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Slavery in Colonial America

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Slavery in Colonial America
Slavery in Colonial America Many may ask, “Was slavery in Colonial America purely based on race, class, economics, or all of these things. Well in the Articles written by Degler and Morgan it explains that slavery could have been based on both race and class. Degler believed that slavery was mostly about race. Morgan, on the other hand believed that slavery was more about class. Well, in the articles both Degler and Morgan try to explain why they believed slavery was based on race or class. Degler believed that slavery was based upon racism. He believed that racism came way before slavery. According to Degler the status of Africans in seventeenth century didn’t switch from indentured servants to chattel slaves until 1660. He believed that the status was switched because they didn’t have to free the slaves. Also, Degler points out that the way Virginians treated the Indians was due to racism. Degler also explains how African slaves were more valuable than the others. Also in this article he explains how they were punished differently from other slaves. Morgan believed that slavery was based on the economic class of the slaves or servants. According to Morgan class antagonism had a lot to do with the rise of the institution of African American chattel slavery in America. Class antagonism was brought out because most Virginians feared the landless poor people. They feared that they would get together and rebel against them, which did occur and was called Bacon’s Rebellion. To avoid another one of Bacon’s Rebellions they switched from servants to slaves. The reason they switched to slaves was because the slaves didn’t expect freedom or opportunities and for slave offspring. Also there would be less landless poor whites they had to worry about and solidarity amongst the whites.
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