Slave Trade on the American Continent - Essay Example

Labor provided in all American farms came from either slaves or poor American servants in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The English law at that moment did not protect the rights of the Africans, and they ended up being overworked and mistreated. Their hard work and high production rate formed the backbone of the successful and rigid economic status that prevails in the American continent. Although not only Africans were victimized by slavery, they formed the greatest percentages of manual laborers since they were much stronger physically and were easily available.

The labor shortage in America promoted the slave trade, and the European powers were competing for the number of slaves. The same completion remains but has been converted into economic and power competition. An estimation of over fifty million Africans was taken as slaves as early as the year 1800. Most of these slaves were separated from their families and ended up disappearing far away from their people (Zinn, 27). Zinn says that slavery is the root of racism since the inferiority of Africans started secondary to the slave trade (Zinn, 29).

The American economy at this period was controlled mainly by agriculture and the richest people were those doing agriculture. Most of these people later ventured into other businesses, which fostered the rapid economic growth of the American continent. The Americans were not concerned with the well-being of the slaves and they even killed the slaves with little work rates. They were inhuman and their only interest was limitless profits from their agriculture. The Africans, on the other hand, were not united due to their ethnic diversities and could not come together to aid themselves out of European slavery.

The first slaves from the American continent went to Jamestown around 1619 and they were used in agricultural firms. The area experienced faster agricultural growth and this led to other English settlers demanding African slaves to work on their farms.  With available and cheap labor, the Americans expanded their agriculture, particularly tobacco farming. Tobacco farming developed the Americans at the expense of the slave’s heavy labor (Zinn, 33). The rate at which slaves were ferried to the American continent increased since every farmer focused on expanding their sales to gain more profits. However, not all American farmers were involved in the slave trade since some Americans even helped the slaves escape (Zinn, 34).