavery and the Law
1662  In cases where one parent was free and the other enslaved, the child’s status was determined by the status of the mother
What might this promote?
Sexual abuse
1667  Conversion to Christianity did not release a slave from bondage
No need to have guilt about enslaving fellow Christians
Additional laws
Interracial offspring illegitimate
White women who birth a black man’s baby could be severely punished
Could free a slave unless he was transported out of VA
…These two words, Negro and Slave [have] by custom grown homogenous and convertible
*British America did not distinguish mixed-races. The law treated everyone with African ancestry as black

7. Slavery in the Chesapeake
Impact of Bacon’s Rebellion (1676)
Virginia further shifted to slavery fearing another rebellion of white indentured servants
By 1720, Africans made up 20% of Chesapeake population
By 1740, nearly 40%
By 1770, nearly half of Virginia’s white families owned at least one slave
Slavery became more brutal and more like the West Indian style
Despite this, slavery was more brutal in Caribbean and South Carolina

8. Slavery in Chesapeake The Gang System
Tobacco requires a lot of care, but isn’t an arduous task
Work completed from sunrise to sunset
Supervisors constantly around the slaves
Whippings and beatings used to ensure steadfast work
English spoken
Slaves in Chesapeake assimilate to English culture

9. Slavery in the Lowcountry (SC coast and Georgia border)
Rice was the main crop produced
Rice Cultivation
Conditions are oppressive
Rice requires stagnant water
Swamps are drained and irrigation systems created
Large plantations required in order to make back initial investment
Average slave owner had 30 – slaves
What conditions might be faced in this environment?
Mosquito diseases, exhaustive labor, and high death rates

10. Slavery in the Lowcountry

11. Slavery in the Lowcountry
The Task System
Slaves in the Lowcountry were not under constant supervision as plantation owners left the plantation in hot weather
Retained their own languages
Work with whom they pleased
Once they completed their task they could leave the field
Gullah
A culture and language that mixes various African roots and traditions

12. Slavery in the Lowcountry
Due to large number of slaves needed and high death rates on rice plantations, the arrival of African slaves was continuous in the Lowcountry
Allows for “re-Africanization” of the black population
Population statistics
By 1705, blacks comprise majority of South Carolina’s population
In 1762, one district had 76 white males and 1,000 slaves

13. Dealing with the Slave Population
The overseer went to my father one morning and said, “Bob, I’m gonna whip you this morning.” Daddy said, “I ain’t done nothing,” and he said, “I know it, I’m going to whip you to keep you from doing nothing, “ and he hit him with that cowhide – You know it would cut the blood out of you with every lick if they hit you hard.”
Source: “Memories of a Slave Childhood”

14. Slave Reproduction
Since laws stated that the offspring of female slaves were slaves, planters increase their workforce by buying female slaves
By 1720, women made up more than one-third of African population in Maryland
Natural reproduction of slaves
What will Chesapeake planters no longer have to do?
“Be kind and indulgent to the breeding wenches and do not force them when with child upon any service or hardship that will be injurious to them”