APUSH - Topic 2.6 Slavery in the British Colonies

1. Explain the causes and effects of slavery in the various British colonial regions. 2. Explain how enslaved people responded to slavery.

How was early demand for labor solved?

• people too poor to purchase slaves

• indentured servants

  • master paid for passage across Atlantic

  • under absolute rule of masters for a certain work period

  • only temporary laborers

• Headright System

  • 50 acres of land given to each immigrant who paid for their own passage or landowner who paid for an immigrant’s passage

How did slavery in North America begin?

• small group of African indentured servants sent to Virginia (1619)

  • not slaves

  • not in life bondage + children were free

• House of Burgesses created laws that enslaved them (late 1660s)

• almost all British colonies had slaves (early 1700s)

  • few in NE (not needed on small farms), some in Middle Colonies (port cities), lots in Southern colonies (plantations)

• most slaves went to West Indian sugar islands

What created an increased demand for African slaves?

• less migration to colonies

  • better wages in England

• more dependable

  • small farmers and indentured servants had more demands

• low-cost

  • large amounts of land needed many unskilled field hands

What were some of the first slave laws?

• Massachusetts recognizes enslavement of “lawful” captives (1641)

• children inherit mother’s enslaved status (Virginia, 1661)

• overturning of law that stated baptized Christians could not be slaves (1664)

• Blacks more and more regarded as inferior

How did Africans resist slavery?

• tried to maintain family ties

• kept African traditions and customs

• hunger strikes, breaking tools, refusing to work, fleeing