Early Slavery Flashcards
Why was racial slavery attractive to colonial Virginia’s leaders?
there was a need for labor and slavery was free labor, and a guarantee of more continuous slaves from birth
Loose packers v. tight packers (reasoning, which was more common)
loose packers: more room per body, less deaths, less revenue and money
tight packers: less room per body, more money and revenue MORE COMMON
Slave mutinies (where most frequent and why
Most mutinies occurred on shorelines and the African Coast because they could take control of the boats and get back to land
How did the role of Africans evolve in colonial Virginia?
purchased to work for a few years as indentured servants
under law, they couldn’t be enslaved if they were Christians (therefore Baptized)
John Punch was an indentured servant that was caught while escaping, and the state ruled that his punishment was a lifetime of work
Became the first slave
States slowly begin making slavery legal
qualifications for freedom went from being a Christian to being white
What did the Constitution say about slavery (3 things)?
Slaves count as ⅗ persons
Does not prohibit importation of slave before 1808 and establishes a tax on importation of such
slaves that escape into a free state are not free but shall be returned to the party which owns them (Fugitive Slave Clause)
Demographics of slavery (% of whites who had slaves, who had more than 100)?
10% of slaves in the North
less than 1% owned more than 100 slaves
4 million slaves in South out of 12 million people
Most white southerners (1860) didn’t own slaves (75% didn’t)
