The Origins of Slavery

Slavery was not preconceived, but it was inevitable. This can be seen by the accidents and coincidences that occurred in the early 17th century. When a Dutch trader had been blown off course, the first ship of African slaves arrived in 1619 by accident. After the arrival in 1619, it was cheaper to buy indentured servants. This resulted in the population of slaves growing slowly at first. But, as the number of indentured servants decreased, more slaves were needed in the colonies because there was a labor shortage. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries statutes were being written to deal with the growing number of slaves. Virginia’s statutes illustrate this:

All servants imported and brought into this country, by sea or land, who

were not Christians in their native country, shall be accounted as slaves, and

as such be here bought and sold...

By the mid 18th century stereotypes were being created to rationalize slavery because slaves were present in every colony up and

. . .

View the whole essay, without interruption

What might have started out as a rationalization process to ease the work load inevitably would be transformed into a way of life for the colonists. Whites believed that Africans were inferior to them, Olaudah Equiano, an African, recounts an event that illustrates this perfectly:

I have seen a negro man staked to the ground, and cut most shockingly, and then his ears cut off bit by bit, because he had been connected with a white woman who was a prostitute: as if it were no crime in the whites to rob an innocent African girl of her virtue. (Making A Nation, 71)

With New York and Pennsylvania offering greater opportunity for poor whites, the supply of servants dried up, so the number of slaves entering the Chesapeake region grew. ” (Making A Nation, 71)

Slavery was racially motivated since predominantly all blacks were slaves and with the 1662 statute in effect they would be slaves for life, as would their descendants. Eventually rationalization led to a way of life for the English colonists. This led to the supply of indentured servants drying up, and at the same time more slaves were becoming available. This resulted in the labeling of the Africans as indentured servants. The colonists did not have any slaves prior to this occurrence; all the colonists had in terms of alternative labor had been indentured servants. Even if the slaves were released they still were African, and they would remain in the shadow of their stereotype of inferiority, making it inconceivable to lead a normal life.

The gradual shift from indentured servants to slaves began when a Dutch slave trader exchanged his cargo of 20 Africans for food because he had been blown off course.

Because slavery was racially motivated, it placed a slave label on the Africans. Virginia emerged with new statutes, the first one appearing in 1662 stating that “All children borne in this country shalbe bond or free only according to the condition of the mother. The analysis of this system, even though it is extremely old, proves that it was controlled and profitable.

Approximate Word count = 707
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)

Simply subscribe to view this paper, and 100,000 others.