Preview

Slave Labor In The American Industrial Revolution

Satisfactory Essays
Open Document
Open Document
293 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Slave Labor In The American Industrial Revolution
Plantation labor wasn’t always the same and differed from plantation to plantation, sugar plantations in the Indies was not the same as that on plantations in South Carolina, which was different from what slave’s laborers faced on tobacco farms in the Chesapeake. Those who did common labor, and those who carried technical skills directly, impacted the need for skilled workers to fill the specific type labor need. Whether slaves were building barrels or building fences, making furniture or repairing harnesses people with know-how and skilled capability were in short supply and when found, were very expensive. Slavery was very much a part of the southern economy. The way the South operated made it a necessity to have slave labor to harvest the crops of the fields. When the invention of the cotton machine was introduced to the South, more cotton could be picked and produced. …show more content…
As more slaves were present, more cotton was produced, leading to more money being generated, while increasing the ability to purchase more slaves. This continued for many years, leading to a greater need for slave labor. I believe this might be one of the reasons why the support of slavery was more economic than anything else at the time. Slaver labor had little to no impact on the capital that funded the European industrial revolution. The profits made during the slave trade and West Indian plantations did not account for even five percent of Britain's overall national income at the time of the industrial revolution. However, Slavery was vital to Europeans development of the new colonies. Without the slaves, European colonists couldn’t have settled and developed North and South America and the

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    The search for a viable labor source affected the southern colonies in many ways. Without forced labor the southern colonies wouldn’t have been able to keep their economy up the way they did. The southern colonies developed with a focus on agriculture as the primary economic activity. Unfortunately the technology to decrease the labor demands such as the cotton gin or spinning jenny weren’t invented during the colonial times. Without that technology the southerners instead took advantage of the immigration and came up with the indentured servants. The indentured servants were I guess you can say happy for having the opportunity for acquiring their own land and freedom for a few years of labor. Even though most of the servants were young and healthy men, most of them died before completing their seven years of labor.…

    • 597 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Slavery formed the backbone of the South economically. It was just as much the political and social basis of Southern identity, too. With the invention of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, southern plantation owners had to buy more slaves to keep up with the demand for cotton. There was an ever-present demand, particularly by Northern states, for cotton. There became a growing economic dependence on slavery. James Henry Hammond’s manual, Instructions to His Overseer (c. 1840-1850), was designed for use on his large South Carolina estate. He was a strong supporter of slavery and the originator of the famous line, “Cotton is king.”…

    • 1709 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Before this invention, cotton was a declining cash crop because it was not as profitable as other cash crops. However, it was vital to the industry of the United States, so the southern economy suffered. After this machine was invented, cotton became very profitable and the southern economy boomed. Prior to this invention, factory workers could only process about a pound of cotton per day. After the invention, the factory workers could process fifty pounds of cotton in a single day. In 1791, cotton production in the United States was about two-million pounds per year. In 1860, that number was up to one billion. That is a dramatic increase, all due to Whitney’s cotton gin. Since farmers could produce so much cotton, this paved the way for the south’s cotton trade, which also had a major impact on the…

    • 534 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Over the centuries, slave labor was the ever-present, favorite form of labor. Of course, those who were enslaved did not favor it, but the slave owners prefered it because they did not have to pay for the labor. The men who ran the encomiendas in South America were particularly in favor of it because the process that was required to harvest sugarcane was so strenuous that the workers often died within only a couple years of starting their work. The means by which the slaves were acquired and the areas they were taken from changed rapidly over the years, but slavery was always present and it always served as a major factor in the economy of the atlantic world. Throughout this time period, another constant occurrence was exploration and colonization by the europeans. England, Spain, and France were the major culprits. They often sent conquistadors and explorers to find and claim new land. By 1750, they had colonized or claimed most of the new Atlantic world (the Americas and surrounding…

    • 484 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Declan Farrell Mrs. Chumbayeva Social Studies 8 / Block G 27 March 2024 Slavery Essay Slavery played a large role in the cotton industry, especially during the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Enslaved people were brought from Africa to the Americas in the Atlantic slave trade. The enslaved people were traded to the Americas from Africa in the triangular trade which involved Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The Europeans and Americans used the reasoning that God didn’t care for non-Christians and therefore Africans were made to be slaves. American slavery was so difficult to abolish because the Europeans believed that they were intellectually superior to the Africans and God determined their purpose in life was to labor for others.…

    • 801 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Indentured servants and the slavery system played a massive part in the rise of colonial economy during the 17th century. The colonists needed desperate help with labor because there was work that had to be done in lands. This need was satisfied with indentured servants and African slaves. The difference between these two was that they were treated differently. Indentured servants were white English people who need jobs; they were under a contract for several years in return for their transportation, food, home, and other necessities. They were used because slaves were too expansive and Indians died very quickly. After a certain event, master turned to slaves. Both helped the colonial economy burst. They put the American colonists in a better economic situation.…

    • 527 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The practice of involuntary labor in Colonial America operated from the early 17th century to late 18th century. The two most popular forms of involuntary labor were indentured servitude and slavery. Often indentured servants are of European origin either carrying out their sentences or paying off their passages. The Experience of Bondage: Gottlieb Mittelberger’s account, 1754, was written by a German schoolmaster about his voyage to Philadelphia as an indentured servant. In his account, he describes the horrid conditions faced by voyagers from the tightly packed spaces, sickness and the purchasing process of servants. At the same time, the labor system of slavery was in practice. The advertisement of runaway slaves in the sections, Wanted:…

    • 256 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Economically, affects of slavery are obvious. Because of the cotton gin, cotton became the southern states’ main export (seen in document G)…and slaves were much cheaper than paying wages for work in the cotton field. Therefore, slaves were imported into America by the thousands, and plantation owners raked in the cash. As the cotton industry grew, so did the amount of slaves. Cotton, as well as slavery, accounted for half of all the American exports by 1840….making slavery a habit almost impossible to break.…

    • 531 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It was a new concept to both the colonists and the slaves, and later it progressed with strict rules and tasks given from master to slave according to Kolchin (28-29). During the colonial era the north and southern colonies both possessed slavery, however it was the south that took great benefit of the slaves by making them work on plantations, farming Americas staple crops. African slavery had a greater impact than indentured servants and laborers because they did not have to be paid; they were not even recognized as people at the time. The development and enforcement of slavery not only was the basis of economy in the south but also helped boost the economy of the whole United States post-colonial period. Not only did slavery have an economic impact but it also lead to the ideas of abolition and true equal freedom for all that would later be addressed and…

    • 749 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many of the American supported because they need to work their farms and other labor jobs. ¨England's southern colonies in North America developed a farm economy that could not survive without slave labor.¨ ¨Early in the seventeenth century, a Dutch ship loaded with African slaves introduced a solution—and a new problem—to the New World.¨(Civil War Trust). ¨Slaves were most economical on large farms where labor-intensive cash crops, such as tobacco, could be grown.¨(Civil War Trust). They were crops they were growing we're going down in price, so they aren't getting as much money as they need. Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin. It made…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The American Revolution produced a new outlook. Unfortunately, groups excluded from immediate equality were Native Americans, slaves and women. Women were loyal in their service to the Patriots but they didn't gain any type of legal or political rights. However, freedom, equality, and independence were very inspirational to women and these ideas would help them in the future to become independent.…

    • 267 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Beckert's book titled, “The Empire of Cotton”, he argues that the cultivation of cotton in 19th century America went hand in hand with slavery, or violent domination of labour. Before the inception of cotton cultivation in US, slaves were employed in tobacco plantations. When the market for tobacco dwindled, it was an easy move to employ the slaves on cotton plantations, as the cultivation techniques were largely similar. Cotton is a labour intensive crop, and a significant portion of the production costs go towards procuring labour. Slavery was a cost-effective method of employing labour. If slaves were employed, large quantities of cotton could be produced at a cheaper cost, and as a result, could be sold in the market for low prices. One of the reasons…

    • 572 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    During the American Revolution in the 1770s, African Americans soldiers participated in valor. Some were fighting for the Britain colonialists while others were fighting for American patriots in their struggle for independence. The slaves fought alongside their masters so that they could get human rights and freedoms enjoyed by other Americans. During this time, slavery was at peak, and most African Americans were under servitude and gross abuse of their rights (Matthews 369). Slaves imported from Africa and other parts of the world were sold to slave masters especially in the North. When the revolutionary war ended, most soldiers who participated in the war for both sides won their freedom. There is a rich history on the role of slaves in the…

    • 1620 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the 1600s through the mid 1800s slavery played an important stage in the economic development of early America and helped America to become an economic power house later in time by laying the foundation of a strong economy and government. Slavery propelled the new world’s economy and once America got its independence the taxes on slaves and the products that slaves made and grew helped boost the economy and along with the exports that they made. Slavery played a larger role in building America’s economy then you would think and slavery is a very important event to our history. Slavery paid for a lot of the shares of capital, farming, and manufactured goods that laid the basis for American economic growth. It did this by creating jobs…

    • 919 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The tensions between the slave labor of Blacks and the free labor of whites worsened race relations and escalated racism among white labors. Although primary jobs of poor White workers were not farming, there were absolutely not enough jobs. As Black slaves, many poor White workers had dirtiest and most dangerous jobs. Poor White workers wanted African American slaves to exclude from jobs in order not to compete. Many slaves had little opportunity to ever get any money. However, some slaves sometimes had chance to get hired and earn some money even though their gang owners usually took most of the money that African American slaves earned. White workers were angry over economic uncertainty, dissatisfied with their work, and worried about Black…

    • 222 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays