Causes and Effects of Slavery in the U.S.

The slave trade, which was first controlled by Portugal, was now controlled by other European nations. In the late 1600's, Spain, Holland, England, France and Denmark were all sending ships to West Africa. The slave trade was becoming big business (Goodman, 7). Selection of the slaves by the traders was a painstaking process. Ships from England would pull up on the coast of Africa, and the captains would set off towards the coast on small ships.

They wanted to seek better life in North American, but they were sold to colonial rulers as slaves. We all know that selling black slaves was the most vicious dealing in human history. However, the huge quantity of profits of selling black slaves became the main source of capital accumulation for Americans. In 18th century, black slaves had decisive influences on development of south plantation. Since the products of south plantation were sold in world market, so the plantation economy was the commercial production of capitalism.

Race was a very important factor in American slavery. In other nations, slaves would be of the same race as their master. An ex-slave could re-enter society with their past forgotten and be accepted once again. On the other hand, American slavery was closely connected to racial differences that led to racial segregation and discrimination. Master and slave could physically be distinguished from one another, which ultimately distinguished one as human and the other as chattel.

In the 17th century the basis of the work force, in mainly the Southern colonies were Europeans labourers, who as indentured servants, offered landowners a solution to their labour shortage. Beginning in the 1680s, the mainland colonies underwent a massive shift, from indentured servants to slave labour, due to requirement of labour in the South. From the early 17th century Africans were shipped to North America to be sold as slaves, against their freewill. Slavery continued to expand even after 1808, when it was declared illegal. African slave trading became the main problem dividing Americans, and could even of been a factor of many, which led to the American Civil War.

These were the questions that the Government had to ask themselves about the expansion. Therefore thi... ... middle of paper ... ...1There were more slaves in the Southern states of America, as the conditions were better for the slaves to work on a plantation to make cotton. Conflicts started between the “Slave” and “Free” states and increased more as religious groups such as the Quakers began to argue that slavery was a moral evil. As a result of this conflict slavery was abolished in the Northern states between 1774 and 1804. In the South slavery was an essential as they needed large amounts of unskilled labour for their cotton plantations.

The militant abolition movement agreed in the need to free slaves, but in contrast they called for an immediate end to injustice. They believed African Americans should be considered equal members of American society, for they also helped take part in the creation of America. They transformed the idea of what it means to be American is not by race but by birth. With the beginning of the debate of slavery and changes lead by the market revolution, there was collapse of political parties and the ignition of the Civil War. The Dred Scott case was the ruling of the Supreme Court on the issue of whether or not Dred Scott would be considered free from slavery since living in free states for years.

Berkley thought that arming the Jamestown rubble was too dangerous to be allowed. After Bacons death the Virginia government reacted to the spectacle of interracial servant solidarity by slowly eliminating white servitude and expanding the then new institution of black chattel slavery. By doing this he could guarantee a permanent labor force and win the support of his constituents. Because of efforts like that of Governor Berkley, Virginia had become the primary site for the development of black slavery in the Americas. By the 1650s some of the indentured servants had earned their freedom.

Slavery is colored people who have to work for other people for other people.Slavery first started in North American colonies to 1619. Slavery started in Virginia, Jamestown in 1619. In 1619, the Dutch introduced the first captured Africans to America, planting the seeds of a slavery system that evolved into a nightmare of abuse and cruelty that would ultimately divide the nation. An argument started in the 19th Century and also the a civil war in (1862-1865. Though the Union victory it had freed the nation’s 4 million slaves, the legacy of slavery continued to influence American history, from the loud confused years of history in (1865-77) to the civil rights movement that came out in the 1960s, a century after being freed.

Since it was becoming a profitable crop in the Americas. The rise of the “demand for African slaves” (Hine 36) grew. Growth of the Atlantic Slave Trade caused for the transformation of a “harsher form of slavery” (Hine 36) were race was the basis of enslavement of people. The ones who suffered out of this form of slavery was the “Africans and American Indians” (Hine 36). Due to their color of skin and culture they were discriminated and seen as chattel to their masters.

The Transatlantic Slave Trade took place across the Atlantic Ocean in the 16th century and lasted till the 19th centuries. The way that the Atlantic Slave Trade came about was cruel but not unthinkable. The capture and enslavement of African Americans was inevitable, the only question was when. A lot more slaves were taken to the South America than to the North America because the South “needed” them more. The South Atlantic economic system was based on producing crops, making goods and other things to sell.