Colonial American Slavery

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The study of slavery in the development of early America is an extremely complex, yet vitally important part of American History. There are hundreds of thousands of documents, debates, and historical studies available today. According to Ms. Goetz, the assistant professor of history at Rice University, who states, in The Southern Journal of History, that in addition to geographic and chronological diversity in the America’s, assessment of experiences of colonial slaves is extremely complex, “especially in the context of three European colonial powers, vigorous Indian groups, and free and enslaved blacks”(Goetz, 599). In studying the institution of slavery, careful investigation and analysis of the developing colonies, including their emerging economies and societies, in an extremely diverse New World is often required. Ms. Goetz also explains that the amount of research available on slavery is an amazing in numbers, “Indeed, sometimes it seems as if we know too much about race and slavery, rather than too little”(Goetz 600).

Exploration and discovery in the America’s resulted because of European monarch chartered voyages of the Atlantic, following recent explorations of the Atlantic and development of new navigational techniques. The monarchial powers sent various voyages, inspired by the desire for religious fervor, political ambition, but most of all, profit. Imperial expansion was sparked by “ambitious economic greed”. (McCarthy) Following a number of attempts, each imperial power which included Spain, Britain, Portugal, and France had established settlements. In various regions, each came in contact with the indigenous peoples of the America’s, known as Native Americans. Native Americans had recently established mo...

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