APUSH Unit 2: Slavery in Colonial America

An overview of Slavery in the colonies.

Failure of Indentured Servitude

The gradual decline of using indentured servants as a labor source due to increasing costs, the rise of a stable free labor market, and the establishment of African slavery as a more profitable and permanent solution for labor demands.

Slavery

The system of forced labor where individuals are owned by others and denied personal freedom, widely practiced in colonial America, especially with African people.

Religious Angle of Slavery

The justification of slavery through religious beliefs, often suggesting that enslavement was sanctioned by divine ordinance, used to rationalize the treatment of enslaved Africans in colonial America.

Money Angle of Slavery

The economic justification for slavery. Southern cash crops required large pools of low skilled manual laborers.

South Carolina

A southern colony where slavery was integral to the economy, heavily relying on plantations producing rice and indigo. In 1650, there were only about 300 black slaves. By 1750, there were 100,000.

Rationale for Slavery in 1750

The set of beliefs and arguments used to justify the institution of slavery in 1750, focusing on economic, social, and religious factors that supported the continued enslavement of Africans in colonial America.

Race Laws in 1750

All blacks denied basic civil rights. Skin color becomes a badge of servitude.

James Oglethorpe

The founder of Georgia, James Oglethorpe established the colony as a place for debtors and the poor, aiming to create a society based on small farms and opportunity while initially prohibiting slavery. However, the freed debtors he brings quickly tire of work and want slaves.

Stone Rebellion

A significant slave uprising that took place in 1739 in South Carolina, where enslaved Africans, led by Jemmy, protested against their oppression by marching to Spanish Florida seeking freedom. This rebellion heightened fears among white colonists, leading to stricter slave codes.

Slave Ships

Crowded, unsanitary vessels used to transport enslaved Africans across the Atlantic.

Philadelphia

The Quaker city, and ironically the largest slave market in America.