Getting Started
During the 17th and 18th centuries, the British colonies in North America developed diverse economies and societies. A central and tragic development in this period was the growth of a race-based system of slavery, which varied by region but ultimately involved all thirteen colonies. This chapter examines the economic and social forces that drove the expansion of slavery and the ways in which enslaved people resisted its dehumanizing effects.
What You Should Be Able to Do
Explain the primary reasons for the growth of slavery across all British colonial regions.
Describe the effects of slavery on the laws and social structures of the colonies, especially in the South.
Explain the different methods enslaved people used to challenge slavery and preserve their humanity.
Key Developments & Analysis
This section explores the causes and effects that led to the establishment and expansion of chattel slavery in the British American colonies.
Causes for the Growth of Slavery
The institution of slavery did not arrive fully formed but grew in response to a specific set of economic and social pressures in the colonies.
Abundant Land: The vast availability of land in the Americas created immense opportunities for agriculture, particularly for cash crops that were in high demand.
European Demand for Goods: A strong and growing European market for colonial products like tobacco, sugar, and rice created a powerful incentive for colonial producers to maximize their output.
Shortage of Indentured Servants: In the early colonial period, many laborers were indentured servants, Europeans who agreed to work for a set number of years in exchange for passage to America. As the supply of willing servants dwindled and their terms of service ended, planters sought a more permanent and controllable labor force.
Effects & Impacts of the Growth of Slavery
The turn toward enslaved African labor had profound and lasting consequences for colonial society, law, and culture.
Immediate Effects
Participation in the Atlantic Slave Trade: To meet the demand for labor, all British colonies participated, directly or indirectly, in the Atlantic slave trade. This was the vast, brutal system of capturing, transporting, and selling enslaved Africans to the Americas.
Regional Economic Dependence: The Chesapeake colonies (like Virginia and Maryland) and the southern colonies (like South Carolina) became heavily dependent on the labor of large numbers of enslaved people to power their plantation-based economies.
Long-Term Impacts
Dominance of Chattel Slavery: The system of chattel slavery became dominant, particularly in the southern colonies. This legal framework defined enslaved people not as humans with rights, but as personal property (chattel) who could be bought, sold, and inherited.
Creation of a Strict Racial System: As slavery became more entrenched, colonial governments passed new laws that created a rigid social hierarchy based on race. These laws explicitly linked African ancestry to enslavement.
Hereditary and Permanent Enslavement: A key feature of this new legal system was the principle that a child's status followed that of their mother. This meant that the children of enslaved African American mothers were defined as black and were enslaved for life, or in perpetuity, creating a permanent, self-perpetuating system of bondage.
Development of Resistance Strategies: In response to the dehumanizing conditions of slavery, Africans developed a wide range of methods to resist bondage and maintain their cultural identity. These included both overt (open) and covert (hidden) forms of resistance. They also fought to preserve their family structures, religious beliefs, and cultural traditions.
Data & Organization Tools
The institution of slavery was present in all British colonies, but its scale and function varied significantly by region, driven primarily by economic differences.
| Region | Primary Economic Activity | Scale of Slavery | Key Characteristics of Enslavement |
|---|---|---|---|
| New England | Small-scale farming, fishing, maritime trade | Smallest enslaved population; often in port cities | Enslaved people worked as farmhands, domestic servants, or artisans. The economy was not dependent on enslaved labor. |
| Middle Colonies | Cereal crop farming (wheat, corn), trade | Larger enslaved population than New England, but smaller than the South | Enslaved labor was used on farms and in cities, but rarely on the massive scale of southern plantations. |
| Chesapeake | Tobacco cultivation | Large and growing enslaved population | Labor-intensive tobacco farming created a massive demand for enslaved workers on large plantations. Slave laws became increasingly rigid. |
| Southern Colonies | Rice, indigo, and (later) cotton | Largest enslaved population; often a majority of the total population | Enslaved people worked under brutal conditions on vast plantations. The entire economy and social structure were built on chattel slavery. |
Evidence Bank
Atlantic Slave Trade: The transatlantic system that forcibly brought millions of enslaved Africans to the Americas. It was a cornerstone of the colonial economy, connecting Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
Indentured Servitude: A labor system where individuals were bound by contract to work for a specific period (typically 4-7 years) in exchange for passage to the colonies. Its decline was a major cause for the rise of slavery.
Chattel Slavery: A system of bondage in which an enslaved person is the legal property of an owner and can be bought and sold. This system stripped individuals of their humanity and rights.
Slave Codes: Sets of laws enacted by colonial assemblies to define the status of enslaved people and the rights of their owners. These codes codified the institution of chattel slavery and its basis in race.
Covert Resistance: Subtle, everyday acts of defiance used by enslaved people to challenge their condition. Examples include breaking tools, working slowly, feigning illness, or maintaining cultural practices forbidden by owners.
Overt Resistance: Open and direct acts of rebellion against slavery. This included running away, forming communities of escaped slaves (maroon communities), and armed revolts.
Cultural Maintenance: The active preservation of African cultural elements—such as music, language, storytelling, and religious beliefs—which served as a powerful form of spiritual resistance and community building.
Skill Snapshots
Causation:
The high European demand for colonial goods caused planters to seek a large, cheap labor force.
A shortage of indentured servants caused a shift toward the use of enslaved Africans.
The dehumanizing nature of chattel slavery caused enslaved people to develop both overt and covert forms of resistance.
Comparison:
Slavery in the Chesapeake was centered on tobacco plantations, while slavery in the southern colonies (like South Carolina) was based on rice and indigo cultivation.
While all colonies participated in the slave trade, southern colonies were far more economically dependent on enslaved labor compared to New England colonies.
Overt resistance, like armed rebellion, was a high-risk, direct challenge to slavery, whereas covert resistance, like breaking tools, was a lower-risk, daily method of undermining the system.
Continuity and Change Over Time:
Baseline: In the early 1600s, colonial labor was primarily performed by European indentured servants.
Change: Over the late 17th and 18th centuries, chattel slavery based on race replaced indentured servitude as the dominant labor system in the southern colonies.
Change: Colonial laws were created and strengthened over time to build a strict racial hierarchy and make slavery a permanent, inherited status.
Continuity: Throughout the entire period of slavery, Africans continuously resisted their enslavement and worked to maintain their family, cultural, and religious systems.
Common Misconceptions & Clarifications
"Slavery only existed in the South." While the southern colonies had the largest enslaved populations, all British colonies participated in and benefited from the Atlantic slave trade and the institution of slavery.
"All resistance involved violent revolts." Violent uprisings were rare and risky. More common forms of resistance were covert, such as slowing work, breaking tools, and preserving African cultural traditions against their owners' will.
"Enslaved people were passive victims." The historical record is clear that enslaved people were active agents who constantly resisted their bondage, built communities, and fought to preserve their humanity and culture.
"Slavery was always the same." The institution changed over time, becoming more rigid, race-based, and legally codified as it grew more central to the colonial economy.
One-Paragraph Summary
The institution of slavery in the British colonies grew from a confluence of factors, including abundant land, high European demand for colonial goods, and a critical shortage of indentured servants. This economic demand led all colonies to participate in the Atlantic slave trade, with the Chesapeake and southern colonies developing societies fundamentally dependent on enslaved labor. In these regions, a system of chattel slavery was codified through harsh new laws that created a strict racial hierarchy and made bondage a permanent, inherited status passed through the mother. Despite the brutal and dehumanizing nature of this system, enslaved Africans continuously resisted. They developed both overt and covert strategies to challenge their enslavement while actively maintaining their family structures, cultural traditions, and religious beliefs.