Why Slavery, and Why Africans? Essay Example

Introduction

For many years there has been a lot of debating on why slavery was the main form of labor in the southern British colonies of North America and further more why Africans were the main target for enslavement in these colonies. The southern British Colonies were established in the 16^th and 17^th century and included: Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina and North Carolina (Winthrop, 3-43). These colonies were cash crop colonies and were characterized by large plantations. Slavery in general is the conditions where people against there will are forced to work while at the same time being ill treated. Slaves in the British southern colonies were treated like property and had their owners. In this study we will look at the historical justification of slavery at southern colonies and their analysis.

Historical arguments and analysis

Religious Justification

Being a Christian society, one wonders why the British owned slaves and particularly why African slaves? But nevertheless they did and actually defended this action. The European Christian held such beliefs that the color black represent evil and sin which was of the devil unlike the color white which was a representation of God and righteousness. This belief led to a level of disturbance on their part on why black people existed. They wondered so because according to their doctrine all men came from Adam and Eve who are considered to be light skinned. The British sort to explain this existence of black people. They suggested that it must have been because of climatic differences but this was disapproved when the African still gave birth to dark skinned children even after being brought to the cold tropical climate. Having no other explanation they concluded that the reason had to be more supernatural. In the Bible the was the story of Noah who had a son named Ham who had sinned against His father and was therefore cursed and condemned to be a slave. Most of the religious Britons were this way led to the belief that the enslavement of Africans was a punishment from God and therefore they were slaves by nature (Miller, 5-15) The British also because of their religious beliefs believed that Africans were not human because their doctrine dictated that human descended from light skinned Adam an Eve. The likened African to Apes and therefore concluded that they were some kind of an animal which resulted to them treating Africans like animals not deserving humane perception and treatment. The English enslaved Africans because they practiced other spiritual rituals which were not Christian and it led to them being viewed as inferior and ungodly and therefore enslaving them was proper(Breen, & Stephen, 25-80).

In the Christian Bible’s Old Testament it was noted that Abraham who is called the father of faith had slaves. In the New Testament also, Jesus never said anything against slavery which was very widespread in the Roman Empire. The defenders argued that slavery as an institution was actually good for the African slaves because it brought them; heathens, closer to God and civilization (Winthrop, 3-43). They pointed out that until the era of slavery the black race had no civility, morality nor were they intellectually capable and therefore African slavery was a gift from God to the African race. The British government used these arguments in the quest to justify the enslavement of the African black-race. The success of the slave institution needed to be accepted and these explanations came in handy in doing so. After acceptance was established at southern colonies, the colonial powers began the formation of societies with different degrees of slave reliance factoring in climatic and geographical patterns (Edmund Morgan, 295-315). On acceptance of slavery was established, colonists could begin to create societies with varying degrees of reliance upon slavery based in part on climate and geography.

Economic justification

In this argument slavery was simply a matter of economic optimization; the forces of supply and demand were in play. The climatic conditions in the northern colonies did not favor cash-crop farming at least not in large scale (Edmund Morgan, 295-315). However at southern colonies Tobacco and rice were produced in large scale due to the fertile soils and long growing periods. In Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina rice and sugarcane were farmed where as tobacco proved to be very economical in Virginia and Maryland. This large scale cash crop farming brought about large plantations at southern colonies and the demand for labor exceeded the supply available from the indigenous communities (Breen, & Stephen, 25-80). African tribes used to fight against each other. When a tribe lost, the members of the tribe especially the strong male were sold as slaves to the Dutch traders who went o to resell the slaves to the plantation owners at southern colonies (Edmund Morgan, 295-315). For instance in 1699 whilst South Carolina was seized by the British, the colonial settlers had predetermined to use slave labor in their plantations more so because it was readily available in Africa at low costs. As a consequence by the year 1750 there were twice as many Africans in Southern Carolina as there were whites. The other factor that led to the demand for increased labor from Africa was the issue of lives lost by colonialist due to disease outbreaks especially in Virginia nd Chesapeake. Over time the economics over southern colonies became almost wholly dependent on the slave labor.

Conclusion

The above two arguments can be said to be tactical arguments in that one forms the basis of the other. The religious justification set ground for the acceptability of the slave practice in the colonies. Ones this practice was accepted by the white population it was used as an economic component to propel the agrarian revolution at southern colonies.

Slavery however was not just excised by the white race but also the African s who sold their own for profit. This makes the subject of slavery at southern colonies very interesting and multi-dimensional. Slavery was only out of prejudice to the masses for the reason of acceptability but to the elite and plantation owners it was simply for profit. The relationship between race and slavery at southern colonies is not as strong as many have been made to belief. However that is not to say that tit not exist because it did among the religiously stubborn masses but only as a tactical measure. The reason for the cruelty by the white settlers was not so much out of prejudice but out of fear that the growing African numbers was breeding ground for an uprising against slavery which if unregulated would cause an economic downfall in the colonies. This can be proven by the fact that where the African numbers were relatively low the levels of cruelty were also and inclusion was highly encouraged as observed in the northern colonies.

Works cited

Breen, T.H. & Stephen D. Innes. “Myne Owne Ground”: Race and Freedom on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, 1640-1676. Pp 25-80, New York, 2005

Jordan, Winthrop D. White over Black: American Attitudes toward the Negro, 1550-1812 pp. 3-43, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009

Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. pp. 295-315, New York, 2003

Miller, Randall, M., ed. “Dear Master”: Letters of a Slave Family. Pp 5-15, Ithaca, N.Y, and London, 2000