Slavery in North America

Thomas Johnson
Lannon, Deirdre

DO-HIST 1310 S'15

02/22/2015

This paper will address the history of slavery in the Americas, beginning with the
Spanish colonies and continuing up to the beginning of the United States. North America
has a long and sordid history involving slavery. From the point that the Spanish arrived in
in the 14th century to within the last hundred years, slavery and related bigotry has
influenced American society and culture. Indeed many of the established powers in
American history owe a sizable portion of their success to the use of slave labor.
Slavery practiced by European settlers in the Americas first began with the
Encomienda system practiced by the Spanish colonies. Ostensibly, the purpose of the
Encomienda system was to induct the Native Americans into the Christian faith and help
civilize the Indians (Textbook, 33). However overtime, the process devolved into a
commercial act to continue to bring in riches for the Spanish monarchy (Slide, Chapter 1,
Slide 15). Although slavery was in use by Europeans before the Spanish, notably by the
Portuguese, the Spanish and their treatment of Native Americans is the first large scale
European system for forced labor seen in the Americas (Textbook, 18).The Spanish
depended on the Native Americans as a source of cheap labor; many Native Americans
were worked to exhaustion and death. Las Casas treatise the History of the Indies led to
the growing Black Legend of Spanish atrocities (Textbook, 38). Examples of the Black
Legend included Indians being worked beyond exhaustion and then allowed to wander
into the wilderness to die.
However, as the Spanish had the superficial objective of converting the Native
Americans to the Christian Faith, efforts were made to improve their treatment. For
instance, the Papacy outlawed the barbaric system of Encomienda. However, the Native

Americans treatment did not improve substantially (Textbook, 32). As time went on and
the Native American populations decreased, slave labor in North America began to move
from Native Americans to captives brought from Africa (Lecture 3, Slide 8).
The British colonies made significant use of slave labor for its industries and
plantations. The slaves primarily came from Africa (Textbook, 83). African slaves were
gathered in Africa by other Africans who then sold them as slaves to slave ships that would
run large circuits from Europe to the Americas and then back again. In the early years,
more than one third of the slaves would not survive the voyage to the new world (Shackles
of Memory, 25:20). A further one third would not live for more than two years as slaves on
plantations. The average lifespan of a slave was seven to nine years. The Atlantic slave
trade is estimated to have transported twelve to fifteen million people over three centuries
(Shackles of Memory, 28:35)
A distinction needs to be drawn between the Native Americans and the African
slaves. Though considered forced labor, the Native Americans were still seen as human
and were used informally, whereas the African slaves were exclusively considered labor
resources, their humanity was at best a second attribute. The treatment of the slaves as
persons was apparently minimal, with slaves given new names and a laughably minimal
conversion into the Christian faith. With a new name and a new faith, the newly bought
slaves were sent to work in plantations, rice fields, boiler rooms, or anywhere else that
required cheap labor. Slaves could expect to work close to twelve or more hours a day
without hope of freedom or respite.

The slave trade was an immensely profitable system. Slave ships would often
return five to six percent profits, although some ships returned with hundred fold returns
(Shackles of Memory, 40:20). Slaverys economic incentives extended to the slave owners
in the colonies and plantations. A three thousand acre plantation could hope to produce 200
barrels of sugar a year (Shackles of Memory, 33:41). This economic incentive was
combined with a sense of natural entitlement to rule among the colonial elites (PowerPoint
3, Slide 23).
As African slave labor became more and more prevalent, their legal status became
an issue. Many of the colonies did not have explicit laws referring to slaves, the slaves
status being informally understood (PowerPoint 3, Slide 9). However, as slavery became
more embedded in the culture, slaves became accustomed to European laws and some
began exerting their legal rights (Textbook, 105, 108). In Virginia and Maryland for
instance, some slaves were able to gain their freedom and even purchase their own slaves.
In response to these slaves, Virginia began to set in place laws that officially relegated
black slaves as property, drastically reducing blacks rights.
Black resistance to slavery primarily consisted of individual slaves running from
their masters (Textbook, 148). In 1712, New York City saw a small slave uprising where a
group of slaves set fire to buildings and killed a dozen white bystanders. The majority of
the slave uprisings resembled these small or contained actions. One notable exception was
the Maroon slave uprising in Jamaica that eventually resulted in a treaty that freed some of
the slaves there.

Despite the myriad examples of injustice and abridgements of personal liberty

perpetrated against Native Americans and black slaves, the colonies had a rich and well
developed concept of British liberty (Textbook, 150). Their system of liberty was largely
based around political and legal rights. In essence these rights were a complex system of
procedural rights (Powerpoint 4, Slide 12). The concept being that laws were designed to
defend a persons freedoms and so liberty relied upon rule of law and well drafted
Constitutions. A notable element of this liberty was that it was specific to their nation; their
liberty was not extended to other groups and peoples (Authors Podcast 5, 1:23).
Two concepts of liberty that ran through early colonial America were Republican
liberty and liberal liberty (Textbook, 152). Republican liberty consisted of the ideal that
social involvements from independent land owners were free to serve society without
influence from external powers. The concept of liberal freedom was that individuals had
natural rights that superseded social obligations. Both concepts did contribute to the civil
liberty, although neither was fully applied to minority groups. It is these concepts of liberty
that caused the American colonies to rankle at the British Crowns efforts to abridge what
Thomas Hutchinson called English liberties (Boston, Bloody Boston, 20:21).
With the onset of the American Revolution, colonial concepts of liberty became a
central theme and narrative in the colonies. Nowhere is this more clearly evident than in
the Declaration of Independence and its eloquent listing of the Colonies many grievances
against the British Crown. Despite the Continental Congress' removal of Jeffersons
complaints referring to slavery as a barbaric, Jefferson explicitly states in the preamble that
all men are created equal and have unalienable rights to pursue life, liberty, and happiness

(Textbook, 203). The final element is notable because it differs from the aforementioned
Lockean liberalism and Republican forms of liberty.
The newly defined American liberty set out new criteria for liberty. In essence,
Thomas Jefferson implicitly gave the United States a concept of liberty for all and the right
to choose ones rulers. The impact of this document was profound, not only locally but
globally with numerous revolutions citing the Declaration of Independences principles of
self-determination. Despite its popularity, it was still just a document and American society
would have to gradually adopt its universal principle.
As is most often the case for change, individual exceptions led the way for
emancipation. During the civil war, black slaves could gain their freedom by serving in the
conflict, either for the Americans colonies or for the British. In this way, the military
conflict was quite similar to the economic incentives that led to American slavery in the
first place. Namely it was prudent both the British and the Americans required soldiers,
and so enterprising slaves could gain their freedom by trading their service. These acts of
prudence arguably imply the inherent false nature of slavery because the status of a slave
was not absolute. The colonies were willing to free slaves when it suited them. While
most of the colonists did not actively try to end slavery, they inadvertently did so by
defending their own freedom.
Throughout American history, slavery in various forms served an integral part in
the financial and social stability of the colonies, and later the United States. While social
resistance was present, the majority of society laws responded to economic concerns rather

than moral ones. As George Washingtons cousin said, liberty is sweet (Textbook, 207)
and it should then come as no surprise that slavery would one day end.