From indentured servitude to slavery in America

Focus Question Why was labor so important in colonial society?

Convoluted relationships “Mr. Taylor and I have divided our corn and I am very glad of it for now I know mine own ground.” Anthony the Negro Virginia Court Document, 1645

Society Based on Indentured Labor Large quantity of English Poor Lacked ability to find work Willing to accept servitude Low life expectancies in Virginia (average 4 years) Monopoly on the slave trade drives up the price for slaves

Importance of Indentured Labor With indentured labor readily available, the cost of indentured servants was low. Why turn to slave labor? Remains common in New England SOCIETY WITH SLAVES

The Morgan Theory Proposed and promoted by Edmund Morgan English colonies turned to slavery to prevent class conflict Myth of Pristine Beginnings Paradise turned to wickedness by elites American Slavery, American Freedom

Geography of Virginia Tidewater Rolling fields along coast Rich black soil Easy to till Plantation style agriculture Piedmont Rocky foothills of the Appalachians Poor, rocky soil Good only for subsistence farming

Social Classes Planters claim Tidewater region Plantations develop Bring over more servants, claim more land Freed servants forced to claim land in the Piedmont Remain poor Many give up their land to work for the Planters

Role of House of Burgesses First colonial assembly (1619) Burgesses were unpaid, met during harvest Inequitable tax structure Refused to tax property Levied a head tax Refused to support frontier (Piedmont) requests Meanwhile Virginia faced economic challenges

Bacon’s Rebellion Piedmont farmers rose in revolt Reaction to leadership and hard times Refused to make peace with Native Americans Raided friendly Indians Sparked a series of Indian wars Forced high taxes Bacon refused to stop the fighting

March on Jamestown Bacon led a march of Piedmont farmers on Jamestown Largely the poor, former Servants, Indentured Servants, slaves Burned Jamestown to the ground Bacon dies in the winter of 1676/1677 Revolt collapses

Tidewater Farmers Return Needs for labor still very intense Indentured Servants not as attractive Will settle in the Piedmont Eventually will overrun the Planters Virginia needs a permanent unfree labor force Tie the poor to the Planters by granting privileges Divide and conquer

Criticisms Morgan thesis fails to take into shifts in society Economic shifts within England Social shifts in the colonies Morgan heavily influenced by contemporary politics Thesis developed in the 1960s Class struggle Civil Rights struggle

Economic Model Pool of indentured labor dried up Learned of the horror of life in Virginia Public works jobs existed in England Great Fire of London Life expectancies rose (by 1650, average was 20 years) Royal African Company lost its monopoly in 1689

Transformation to a Slave Society Costs of Indentured servants rising Costs of slaves falling Labor needs met by slaves, not servants Southern economy based on slave labor SLAVE SOCIETY

South Carolina Colony of a colony Founded by sons of Barbados planters Lack of land in Barbados Almost all of Barbados given over to sugar plantations Younger sons sent to South Carolina to raise rice Take the Barbados Slave Codes at the founding Slavery deeply part of Colonial South Carolina