by Colette Georgii

Created on: May 30, 2007

Land Rich, Labor Poor Colonial America and Slavery

Slavery in Colonial America began in 1619 with the arrival of 20 African slaves on the Dutch Man-of-War ship. Actually the first slaves were not imposed with as many restrictions as they were later in the Colonial period. The first African slaves were indentured servants just as other indentured servants.

At the time that these first Africans came to Colonial America, every country in Western Europe was trading in "Negroes." The trade of "Negroes" was considered in Europe to be okay; and " ...at a much later date the King of England derived a large income from selling slaves in America."

Remember at this time Colonial America belonged to England until 1776 when the Revolutionary War ended the English domination over America.

However, the early settlers, due to the extenuating circumstances of being land rich, and labor poor embraced slavery as a means to capitalize on the products that their land could grow.

From the very beginning in America there were those that were against Slavery. The first group to openly oppose Slavery in America were the Mennonites in Germantown, Pennsylvania in 1688. They opposed Slavery on Christian principles. They argued that the robbers were separating husbands and wives, and taking children from their families, thus causing adultery.

There was also evidence that members of the Massachusetts Bay Colony opposed slavery in 1641. Documents from that time state that "There shall never be any bond slavery,..."

Because of "The harsh realities of a land-rich, but labor-scarce economy..." and "clear overtones of racism" settlers of Maryland in 1664, through the Maryland Colonial Assembly enacted statutes of law to impose "perpetual slavery upon Negro slaves and their offspring." Any English woman or any "freeborn" woman who married an African slave was also put under harsh restriction condemning her also to servitude and any children of hers to lifetime slavery.

By enacting these strict laws the southern landowners could assure themselves of labor in order to keep farming their lands and producing the crops in demand the world over.

By 1700 the African slaves were numerous in the states of Maryland, Virginia, and the Carolinas. The communities to the north were just farming men who were neither rich nor poor, but the southern owners of land "developed a type of large proprietor and a white community of overseers and professional men subsisting on slave labour. Slave labour was a necessity to the social and economic system that had grown up in the south; in the north the presence of slaves was unnecessary..."

Thomas Jefferson who wrote the Declaration of Independence included clauses denouncing the slave trade and the home governments' interference in Colonialists attempts to stop the slave trade. These clauses in the Declaration were thrown out.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson both condemned Slavery but because of the demand or need for labor they also owned slaves.

By 1790 there were 698,000 slaves in the United States (10,000 in the north and the rest in Virginia, Maryland, and North and South Carolina). By the time of the Civil War there were 3,954,000 slaves in the U.S.

References: The Outline of History by H.G. Wells, 1949; Civil Rights and the American Negro, editors: Albert P. Blaustein, Robert L. Zangrando, 1968, and Dictionary of United States History, by J. Franklin Jameson, Ph.D., 1894, Leading Facts of American History, by D. H. Montgomery, 1934.

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