Figure 1.--. |
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The English colonization of North America began much later than the Spanish and Portuguese colonization of South America and Central America. The English colonization of Borth America began at Jamestown (1609) and Plymouth (1620). The first Africans arrived in what is now the United States soon after the English and Dutch colonies were established along the eastern seabord. There was considerable uncertainty about their legal status. Initially they were treated more lkike inentured servants, an important institution in early colonial America. The fitst southern colony where blacks appeared was Jamestown which became Virginia. They were brought by Dutch traders. (1619). They were then introduced to Duth New Amsterdam (1624). The Dutch played an important role because of their Aftrican trading posts. Slavery was soon established in the American colonies, although the legal code to support it did not at first exist. Here the legal code developed in Virginia, the largest and most important Southern colony was especially important. A major component of the slave system was a prohibition on inter-racial marriage. This began during the slavery era. Maryland was the first colony to ban inter-racial marriage (1664). Other colonies quickly followed suit. Slavery developed differently in each colony. The different colonies gradually passed laws codifing slavery. The year and the details of these laws varied from state to state. The laws were the wirk of the colonial legislators. The British crown gave little attention to colonial laws, especially laws regulating essentially domestic affairs. Disintrest and the English Civil War allowed the colonies to develop with a minimum of interference from England. There was some efforts in early colonial America to enslave Native Americans for farm labor. This did not prove successful. The Native Americans did not accept slavery. This may have reflected their social mindset, but also it was difficult to keep them from running away. They were also security threats as Native American raid were a constant threat in early colonial America. Here Blacks proved more suitable as they had no place to where they could escape.
The first blacks arrived in what is now the United States soon after the English and Dutch colonies were established along the eastern seabord. There was considerable uncertainty about their legal status. Initially they were treated more lkike inentured servants, an important institution in early colonial America. Many colonists lacking money for the passage came to America as indentured sevants, normally pledging their labor for 7 years to pay for the passage. As slavery in Europe was virtually unknown, blacks when they first arrived were treated legally as this class of people. Quite a number of the original blacks did not come directly from Africa. Rather they were what became known as African creoles. Africans cimmonly served aboard Spanih and Portuguese ships. In some cases they were people of mixed African-European ancestry. Dutch and English ships preying upon Portuguese and Spanish ships seized the Africans as war booty, much as they did the cargo. Some could read and many spoke foreign languages. Only radually were these people reduced to the status of chatel slavery and a legal system developed to hild them in slavery.
The greatest problem in the ccolonies from the very beginning was labor. Some of the first slaves, or more correctly indentured servans in the English colonies were The criminal justice system in England and the rest oif Europe was brutal before reforms following the mid-19th century. Individuals found guilty of the most minor offenses such as petty larceny and pick pocketing could be hanged. An option to the presiding was transportation to the colonies as indentured servants. This occurred in both England and Ireland. The individuals included those found guilty for both serious and petty crimes. Because the offenses included petty crimes, some quite young children, mostly boys, were included in these transports. The decesion seems a matter of judicial choice rather than legal guidelines. We are not sure to what extent judges were influenced by a miscreants age in deciding the punishment. These transports began with the founding of the colonies, but were relatively limited until the 18th century. They continued even after the American Revolution into the 19th century. Ausrtralia was seen at first as a porison colony. Sentences varied. They could be for life, but were more commonly for a specific period. There was no inheritance of slave status by their children, although there were limitations on marriage. The criminals transported were used to work on a variety of government projects, including road construction, building works, and mining. It was virtually impossible to find workers for such projects. Fee indivuduals wanted to found afarm or business. Those transportedf might also be purchased for use as unpaid labour. Most of thge transportees were men, but there wee some women. They worked as n were expected to work as domestic servants and agricultural labor. There were both indentured servants who were transported and those who contracted to be endentured servants to pay for therir passage. In the later case, 7 years was a common term of servitude. Their legal status meant that they could be bought and sold, required permission to marry, and could be punished phyically. Transported convicts after serving a portion of his term could aplly for a 'ticket of leave' through which some freedoms might be gained.
The first northern colony where black appeared was New Netherlands, the Dutch colony that was to become New York. New Amsterdam was a trading post set up by the Dutch on Manhattan. New Amsterdam was founded by the Dutch East Indies Company. The colony like Jamestown in the south were economic enterprises funded by investors and intent on making a profit. The company introduced 11 blacks. They were introduced as Company slaves. There was at the time in the colony no legal basis for slavery. They were used as Company slaves to build the early colony's infrastructure (clearing land and building roads) and other tasks like loading and unloading ships. By the late 1620s the Dutch also brought over black women to avoid the preceived problem of inter-racial unions. While these blacks were slaves, they had a range of rights in New Amsterdam that would later be denied by the slave system that would develop in America. They had the right to earn and retain wages. They in fact negotiated with Company officials for higher wages. Company and court records provide fascinting insights into slavery in the Dutch colony. Company slaves petitioned for higher wages (1635). A slave sued a merchant (1638). The status of the Company slaves improved when they joined with the white settlers in a war with Native Americans (1639). There was a fear that the blacks might join force with the Native Americans. The Company in the aftermath of the war took steps to improve the lot of the blacks. The first recorded marriage of blacks was recorded (1641). The Company devised the concept of half freedom. They were permitted to farm their own land, although they had to pay tribute to the Company. Their children, however, remained company property. Blacks came to play a major role in the colony. Eventually about 20 percent of the population was black and they were free, half free, and slave. New Netherlands was seized by the British (1664) and became the colony of New York.
Virginia was the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay an Maryland was the eastern shore. The Bay was chartered by Captatain John Smith (1608). After gold was not found, finding a profitable economic activity was a first a problem. The fur trade was a major concern at the time. William Claiborne from Virginia established a fur trading post on Kent Island (1631). The Crown granted the Catholic Calvert family was granted title to the area (1632). The first town was St. Mary's City (1634). A conflict developed between Puritans and Catholics, finally the Church of England was made the established church and Maryland made a royal province (1691). Tobacco became an important crop in Maryland just as in Virginia. The slave system developed in Maryland just as in Virginia.
A major component of the slave system was a prohibition on inter-racial marriage. This began during the slavery era. Maryland was the first colony to ban inter-racial marriage (1664). Other colonies quickly followed suit. Slavey was ended by the 13 Amendment, but the laws and national obsession on inter-racial marriage were unchanged. State laws and court rulings continued to ban inter-racial marriage well into the 20th century.
The French and Spanish tried to found a colony in the Carolinas during the 16th century. The English also failed in an attempt to found a colony on Ronanoke Island in what is now North Carolina. The English finally succeeded. A colony was established at Albemarlke Point (1670). The colony was established on the basis of a grant given by Charles II to friends after the Restoration. The capital was moved to Charleston (1680). South Carolina was the first colony estanlished with slavery as part of the constitution. North Carolina was separated from South Carolina (1713). Many ofthe early settlers came from Barbados. Barbados was an important Caribbean sugar island with the economy based almost entirely on slavery. There were an estimated 50,000 slaves on Barbados. It was this system of industrial slavery that the planters from Barbados brought to South Carolina. South Carolina was not suitable for industrial sugar production. The planters tried a variety of crops, including indigo and tobacco. Conditions in the South Carolina lowlands did not prove suitable for crops familiar with the settlers. The slaves began growing a familiar crop for their own sustinence--rice. The planters quickly adopted this unfamilar crop as suitable for local conditions. It was, however, a labor intensive crop requiring the olanters to import more blacks. Many planters in South Carolina were investors in the Royal African Company, thus they benefitted from both the slave trade and the use of slave labor. Solomon Island off Charleston was set up to house the arriving slaves and to prepare them for sale in Charleston's important slave market. Normally large numbers of blacks died during the voyage, usually 1/4 to 1/3 of those embarked. Those that survived were often in poor condition. On Solomon Island they were fed and able to reperate. The most valuable slaves were well-built grown youths under 20 years who could labor for many years. When ready for sale they were taken to Charleston and oiled so their skin would glisten to emphasize good health. So many slaves were imported into South Carolina that that by the 1720s that the black population outnumbered the white population 2 to 1. It is no accident that given the importance of slavery to South Carolina planters that when slavery came to be criticised in the 19th century that it was South Carolina that was the first state ti seceed from the Union.
Slavery developed differently in each colony. The different colonies gradually passed laws codifing slavery. The year and the details of these laws varied from state to state. The laws were the wirk of the colonial legislators. The British crown gave little attention to colonial laws, especially laws regulating essentially domestic affairs. Disintrest and the English Civil War allowed the colonies to develop with a minimum of interference from England.
The Spanish and Portuguese turned to Africans as a labor source for theiir colonies. Millions of Africans were transported across the Atlantic and sold into slavery in the Americas. Slavery in earlier epochs had no racial connotations. With the growth of the African slave trade, slavery in the Western mind became associated with race as with the collapse of Native American populations, it was Africans who were enslaved in huge numbers. European Christian who would not have tolerated the enslavement of other Europeans found little objection to enslaving black Africans. With the foundation of English colonies, Africans were also brought to North America. Most were set to work on the of the plantations of the American South. The African slave trade was in full force by the 1750s. One estimate suggests that about 5,000 blacks annually were being brought to America. I can not yet confirm this estimate. I'm not precisely sure how this compared to emmigration from European countries at the time.
There was some efforts in early colonial America to enslave Native Americans for farm labor. This did not prove successful. The Native Americans did not accept slavery. This may have reflected their social mindset, but also it was difficult to keep them from running away. They were also security threats as Native American raid were a constant threat in early colonial America. Here Blacks proved more suitable as they had no place to where they could escape. Recrossing the Atlantic was hardly feasible. Some Blacks did escape west and joined Indian tribes. The number involved here was fairly limited as for many slaves Ntive Americans seemed as frightening as thy did to Whites. Another factor is tht by the time the big cotton plantations began to appear in the Deep South, Native American tribes had been removed west of the Mississppi beyond the reach of runaways. An exception here were the Seminoles in Florida, but the number of runaways who found refuge there were relatively limited. The tribe that had the greatest contct with Blcks was the Cherokee. The Cherokee was the tribe that most readily adapted to European ways such as taking up settled agriculture. The Cherookee (along with the Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks, and Seminoles) were known as the Five Civilized Tribes because of their willingness to adopt European customs. As these tribes were fond in the South, civilized ways included slavery. The Cherokee bought black slaves. When gold was discovered on Cherokee land, the state of Georgia seized the land and despite a Supreme Court ruling, the Cherokee were removed beyond the Mississippi to Indian Territory from their lands in Georgia and North Carolina (1938-39). The result treck is called the Trail of Tears because of the thousands of Cherokee who died. There is no data to indicate how the slaves fared. While expelled from their land, the Cherokee were allowed to take their posssesions with them, including their slaves. The Cherokee fought with the Condfederacy during the Civil War. After the War a peace treaty was signed with the Federal Government (1866). The Cherokee by Tribl Decree had freed their slaves during the War. Under the terms of the Treaty, the Cherokee agreed to absorb the freed slaves as members of the Cherokee Nation. Over time the slaves inter-married with the Cherokee, a process began even before emancipation. The Federal Government ordered a census (the Dawes Commission) as preparations were made to open the Indian Territory (Oklahoma) to White settlement (1880s). As part of that census, individuals who looked Black were listed as freedmen. About 20,000 people were classified freedmen. This did not affect their satus as citizens of the Cherokee Nation because of the 1866 Treaty.
In recent years, some Cherokee have questioned the rights of their descendents to be Cerokee. The Cherokee voted over this issue (March 3, 2007).
Ely, Melvin Patrick. Israel on the Appomattox
Horton, James Oliver and Louis E. Horton. Slavery and the Making of America (Oxford University Press, 2004), 254p.
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