Unit 2: Topic 6 - Slavery in the British Colonies Flashcards
Where was slavery located in the North American British colonies?
Every single British colony participated in, and benefitted from, the African slave trade. New England’s small farms and port cities and the Chesapeake and southern Atlantic coasts’ plantations all used enslaved laborers.
Northern colonies had relatively few slaves compared to the large numbers in the southern colonies, and the most slaves were located in the West Indies.
What was the Atlantic slave trade during the colonial period?
Black Africans were transported from western Africa in mostly Portuguese and British ships across the Atlantic Ocean as part of the Middle Passage.
Africans were enchained below deck in tight, putrid conditions, in which about 20% of the slaves on board would die from disease, starvation, or suicide.
The majority of black Africans were sent to Brazil and the West Indies, and the rest were brought to British colonial North America.
What did slavery look like in the northern colonies?
The northern colonies of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey recognized slavery as legal institutions in the 17th and 18th centuries but their smaller farms and limited soil would make the demand for slaves less than the southern colonies.
Most northern slaves were domestic servants, dockworkers, sailors, and craft workers.
What did slavery look like in the southern colonies?
The large agricultural plantations of the South and their single cash crop economies led to a high demand for slaves. Tobacco in the Chesapeake and rice and indigo in the South were all labor intensive crops.
Most southern slaves worked on plantations.
Why was there a decrease in indentured servitude during the 18th century?
During the 18th century, indentured contracts became less necessary as the costs of immigration to America went down and African slave labor became increasingly attractive, replacing labor previously conducted by indentured servants.
What was the Barbados Slave Code?
The Barbados slave code established that enslaved Africans be treated as chattel (property).
This allowed for slaves to be traded, and it granted them no basic rights that they would have been entitled to under normal English common law.
These slave laws from the West Indies, the leaders in the slave trade, highly influenced how the institution was carried out in the British North American colonies.
What were some slave laws passed in the North American British colonies?
1641 - Massachusetts became the first colony to recognize the enslavement of “lawful” captives.
1661 - Virginia enacted legislation stating that children automatically inherited their mother’s enslaved status for life.
1664 - Maryland declared that baptism did not affect the enslaved person’s status, and that white women could not marry African American men.
It became customary for whites to regard all blacks as social inferiors. Racism and slavery soon became integral to colonial society. The slave laws grew harsher and harsher, such as granting Virginian farmers the legal right to kill their enslaved laborers if they defied authority, prohibiting blacks from possessing weapons, and forbidding blacks from leaving plantations without permission from their master or gathering in large groups, except in the company of whites.
What is covert resistance and what are some examples of African slaves’ covert means of resistance to their enslavement during the colonial period?
The African slaves’ covert resistance were concealed actions intended to reduce the efficiency of the plantation and efforts to regain some of their own autonomy and independence, however minimal.
The strategy of the covert resistors were the insistence to secretly maintain cultural customs and belief systems from their homeland. Others broke tools, damaged crops, or faked illness.
What is overt resistance and what are some examples of African slaves’ overt means of resistance to their enslavement during the colonial period?
The African slaves’ overt resistance were more obvious acts of resistance such as open rebellion and insurrection.
The strategy of overt resistors were running away or organizing rebellions. An example of an overt resistance against slavery is the Stono Rebellion.
What was the Stono Rebellion?
On September 9th, 1739, 20 enslaved people got together near the Stono River to start a rebellion. They went into a store to get guns but in the process killed the gunshop owner and some of the workers who resisted. At their greatest, they numbered 100 freedmen.
Once armed, they went to several plantations, freeing people from their enslavement, killing enslavers who had been cruel, and sparing the ones who had been kind. A local militia comprised of slaveowners and planters suppressed the rebellion after a battle in which both enslaved people and militiamen were killed; the remaining enslaved people were executed or sold to the West Indies.
