Slave Trade to America - Literature review Example

Slave trade to America Introduction During the 16th century all through up to the 19th century, slave trade had been legalized in Africa and in the European countries. All this started when the Europeans established their first colonial settlement in North America in conjunction with the Virginia Company. In 1606, the first colonialists from the Virginia Company left for the New World from England. The colony was then established in an island by the name Jamestown, in North America. Despite the favorable climate in Jamestown, the colonialists experienced the problem of lack of fresh water for drinking and thus most of them died within the first year of arrival due to attack by unknown diseases and starvation. Thus, by 1610, very few colonialists were remaining due to the shortage of food and water. Precisely, only 60 of the first 214 were alive. (Littlejohn, 2003, P. 5) Despite this setback, the English colonialists were still convinced they could make Virginia prosperous. And thus the group of colonialists that followed was certain that there were unexplored metals and precious stones in the land. They therefore, aimed at identifying these precious minerals in Virginia. However, with time it became clear that Virginia did not have any minerals or metals. And therefore, the settlers had to identify some other means of survival. With other parts of America successfully dealing in Agricultural crops, the English colonialists also sought to try the same in Virginia. Tobacco farming was then started in the land and indeed it became a success to the Virginia Company. With the activity being so labor intensive, there was hence the need for more workers in the farms. The Englishmen offered to work as indentured servants for a period of four to seven years in exchange for food, clothing and shipment to the New World. (Littlejohn, 2003, P. 6) Though the system of indentured servitude clearly exploited the workers, the white servants still accepted it in the hope for freedom and citizenship on completion of their contracts. With time, the system was not only being used in the farms, but also in construction, clearing of roads and timber cutting. Women could also secure jobs in households as domestic servants, but still under the same system. According to Rodriguez, (2007, P.87), the system of indentured servitude in America was to some extent a kind of slavery. This is because the servants were exploited by their masters and also faced many hardships during the contract period. Most of them were physically and sexually abused until they opted to run away. Running away would however, lead to severe consequences once captured. They would be beaten, branded and even jailed. Start of Slave trade in America Then, in the year 1619 slave trade began in Virginia when a Dutch slave trader exchanged twenty African slaves for food. The Africans were taken as indentured servants at first but would later become slaves since even after the end of the contract they could not return to their home in Africa. By the 1920s, it became clear that the slave trade would be only option for the English tobacco farmers due to the high labor demand. (Wood, 2005, P. 4) This was due to the fact that the African slaves were much cheaper and easy to acquire as compared to the indentured servants. The slaves would only be provided with food water and shelter with no freedom promised as was the case in the indentured servitude. (Rodriguez, 2007, P.87) By this time, the transatlantic trade, which had started early in the century was booming, and thus English colonies did not have to suffer in search of a market for slaves. The demand for more slaves thus acted as a fuel to the slave trade. The factors that promoted the slave trade of Africans in Virginia included: Availability or ready market: as mentioned above, the farmers did not have to travel all the way to Africa to purchase slaves; they could get them at the transatlantic slave trade. Racial differences also made the Africans more vulnerable to slavery as compared to the white indenture servants. This was especially after the rule among the Europeans that anyone who was black was meant to be a servant. The case of discrimination and worse treatment of Africans became worse especially when a man by the name John Rolf referred to Africans as Negars instead of servants. (Wood, 2005, P. 9) Year after year slave trade was becoming wide spread in America, especially using African slaves. In 1924, farms in New York also imported blacks from Dutch to work in the farms. During the same year, the Dutch established a new colony at New Netherlands. which was between Virginia and Massachusetts, thus creating more e potential for the trade. They could thus sell African slaves to both the Caribbean islands and the New Netherlands. In the year 1641, slave trade was becoming a major economic activity in America, and was legalized in Massachusetts. (Littlejohn, 2003, P. 7) Laws and statutes regarding the treatment of slaves were passed in the same year. The slaves, who by them were considered impure were not to have any relations with the white people except the master servant relationship. The statutes clearly provided that the two races were not to come in conduct in any way as this was considered to be racial impurity. As the 1940s progressed, the Virginia courts decided that every black person was to remain a servant for the rest of their lives. In the year 1962, the court also decided that a child born to a slave mother would also become a slave. (Littlejohn, 2003, P.7) Treatment of salves became rough and ruthless as more and more, and policies were formulated. One policy formed in the year 1967 read “An Act to Regulate the Negroes on the British plantations”. (Rodriguez, 2007, P. 89) With such harsh treatment, some of the slaves began to resist thus affecting the trade negatively. Resistance was manifested by slave revolt outbreaks in the regions. These would create a sense of fear among the colonies, but no change in the conditions, instead, those presumed guilty would be executed and harsher conditions imposed. By the year 1698, it was ascertained that approximately twelve percent of the population in the colony of New York comprised of black slaves. In the same year, slave trade became an open activity with no more monopolists in the trade. Many of the traders claimed to make massive profits from the business. As the 1700s started, all the thirteen Britain colonies in North America were fully engaged in the slave trade. Plantation agriculture had become a very important activity, and the slaves were needed to provide labor services. Thus, slavery was much more practiced in the six colonies involved in plantation agriculture. These were Virginia, Georgia, Maryland, Delaware, South and North Carolina. There was however, a region by the name Chesapeake Bay which was intensely involved in the trade due to its large plantations. In the year 1705, a policy in Virginia was formulated stating that all slaves were equal regardless of their religion. The General Assembly also declared that all black and Indian slaves were to be taken as property legally. This gave the masters or owners of the slaves a right to treat them as property without being questioned by the law. By 1715, Slave trade had fully taken hold with the Quakers campaigning for favorable conditions to enhance the activity. They fought against any treaties that were likely to lead to the end of the trade. Thus during that time, the British Colonies estimated that 58,850 persons of its total population were slaves. However, after the United States had gained independence, slavery became an issue to the country. Hence in the late 1700s, efforts to end the American slave trade were in action starting to hit the road. A movement to abolish slave trade was started led by a politician by the name: William Wilberforce. In the year 1778, a new law was enforced in Virginia stating that importation and purchase or sale of slaves was prohibited. Any traders therefore, who brought in any slaves were taken to be violators of the law and would be taken to be criminals. Any shipment of slaves in the seas was also prohibited, and the navy ensured that no slaves were loaded as cargo in the oceans. In the year 1794, the U.S congress led the people by supporting the abolishment of the slave trade. (Rodriguez, 2007, P.104) By 1807, Slave trade began to decrease in America and the problem was now ensuring that other countries Such as most West African countries abolished the trade too. Slave trade to America had major effects to both the American regions and the African regions. Scholars of the ancient times argue that the slave trade had both positive and negative effects to the countries. Some of the effects outlined include: Demographic effect on Africa The slave trade to America had graved demographic effects due to the population imbalance left in Africa once people were shipped to work in America. Scholars have noted that the ratio of men to women dropped drastically since most of the slaves taken were men. The population growth especially in the West African countries where slavery was immense dropped and thus the number of people left to engage in the production of the food was few. This hence, led to famine and disasters to the countries, leading to death and diseases. Economic effect Despite the negative picture shaped by the slave trade to America, scholars still argue that the slave trade had its own positives such as development of the economy. In exchange for slaves, the slave traders brought with them commodities which were not found in Africa. However, other scholars point out that the trade actually demoralized the level of economy in the African regions. This is because most of the slaves taken included the strong and energetic men who had the potential to participate in the economic activities. Thus, with only the old men and women left, there was no economic or farming activity to raise money in the society. This led to increased poverty and suffering. (Wood, 2005, P. 24) Effect on America’s economy One major contribution of the slave trade to the British colonialists is the provision of labor which assisted in the success of the tobacco plantations. With the agriculture plantations being so labor intensive, the British colonial farmers would not have made it on their own had it not been for the African slaves. However, research shows that precise calculation of both the costs and revenues from the trade led to less than 5% profits inclusively. (Inikori & Engerman, 1992, P. 9) This is because the shipment costs were very high and uncertain. The slave traders also experienced many problems in bringing the slaves to America. One historian mentions that the trips were horrible, and many people died due to diseases and reactions to the climatic changes. Such that if many of the slaves died while in transit the slave merchants would suffer losses since they would not be able to recover their costs of travel and purchase of the slaves. Generally, the slave trade is thought to have had negative impacts on both the British colonialists and the Africans. The trade is considered to have been cruel and inhuman. The African slaves specifically were treated without mercy due to their skin color. Historians argue that this inhuman activity contributed in slowing the progress of the English settlers in colonizing America. Some argue that had it not been for the slavery, America would have gained independence earlier. But due to trade, the colonialists mostly concentrated on dealing with the slaves. This led to taking other important issues such as politics for granted. Slave trade is also associated with the high mortality rate during the period. Many slaves either killed themselves or had to kill their masters in order to free themselves. Thus, death could occur either to the masters or to the slaves though many a times it is the latter that occurred. In conclusion, slave trade to America indeed left a mark to both America and Africa. It remains as a memorable historical happening for both continents even in the times to come. In my opinion, I think slave trade had no benefit. It only brought suffering to innocent people. I also strongly believe that the slave traders would still have engaged in other means of activity instead of buying and selling of human beings. Bibliography Inikori, J E., and Stanley L. Engerman. The Atlantic Slave Trade: Effects on Economies, Societies, and Peoples in Africa, the Americas, and Europe New York: Duke University Press, 1992. Littlejohn, Randy. A Timeline of the Slave Trade in America New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, 2003. Rodriguez, Junius P. Slavery in the United States: A Social, Political, And Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 2 California: ABC-CLIO, 2007. Wood, Betty. Slavery In Colonial America, 1619-1776 Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield, 2005. Read More