SLAVERY

Gradually however, the status of black servants changed. Between 1640 and 1680, Virginia and the other southern colonies drifted steadily toward the establishment of a system of slave labor.

Most white indentured servants had a set term of servitude, and they knew it. No matter how badly they were treated, they could look forward to eventual freedom. They usually had written contracts stating when they would be free.

Blacks had no such contracts. They were brought to America by ships' captains who sold them to the highest bidder. In the early 1600s, the buyers and sellers sometimes agreed on a period of servitude for black indentured servants. That helped support the feeling that the buyers and sellers were trading in labor not people. However, the black servants had no voice in these dealings. And since the buyers wanted to get the greatest value for the price they paid, it became commonplace that black servants were indentured for life. It also became customary that the children of black indentured servants were considered to be indentured from birth to death - in other words, they were held in slavery. Near the end of the l7th century, all pretense that such a system wasn't slavery faded away.

Because blacks could be owned for life, the demand for black slaves outstripped the demand for white indentured servants. The demand for black labor on the large plantations of Maryland, Virginia and the Carolinas was great. To satisfy this demand, special ships were built to transport captive blacks directly from the west coast of Africa to the slave markets of North America. During the l8th century, the slave trade boomed. It brought death and untold suffering to millions of blacks. At the same time it made a number of people in Britain and in the British American colonies immensely wealthy.

Throughout the l8th century, an increasing number of people in Britain and North America spoke out against the slave trade. But the wealthy slave owners and slave traders had powerful friends in government and were able to defeat all attempts to end the slave trade.

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 950