by Andy Herrick

Created on: January 27, 2010

The United States Constitution was finally ratified by a reluctant Rhode Island convention on May 29, 1790 (Lloyd).  Hypocrisy followed for seventy years.  The phrase so dominant in the Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal” (Thomas Jefferson), a predominant idea in the Constitution, was overtly belittled and ignored by Caucasians in America.  While Caucasians clamored for their rights and privileges, Africans and African-Americans labored in the humid heat of the Deep South, sacrificing their wants, needs and dreams to stuff the pocketbooks of the white wealthy. 

How did shackled Africans wind up on American coasts?  While there is no one-size-fits-all answer, a niche investigation of a specific economic trend clarifies the relationship between the early American economy and slavery.  The advent of slavery was due to the necessity of performing mass manual labor on a particular type of product – a product whose economic output did not vary when capitalistic competition (e.g. specialty of labor) was introduced in the production stage).  The Spaniards initially developed this economic pattern, which was later emulated by British colonial America.

After Columbus’ initial discovery of the New World, Britain, France, Spain and Portugal quickly expedited adventurers to the unexplored coasts.  While Portugal’s interest soon waned, Spain eagerly sought for gold in middle and southern North America.  Britain colonized and created an agricultural plantation system in southern and middle North America, and France developed an extensive fur trade in northern America and what is modern-day Canada (Johnson).

Why did Spain depend on slavery to work the gold and silver mines while France, for instance, never relied on slave labor?  The fur trade required responsible, independent and trained frontiersman to track, kill, skin and ship the valuable fur (Johnson).  Unwilling slaves could not accomplish this task.   Slavery, however, was perfect for the goals of Spain.  Deep shaft mining technology had yet to be invented.  Gold mining was a manual and tedious task that required little skill; a few rudimentary implements would suffice.  Uneducated or trained workers were not likely to discover more gold than their uneducated and unwilling counterparts.  The net production of gold did not depend on who did it; all that mattered was that somebody

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