APUSH 2.6 Slavery in the British Colonies

The first fifty years of colonial migration was like a conveyor belt, with those who died being quickly replaced * This was true of all races and non-native peoples
The first enslaved people arrived in 1619 in Virginia, but only after 1650 did population sustainability, white or black, make lifetime bondage economically viable * Prior to this historical development, slavery did not make sense * It cost more to transport the enslaved people than what their work paid for * Unfortunately, this changed, and slavery became profitable, encouraging more to participate

Bacon’s Rebellion in 1676 provided more reasons for Southerners to make the shift to forced labor * A large, landless, poor, and armed white peasantry was not conducive to colonial stability
At the same time, economic conditions were improving in England, and fewer British people were becoming indentured servants and providing their labor

England sought to emulate the Spanish model in the West Indies * Large-scale slave-based extractive agriculture, produced by a permanent underclass, primarily in sugar production * The slave codes introduced there became the model for Southern colonial slave codes in the mid-to-late 1600s
By 1650 and beyond, slavery was fully established in every colony, in both rural and urban areas * Northern colonies profited greatly from participation in the international slave trade, procuring, transporting, and distributing Africans as commodities

Slavery had existed in civilization all throughout history * The unique aspect of European and Colonial slavery was its heritability * In previous civilizations, the children of slaves were very rarely slaves themselves, and were sometimes even given citizenship of the empire they were born into * In order to enforce this, colonial laws began to “otherize” persons of color * Creating distinctions between the white and non-white was critical to the establishment of a permanent enslaved underclass * These laws became more restrictive over time, forbidding interracial marriage, then denying property rights, ownership or carrying of weapons, and free movement and assembly to Black people * Simultaneously giving white people legal sanction to essentially beat, torture, and kill Africans

It is a misconception and a disservice to enslaved peoples to consider them as passive participants who mutely accepted their fate * They still took active parts in shaping their own lives and destinies, even under the most horrible of conditions
Africans actively sought to bring about improvements and changes in their own condition as best they could in their individual circumstances

Meany of the means to combat the institution of slavery were subtle * They included working slowly, “losing” or breaking tools, letting crops spoil, stealing inconsequential items, and faking sickness
Some methods were more provocative, btu also more risky * Physical altercations, running away, completely halting work, or open revolt/the murder of slaveholders are a couple examples

Slave Revolts, such as the Stono Rebellion of 1739, were vary rare, for a number of reasons * Slaves typically had limited access to weaponry * The difficulty of coordinating actions on a large scale for enslaved people, tied to the land * The challenges of planning such acts in secrecy * The very high risks of extreme white responses to rebellion

Ultimately, religion, culture, and custom became very common means for Africans to engage in subversion of the existing order * In a world where so little was their own, intangibles such as their belief systems, traditions, and ideas were things that could not be taken from from them
Furthermore, within their environment, education was a subversive act, often forbidden by the Master class

The response of slaveholders to these slave strategies was twofold * They introduced the Overseer, or Slave-driver, to enforce forced-labor discipline * They further exposed enslaved people to the Christian religion

Although enslaved people in general did not accept the message that their labor would provide ‘heavenly reward,’ some Africans did find aspects of Christianity appealing * They particularly identified with the Biblical struggles of the oppressed
Enslaved people engaged in a process of preserving as much of their languages, customs, and religions as they could, even in the face of rules and restrictions that sought to strip it from them * They also blended beliefs from all across Africa, as various groups were forced into contact otherwise unestablished, and the aforementioned Christian aspects

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