The 1600’s were a time of expansion in the new world. Unfortunately the development of this area led slavery to be the main source of labor. As history teaches us slavery was used extensively in the new world. The main areas of concern of this paper are how slavery in the Caribbean carried over its practice in the American South. The slave system was implemented in the Caribbean on a larger scale before the South implemented their system. The slave plantations of the Caribbean served as a learning platform for the slavery system in the south. The development of Caribbean slave laws, slave revolts, transfer of information on this practice to the South and the South’s implementation of these slave laws, and the slave issues in check. The Caribbean …show more content…
First, they were proactive ahead of something occurring and they were more strictly enforced. Slave laws in the Caribbean were often made in response to a rebellion. In the South most of the states had laws regarding slaves even before they became a state and once they did become states they usually kept the laws they had and made them stronger. “Generally, the Legislative acts of 1791 and 1793 reconfirmed colonial era resolutions.” These legislative acts were put into place after North Carolina had become a state and these laws reinforced the pre-statehood slave codes, these laws also being enacted so shortly after statehood shows the importance of the slave laws, to the people in control. Laws like these were common across the South giving whites’ ultimate power. One law that was common across the South and helped keep this ultimate power was making slave’s testimony against whites illegal. This law showed that slave owners did not value these slaves as humans with valid thoughts, but as property. In most states if a slave was convicted of a crime and executed, the owner was paid the value of the slave. A different thing that the South’s slave system had from the Caribbean’s was the strict enforcement of these laws. Due to the laws in place the slave owners had nothing to lose in court, so fear was the main source control. One of the main methods of fear was the slave patrols. “White Southerners developed the voluntary institutions of patrols-known to slaves as “paterollers”-which were composed of private citizens, ready at a moment’s notice to arm and meet at designated points for vigilante purposes.” These patrols enforced the strict laws of the time and made sure that if slaves did escape, they would find them, punish them, and then return them to their owners if they didn’t kill them while punishing them. These laws and actions kept most of the slaves in check
The first arrivals of Africans in America were treated similarly to the indentured servants in Europe. Black servants were treated differently from the white servants and by 1740 the slavery system in colonial America was fully developed.
In the seventeenth century, European indentured labourers and African slaves in the Caribbean played an extremely important role in the success of these new colonies. The colonies were expensive and difficult to maintain control of as the wars from the home continent of Europe continued into the Americas as colonization became widespread. But in Jenny Shaw’s book Everyday Life in the Early English Caribbean, other questions can be drawn that have less to do with the European mother country and more to do with the common people. She focused more on the lives of the ordinary labourers working in the colonies, the indentured servants and African slaves and the critical role they played in the vast British Empire. From this, it can be inferred
In the seventeenth century, European indentured labourers and African slaves in the Caribbean play an extremely important part in the success of these new colonies. The colonies were expensive and difficult to maintain control of as the wars from the home continent of Europe continued into the Americas as colonization became widespread among these European powers. But in Jenny Shaw’s book Everyday Life in the Early English Caribbean, other questions can be drawn. Focusing more on the lives of the labourers working in the colonies, the indentured servants and African slaves and the role they played in a small part of the vast British Empire. That in this period there
The early settlers in British North America and New France have many similarities in regards to how they used slaves. These slaves were used to help the production of much recourse, cotton, wheat, sugar, and tobacco are just a few. They were also used as servants within their master’s house. Although they have many similarities, the slaves in British North America were treated far worse than those of New France. They were taken from their families, treated like wild animals, and brutally tortured for disobeying their master’s orders. This paper will identify the differences between slavery in New France and British North American colonies. It will also explain how extreme the consequence of rebellion was for slaves, and how slavery helped to populate and develop the business industry and the respective countries.
Slavery was the main resource used in the Chesapeake tobacco plantations. The conditions in the Chesapeake region were difficult, which lead to malnutrition, disease, and even death. Slaves were a cheap and an abundant resource, which could be easily replaced at any time. The Chesapeake region’s tobacco industries grew and flourished on the intolerable and inhumane acts of slavery.
Race is a direct product of the colonization of several European controlled settlements in the New World. It is a product of the tensions between the settlers and Natives in the early 1600’s and becomes more defined and stable with the increasing control of England over Jamestown. The growing need for labor led to the production in the slave industry and pokes as the very concept of freedom sought by many of the originating colonists. We are then brought to the question of why race was a factor in Slavery and how its creation was able to influence laws. In this essay I will argue that although the creation of slavery preceded the colonization of Jamestown, Virginia; it was not a defined law supported concept
Jamaica’s history is full of social unrest. The island was originally inhabited by the Arawaks. The Arawaks were a peaceful, pleasant race. In his History of the British West Indies, Sir Alan Burns says, "all accounts credit them with being generous-minded, affectionate and good-humoured" (37). Once Jamaica was "discovered" by Spain in 1494, however, the Arawaks, who had inhabited the island for centuries, quickly died off due to the harsh treatment of the Spaniards. Spain never really developed the land, however, and thus when British forces invaded in 1655, Spain chose not to focus much energy on defending the island.
supervised by blacks who directed the Indians in the arduous task of extracting the precious
The institution of slavery became very prominent in the culture of both the New England and Southern colonies. In the New England colonies the number of slave increased dramatically from 1730 to 1770 and in the Southern colonies slaves already were a large percentage of the population (Schaller et al. Pg.151). The reason for such a spike was not only due to the necessity of labor but also because in the culture of the colonies owning slaves was linked with gentility (Schaller et al. Pg.150). The reason why this idea was influenced by labor was because the introduction of African slaves was due to the need for labor, but as time went on and slavery became more normalized in the colonies, it resulted in slavery becoming part of the culture. Slavery took such a large part in the culture of the colonies that owning slaves was something to be proud
Slavery was the core of the North and South’s conflict. Slavery has existed in the New World since the seventeenth century prior to it being exclusive to race. During those times there were few social and political concerns about slavery. Initially, slaves were considered indentured servants who will eventually be set free after paying their debt(s) to the owner. In some cases, the owners were African with white servants. However, over time the slavery became exclusive to Africans and was no limited to a specific timeframe, but life. In addition, the treatment of slaves worsens from the Atlantic Slave trade to th...
The history of slavery in Latin America has been very much part of the history of European colonization and the development of America merchandises for the European market. “The massive forced migration of Africans in the Atlantic
The beginning of slavery in the Caribbean can be traced back to the emergence of piracy in the 16th and 17th centuries. This eventually led to the promotion of slave trading and sugar plantations. While enslaved on the sugar plantations, slaves were treated very poorly. Plantation owners treated their slaves so poorly that most were undernourished and diseased. Slaves were even forced to work on their "spare" time to provide for their own needs. Needless to say, slaves encountered cruel punishment that we can’t even comprehend. The slaves however, continually resisted white supremacy causing much tension between the two social classes. Despite this, a new social class was emerging, the free coloureds. This confused matters even worse and made for a bigger separation between white and slave. Eventually however, emancipation of slavery finally occurred in 1834.
Jamaica has been a land exploited and oppressed by white nations for much of its history. First colonized by the Spanish and then the British, it seems hard to imagine a time when it was just the native people living in peace and harmony with the land. Many years after the white man first jammed himself onto the beaches of Jamaica, reggae music was born. A continuing tradition, this easy-to-groove-to music style originated as a voice against this oppression; it was the peaceful islanders way of finally communicating their plighted history to all who would listen, or all who could appreciate a good beat. Much of this oppression came in the time of slavery; a period of nearly two hundred years where those of a dark skin were considered property of the light skinned ones, inferior in all ways. Most of their labor was on sugar plantations, an export that Jamaica was supplying much of the world with. Later in their history, it would be bananas that the British would learn to exploit.
The institution of slavery has played a major role in the history, and the shaping of the Caribbean. Therefore, in order to truly understand the Caribbean one must completely understand slavery itself.
“The meeting of Africans, Europeans, and the indigenous people in the Caribbean is arguably one of the most interesting and important aspects of world history. It was in this region that one could perceive the worst aspects of inhumanity juxtaposed with a story of survival and triumph of the human spirit. Caribbean history unfolds like a drama and is a continuing saga of wars of various types, conquest of different sorts, and above all, resistance” (Toney, 2011). In a time of exploration, discovery, and great Asian dynasties, Europeans set out to find new trade routes and discover territories unknown. Christopher Columbus, in 1492, accidently discovered an untouched world. For centuries to come Europeans in the name of civilization, religion, and hegemony pillaged and created a New World. This world created immense wealth, and flourishing European economies. The benefits of European colonization on the Caribbean are far outweighed by the