American Yawp Chapter 3

Wars and Native American Enslavement

• Common Means: Wars were the primary method by which colonists acquired Native American slaves.

• Legal Thought: 17th-century European legal thinking viewed enslaving prisoners of war as legal and more merciful than execution.

Key Events

• Pequot War (1636-1637):

  • Massachusetts Bay colonists sold hundreds of Native Americans into slavery in the West Indies.

• Dutch Colonization:

  • During Governor Kieft’s War (1641-1645) and the two Esopus Wars (1659-1663), Dutch colonists enslaved Algonquian Indians.

  • Captives were sent to Bermuda and Curaçao.

• King Philip’s War (1675-1676):

  • Resulted in hundreds of Indian captives being enslaved.

  • Efforts to send Indian slaves to Barbados were rejected due to fears of rebellion.

Enslavement Figures

• Estimates:

  • Between 24,000 and 51,000 Native Americans were enslaved in the southern colonies from 1670 to 1715.

  • Many enslaved individuals were exported from Charles Town, South Carolina to other areas like Barbados and Jamaica.

Colonial Attitudes

• Eighteenth Century:

  • Colonial governments began to discourage the practice, though it did not cease as slavery remained legal.

  • Violence from the Indian slave trade was a threat to colonists seeking land in frontier areas.

Conditions of Enslaved Native Americans

• Health and Mortality:

  • Many enslaved individuals died from disease, starvation, or murder.

• Plantation Labor Needs:

  • The demand for reliable labor led to the growth of the transatlantic slave trade.

  • Millions of Africans were transported across the ocean via the Middle Passage, facing horrific conditions.

• Eyewitness Accounts:

  • Olaudah Equiano detailed the terrors of the voyage, including crew's brutality and poor living conditions.