The Slave Trade in Colonial America - Research Paper Example

? The Slave Trade in Colonial America HIST101 – American History to 1877 26 June The Slave Trade in Colonial America Slavery has played a large role in shaping the history and economy of colonial America. The use of free labor had allowed America to garner large profits from its slave-dependent industries. Furthermore, the North, which did not use as many slaves as the South, helped it to also develop differently, where the former became more involved in technological industries that did not need slaves to perform various aspects of production. Slavery, however, is also seen as a large stain in human history, because of how it treated human beings inferiorly, due to the color of their race, or merely cultural differences. Slave traders, nevertheless, justified slavery, using British common law, some Christian beliefs, and natural rights philosophy, where these sources promoted slavery through racism. These sources stressed the inferiority of other races and the supremacy of the white race and culture, as well as the authority of Catholicism.1 For centuries, slavery progressed in Colonial America, but not without resistance from abolitionists and slaves themselves2. This paper describes the history and important events during the slave trade in Colonial America. It no longer deals with the abolition of slavery, but focuses on the economic aspects of the slave trade. The Beginnings of Slavery The history of slavery does not begin in colonial America but centuries before that, and it is said to have started in Europe. Booker T. Washington said that slavery of Africans began in A.D.990.3 The Moors who did not have “curly hair” also actively traded slaves in various countries in Europe and the Middle East.4 The Arabs even brought their “black ivory” to Cyprus and distributed them across Europe.5 The Portuguese, however, were attributed to be the originators of slavery in Christian Europe.6 Prince Henry, the Navigator (1394-1460), third son of King John I of Portugal, established a navigation college at Sagres on Cape Saint Vincent in 1419, because he wanted to discover new lands and convert the heathens into Catholics.7 All non-Christians were then called as “heathens,” a pejorative word for people considered as uncivilized. During this time, the world was divided between the Portuguese and the Spaniards, the two Catholic powers with naval capabilities. The British wanted to emulate these old superpowers and explored North America as its colonial territory. From here, they brought and traded slaves, who sustained their new economy.8 The first group of English people sent to the Americas in 1590, the Roanoke, was not a success; they mysteriously disappeared and were never found again.9 Still, this did not dent the English from pursuing the colonization of America. In 1606, a group of English investors had created the Virginia Company.10 They recruited people who were willing to be the new settlers in America. These new settlers did not originally conceive the need for slavery in their blueprint, because they focused on freedom and the opportunity to own land. Later on, it became clearer that in order to become rich, it was crucial to have the necessary labor to conduct economic activities competitively.11 This “peculiar institution” of slavery expanded as part of the plantation systems, first in sugar plantations, and then to tobacco and cotton plantations.12 The slaves are then called “black gold” because of trading profits and plantation profits. One scholar stressed that slavery is not based on color alone, but more for economic reasons: “The reason for Negro slavery is economic, not racial…[it has more to do with] the cheapness of labor. As compared with Indian and white labor, Negro slavery was eminently superior…”13 Slavery spread deeply and widely in South, where slave trading generally became predominant. Slave Trade in Colonial America The exact time and place of when and where the slave trade began in America is still debatable. One source said that a ship in Salem, Massachusetts brought slaves to Boston in 1638.14 Sandberg claimed that slavery began sometime in the early sixteenth century, through Portuguese and Spanish slave traders.15 In 1639, Hartford had black slaves, but the ship named Rainbow is also said to be the first to bring slaves in America in 1945.16 Americans, since they were considered as British citizens, were legitimate slave traders and paid 10% of their profits to the Royal African Company.17 Boston served as the primary port of departure for the ships, but soon, Rhode Island replaced Massachusetts as the trade center of colonial America.18 In 1750, Newport had 100 ships that engaged in the slave trade.19 Early slave traders first brought their “cargo” to the West Indies, so that they can be turned into “seasoned slaves,” because slave owners and buyers feared blacks that came directly from Africa.20 Kachur and Schwarz noted, however, that some slave owners preferred seasoned slaves from the Caribbean Islands.21 They said that some slave owners believed that seasoned slaves from the West Indies were not fully seasoned enough, and that instead, their sellers only wanted to get rid of sick, rebellious, and other forms of “unusable” slaves.22 The conditions of the slave inside slave ships were abominable. Many slaves were chained to each other, often in pairs, and they were crammed into the ship’s deck.23 It was also common for them to be packed so tightly that they could barely turn over or even stand up.24 The decks had no windows and the air would quickly become stifling.25 Sanitation was unheard of and so sicknesses were the norm.26 Slaves were forced to relieve themselves in tubs and buckets that were often left open. The odor in these “holds” was overpowering.27 Dead slaves were thrown overboard and even those who were sick, but still alive, were thrown the seas to avoid infecting other slaves and the crew.28 British merchants owned around 86% of the ships used in trading slaves and they also supplied 89% of the slaves in the market.29 Many British ships engaged in slave trade during the eighteenth century, however, were already made in the American colonies.30 This signified the growing economy of colonial America, as it slowly developed the major industries involved in trade and commerce. New England produced the greatest number of ships, followed by Bermuda, Virginia, and South Carolina.31 Two kinds of ships were made. The larger types carried around 72 slaves and could travel from Africa to eastern seaboard trade routes.32 The smaller ships carried only 14 slaves and could travel from the West Indies to East Coast ports.33 English merchants mostly owned the larger ships, since capital could be raised more easily at London and Liverpool, while colonials owned the smaller ships. Land in the West Indies was too important to grow food and clothing and so they were imported from colonial ships.34 The large English ships left England with manufactured goods and traded them for slaves in Africa.35 The slaves were brought to the West Indies or a mainland southern part, where they were traded for raw materials.36 Furthermore, sugar, tobacco, rice, indigo, turpentine, and masts were also traded in the home islands in the so called “triangular trade.”37 The slave trade from New York started with the Dutch. The Dutch West India Company monopolized Dutch colonies.38 Ships for the triangular trade were made in New Amsterdam. These ships went to Africa, then Curacao, and then back to New Amsterdam. After New Netherlands separated from the British, the Royal Africa Company managed the monopoly.39 During the last decades of the seventeenth century, New York traders sailed at the Cape of Good Hope to Madagascar to transport their cargo.40 They then went to southern ports and New York City. Early in its trading years, New York became second to Boston and Newport. Some events in the middle of the eighteenth century, however, made New York more involved in the slave trade.41 Jamaica’s sugar production increased its supply due to the higher European demand and so more slaves were needed.42 South Carolina and Georgia also required more bodies for their rice and indigo plantations.43 During the same time, Great Britain already opened the economy to American rice, which increased the acreage devoted to planting rice.44 Between 1715 and 1769, around 4,398 slaves were brought to New York.45 Many of the slaves came from Africa, while some came from the West Indies; others came from South Carolina.46 The demands in the North were smaller compared to the South and the West Indies. Slaves from the New York market were oftentimes brought to New Jersey, because the colony had no obligations to slaves.47 Slave trading was sometimes documented, but in ways that treated slaves as part of the cattle or animals. As one source noted: By whatever fashion, slaves changed hands in both counties. The overwhelming majority of sales were done with a simple bill of sale, as one might buy a horse or other domestic stock. Some buyers and sellers did legally record slave sales and purchases, however, and occasionally a court record will give some information about a slave’s origins. The only property other than slaves described in county deed books as to name, age, color, and general condition were horses, the occasional mule, and a few hogs.48 The slave trade was not largely documented, however, but records showed that the slaves were traded alongside horses, mules, and hogs. Slavery turned to be a lucrative industry, as more and more people bought and used slaves for serving houses and working in their plantations. The New Englanders learned that the rocky and infertile soil could not be enough to sustain a growing population.49 They fished, built ships, and sailed to increase their wealth.50 They also sold slaves to improve their incomes. The records from the study of Duncan showed that: “In 1850, Conway County had a population of 3583, of whom 240, or 6.7 percent, were slaves. Of the county’s 3339 white residents, only 64 were slave-owners.”51 During this time, around 10.7 percent of Conway County’s 595 white families had slaves.52 The biggest single slave-owner had twenty-five slaves. Thirteen people or around 20.3 percent of slave-owners had only one slave each.53 The average county slaveholder owned two or three. By 1860, Conway County had 6697 residents, where 11.9 percent, were slaves.54 The number of slave-owners had also risen to 108. True cotton plantation agriculture developed in Arkansas River bottom lands, largely through the plantation of George W. Carroll, who owned 125 slaves.55 Most slaves who were imported into New York worked in large plantations along the Hudson River.56 Many ships from New York carried around 40 tons of goods with a crew of seven or eight members. Many were made for the trade in the West Indies, although a number went to Africa. They carried only a small cargo, but were fast and could make a one-way trip in forty days.57 On average, they spent around 16 weeks trading in the African seas.58 Even when they had fewer slaves, they can make these trips more rapidly and became quite cost-efficient in terms of slave and other kinds of trading.59 Many successful trades made a profit of 50%.60 Unsure Endings Slavery somewhat ended during the American Revolution, but it returned slowly after that. Abolitionists fought for slavery to be ended, because they believed that all people have rights to freedom and autonomy. Even after the proclamation of equality for the slaves, many African Americans experienced slavery conditions and treatment as free men and women. They still experienced discrimination and prejudice. At present, slavery is illegal, but people should also remember that once in their history, there was darkness in the human heart, during that time when human beings were traded like animals. Bibliography Duncan, Georgena. 2010. “ ‘One negro, Sarah … one horse named Collier, one cow and calf named Pink’: Slave Records from the Arkansas River Valley.” Arkansas Historical Quarterly 69.4: 325-345. Harms, Robert. 2002. The Diligent: Worlds of The Slave Trade. New York: Basic Books. Kachur, Matthew and Philip Schwarz. 2006. The Slave Trade. New York: Chelsea House. Reiss, Oscar. 1997. Blacks in Colonial America. Jefferson, N.C. : McFarland & Co. Rothman, Adam. 2009. “Slavery and National Expansion in the United States.” OAH Magazine of History 23.2: 23-29. Sandberg, Richard P. 1969. “How Slavery Came and How It Developed in the British Mainland Colonies and in the West Indies.” ERIC. Wood, Betty. 2005. Slavery in Colonial America, 1619-1776. Maryland: Rowland & Littlefield. Read More