Labor System In Colonial America

In the Northern Colonies religion was a key component in the colonies more so than in the South. Also in the North temperature was cooler therefore the North had more white laborers. On the other hand there was far more slaves in the South than in the North. Most slaves in the South stayed with their masters then, while slaves in the North worked as artesian, shop keepers, messengers, servants, and general labors. During the 1620’s – 1670’s white and black worked and lived together.

Firstly, the owners of land ownership in the southern colonies rapidly pooled their land, forming a large-scale farms, which, respectively, required much more labor. Second, the price of tobacco, the main crop of the South, in the 1660s fell and remained at a low level, forcing all the planters to sell cheaper. Third, as population growth in England and at the same time reduced to improve living conditions, the number of people who wanted to go to America as indentured workers, reduced - thus the number Servent also declined. Fourth, the laws of Virginia and other colonies were aimed at the worsening situation of black workers and ultimately led to legitimize the system of slave labor. Although theoretically black workers were free men, in fact, they had to put up with infringement of their civil, legal and property rights.

The treatment of slaves between the North and the South was drastically different. Slaves in the North typically lived in the same house as their master and worked by themselves, or in small groups (pg. 94). Slaves in the South tended to live in large plantations in which they were housed in plantation outbuildings (pg. 104). The difference between the North and the South in housing and working environment had a direct effect on the integration of African Americans into their new American society. When they were housed in the North with their masters and had limited exposure to other slaves, they tended to adopt the ways of their masters.

At the beginning, most of the slaves were indentured servants, who chose free labour in the colonies for several years over a death penalty. Those were mostly European, but in the seventeenth century, Africans were sent to Virginia to work as indentured servants. While some were able to gain freedom, others fell into permanent servitude, and by 1661, all black people in Virginia were considered slaves, and their numbers raised significantly. Nonetheless, slavery started as early as the 1530s in Meso-American colonies, as their aims with agriculture were much larger, and they had difficulty employing natives outside the areas where there had been large empires, such as Peru and Mexico. It can be argued that slavery in Latin America was not only more common; but also more brutal.

The introduction of slaves shaped the culture in the colonies because people did not grasp any moral implications of slavery. At the time, there were no set concepts of race and racism, the people merely saw the Africans as alien in their color, religion, and social practices (Foner, pg. 99). As slavery developed, people continued to enjoy the benefits of slavery, like how it was profitable. The expense of the slaves’ housing, clothing, and food was considerably

The religion of each colony was also impacted the economy, of whether of not they used slavery, and was a major difference in

Labor systems have been the foundation for civilizations since the beginning of time. Who did what and how they benefited each other, in other words, specialization of labor, came to be a defining factor in whether a society was truly a civilization or not. Most great civilizations were founded on agricultural labor systems, and societies with no systematic format on their workforce were seldom able to take the main stage in world history. Between 1450 and 1750, the Americas began to mark their place in the world, proving they were just as relevant as Europe, Africa, or Asia. The labor systems established during 1450-1750 were key factors in how they were able to do so. However, it was a process of trial and error, since labor systems saw many

During the first years of settlers in the colonies, life in the New England colonies was a struggle compared the southern colonies. Many farmers couldn’t grow much food and farmers were having a difficult time finding a stable product like sugar or tobacco(page 80). The southern colonies had found their marketable product and had gained more economically than the northern colonies. With labor costs low due to indentured servants and slaves, the southern colonies flourished.  Ira Berlin calls this generation of slaves the charter generation.

The process of black slavery taking route in colonial Virginia was slow. Black slavery mostly became dominant in the 1680s. Slaves became the main labor system on plantations. The amount of white indentured servants declined so the demand for black slaves became necessary in the mid-1660s. The number of white indentured servants that Virginia had up until the mid 1660s, was enough to meet white peoples labor needs.

The farmland was so large that they needed slaves and servants to work on the land. This need for labor brought about the slave trade in which African slaves were sold at high prices to rich plantation owners. In the Chesapeake region the ratio of indentured servants was above 40 percent. (Hawke, 120) SInce, more tobacco was cultivated the need for labor was high compared to the New England. The tobacco farming made Chesapeake different than the New England.

Agriculture dominated the south with its ability to produce exceptional wealth for plantation owners. However, they were in need of labor and so they “made all men their slaves in hopes of recompenses.” (Doc. F) Many Englishmen brought over indentured servants from Europe who served as the foundation of the labor force for plantations. Soon enough, ¾ of the population in the south colonies were made of indentured servants.

The beginning of the 17th Century marked the practice of slavery which continued till next 250 years by the colonies and states in America. Slaves, mostly from Africa, worked in the production of tobacco and cotton crops. Later , they were employed or ‘enslaved’ by the whites as for the job of care takers of their houses. The practice of slavery also led the beginning of racism among the people of America. The blacks were restricted for all the basic and legally privileged rights.

By establishing the institution of chattel slavery, in which a black person became not just a temporary servant but the lifetime property of his or her white master, the tobacco, cotton and rice planters of British North America ensured their rise to economic and political preeminence over the southern half of what would become the United

Document A is a painting of Landing Negroes at Jamestown from Dutch Man-of-War, 1619. The New World’s need for labor was fulfilled with indentured servants, brought from Europe, and African slaves, brought by the millions to the Americas. The painting shows the ship and the order of these landings. Document A gives the audience the ability to see the way that slavery came to be in and impacted the Americas. Document C gives statistics on the amount of people forced to migrate and work in the Americas.

The people from Africa were generally part of early American history; however, Africans had experience slavery under better conditions compared to the conditions imposed by other civilized society. From the Egyptian Empire to the Empire of Songhai, slavery was practice for the betterment of their society, however, foreigners invaded these regions and took their slave, their ports and impose these people to a life of servitude in the Caribbean islands and in the English’s colonies. Furthermore, the African American slaves were an active agent of society in the earliest period of American history; they have brought new religious practices to their community; for instance, they constructed networks of communities; they had fought in war alongside