The Changing Place of Slaves and Slavery in the American Nation
The Changing Place of Slaves and Slavery in the American Nation
Tomeka T. DeBruce
HIS 203: American History to 1865
Prof. Corinne Barker
October 15, 2012
The Changing Place of Slaves and Slavery in the American Nation
In the beginning as early as 1502 the European slave traders shipped 11 to 16 million slaves to America. The English colonists had indentured servants instead of slaves. Indentured servants were servants that had a contract and only worked for a certain period of time. African American slaves were used when the English men were running out of indentured servants. The first African American slave was in 1619. They also had Irish, Scottish, English and German indentured servants. Over half the indentured slaves in the thirteen colonies were white immigrants. By the beginning of the eighteen hundreds slaves could be found in every area of the colonies. This paper will discuss the transformation of indentured servants to slavery and how slavery evolved through the American Civil War and how it came to end with the 13th Amendment.
The definition of a slave according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary is a person held in servitude as the chattel of another; one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence. As stated in a forum by Stanley Engerman (2000) slavery and other social systems are seen as quite different and somehow more acceptable, and that any definition of slavery has legal, cultural, political and economic aspects and that it is often hard to draw the line among labor institutions(Engerman,2000).
Tracing the history of these Black Americans initially referred to as American Negroes, can be traced to 1619 when the first batch of slaves arrived in Jamestown Virginia and later, their numbers were intensely increased as the demand for their services increased amongst the rich Americans who were interested in large scale agricultural production. Later, it gained significance especially after the colonization of this
Tomeka T. DeBruce
HIS 203: American History to 1865
Prof. Corinne Barker
October 15, 2012
The Changing Place of Slaves and Slavery in the American Nation
In the beginning as early as 1502 the European slave traders shipped 11 to 16 million slaves to America. The English colonists had indentured servants instead of slaves. Indentured servants were servants that had a contract and only worked for a certain period of time. African American slaves were used when the English men were running out of indentured servants. The first African American slave was in 1619. They also had Irish, Scottish, English and German indentured servants. Over half the indentured slaves in the thirteen colonies were white immigrants. By the beginning of the eighteen hundreds slaves could be found in every area of the colonies. This paper will discuss the transformation of indentured servants to slavery and how slavery evolved through the American Civil War and how it came to end with the 13th Amendment.
The definition of a slave according to the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary is a person held in servitude as the chattel of another; one that is completely subservient to a dominating influence. As stated in a forum by Stanley Engerman (2000) slavery and other social systems are seen as quite different and somehow more acceptable, and that any definition of slavery has legal, cultural, political and economic aspects and that it is often hard to draw the line among labor institutions(Engerman,2000).
Tracing the history of these Black Americans initially referred to as American Negroes, can be traced to 1619 when the first batch of slaves arrived in Jamestown Virginia and later, their numbers were intensely increased as the demand for their services increased amongst the rich Americans who were interested in large scale agricultural production. Later, it gained significance especially after the colonization of this
References: Donoghue, J. (2010). "Out of the Land of Bondage": The English Revolution and the Atlantic Origins of Abolition. American Historical Review, 115(4), 942-974. Engerman, S Marc, S. (1996). The Perpetuation Of Residential Racial Segregation In America: Historical Discrimination, Modern Forms Of Exclusion, And Inclusionary Remedies in the slave. 2011. In Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary. Eleventh Edition. 2009 Stockwell, M Thomas III, W. L. (2003). An Overview: The Differences Slavery Made: A Close Analysis of Two American Communities. American Historical Review, 108(5), 1299-1307. Primary Sources: