Labor in Colonial America” to “The Origins of Slave labor
It is a common held belief that slavery was a direct result of racism and that it appeared suddenly. As a matter of fact, racism developed gradually and was the consequence of certain business and economic decisions.In Colonial America, there were three contending systems of production in Labor. There was the plantation system, which consisted in having large farms, and hired or enslaved laborers. Another system was the family based farming in New England and the Middle Colonies, which produces primarily for the family and local community. The third system of production was the artisan crafts. There were 100 or more crafts (carpentry, printing…). The three main forms of European (White) Labor were, voluntary, semi-voluntary and involuntary. The voluntary laborers were indentured or went of their own freewill. The indentures would agree to work without pay for a certain amount of time. The semi-voluntary laborers were mostly young apprentices, while the involuntary laborers were transportees. Two different experiences in Colonial America took place; one in the city of Jamestown in Chesapeake, and the other in New England. -Jamestown was founded as a profit-making corporation with “God, Glory, Gold” as a sloga . . .
Gradually through time, slavery became more important: in the 1650’s there were only 500 Africans in the Chesapeake area. Their relations with the Indians were disastrous meaning a lot of people were killed. This scapegoat was the local Indians. The rich planters and militant Indians turned against Bacon. They found their answer to their labor shortage problems by having an African servitude. Finally, in 1705, the Full Slave Code was created. Most deaths were caused by starvation. At first there were no laws applied to slaves and no angry free class. Bacon began attacking estates, sacking and eventually burnt Jamestown to the ground. Only 60 people had survived in 1609, out of the 800 who arrived in 1607. Since rich planters wanted to make as much money as possible, slavery started. Those who survived made claims on their land bringing about inequalities between rich and poor planters and creating rebellions such as Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676: Nathaniel Bacon, a poor farmer, decided to unite poor White and Black farmers against the rich planters. This encouraged Bacon and his followers to find a scapegoat against whom they could vent their frustrations and place the blame for their misfortunes.
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