new world – American History to 1877

January 27, 2014

Varied Colonial Slavery

Warning: Undefined variable $num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 126

Warning: Undefined variable $posts_num in /home/shroutdo/public_html/courses/wp-content/plugins/single-categories/single_categories.php on line 127

In Human Bondage, Davis attempts to inform us about the vast extent of slavery during the colonial period of North America. He reveals to us, through historical records of the slave market and through written works of colonists and ship captains, slavery existed long before the colonization of what is now the United States. Although, it was losing popularity as form of labor, slavery existed within Europe and the United Kingdom before colonization. In fact, slavery was most extensive within the Caribbean, West Indies, and Brazil long before North American colonies became dependent on slaves.

Slavery played a vital role in the success of the colonies and is a large part of our history. As such, we have each learned different aspects of the history and each have our own impressions of this point in history. I myself, thought slavery had originated mainly due to a desire and greed for free labor by the colonists and that Africans were chosen simply because they were different. However, Davis shows that slavery was much more complicated than that. There was not a colony that was created (except South Carolina) with the intention of using slaves as a source of labor. The companies had hoped to utilize indentured servants or criminals and the poor to keep the streets of England clear. Furthermore, there were colonists who protested the use of slaves. As Dana stated, slaves were not originally treated differently solely due to skin color. Although still treated as beneath others, the reasons were more class based and it was not until slavery became a common system that racism proliferated.

As we have discussed in class, each colony at the time was different due to varied European origins, as such, each colony treated slaves differently. Although classmate argue that it is meaningless to state which colony treated slaves better, I would contend that this is a very vital part of our history. Davis would like us to see that slavery was a varied form of labor and not just a malevolent, universal plantation system we are usually exposed to. I am by no means, diminishing the inherent immorality of slavery but rather ask us to see that humans are complicated and thus, so is history. As such, we should potentially consider all cultural aspects behind slavery including how “better-treated” slaves affected other “worse off” slaves, colonists, and slavery itself and not just study history with a set belief or idea about that period in time. In this way, we can learn more about history and how it affects us culturally today.

January 27, 2014

The New Cash Crop: Slaves

Chapters four through six of Inhuman Bondage gave an elaborate overview of slavery. As we have discussed in class, the Europeans were very concerned with their economic success. In need of cheap labor, they looked towards enslavement. They could not justify enslaving white people because of a sense of unity and freedom, so they turned to Africa. The color black to them symbolized “depictions of black demons, devils, and torturers.” (79) “By 1820, nearly 10.1 million slaves had departed from Africa for the New World, as opposed to only 2.6 million whites, who had left Europe.” (80) Because of these high numbers, it can be implied that the New World could not have been created without the African slaves. Ironically, these slaves were not necessarily planned to help settle the Americas. People who crossed the ocean at first were just trying to find gold and silver. They did not want to work on the extensive labor jobs, so they needed slaves. Once cash crops became popular, slave labor increased. Sugar and tobacco became such high demand products for the Europeans and that transcended into a need to transport millions of African slaves to the New World. The slave trade ripped Africa of men. The population was left dwindling, and despite the government officials making lots of money, Africa did not experience a huge economy boost.

One part of Chapter 4 that interested me was the comparison of Africans to Indians. The Europeans acted paternalistic towards the Indians, but they “dealt with the Africans as equals.” (88) The Africans had technology. They possessed ships and could attack the Europeans. The Europeans had to provide ceremonial gifts and to pay fees in order to anchor in Africa. It was disheartening to read about how slaves were taking into custody. People would sell out their fellow friends and the government would sentence people to slavery just to make a profit. In the Americas, African slaves were preferred over Indians because they were “familiar with large-scale agriculture, labor discipline, and making iron or even steel tools.” (99) Also, later on, chapter 6 discusses how not enough attention is paid to this complicated relationship. Indians would help track down fugitive slaves, and some even sold slaves themselves.

Drawing on my classmate’s point in The Great Complexity of the Slave Trade, slavery should not have been compared when it was worst or better. Slavery was wrong in general. Innocent Africans got ripped from their homeland and forced onto horrid living conditions. Whites justified this because they felt superior to them. What is extremely ironic is that a supposedly “free society was made possible by black slave labor.” (102) The Europeans left Europe because they felt confined and wanted freedom, and they took away the freedom of many in this new land. Some, including the Quakers were very against slavery. The Quakers compared “those who were oppressed for conscience sake with these oppressed who are a black colour.” (126)

January 20, 2014

inability to have peaceful relations

As brought up in the previous blog post, the main reason for expansion into the new world was for economic gains. In both main areas of conquest talked about in the reading there was a struggle to keep relations favorable. The Spanish took the approach of brutal force and torture to get the desirable trade, which obviously cannot allow for peaceful transactions. The economic gains of the Spanish created a desire for the rest of Europe to try and gain riches from the Americas. They however were able to do this through the piracy of Spanish ships, which created dissension in Europe. In Canada, the French may have initially been peaceful, but their trade only further hurt relations amongst native Americans. The draw of economic gains made all parties fight to get the most favorable goods, which meant there could be no peaceful relations.

The Spanish conquistadors conquered native Americans relentlessly. It is obvious that they did not care for peaceful relations and only wanted to maximize their own profit. They even destroyed Tenochtitlan, a city the conquistador Hernan Cortes admitted had no comparable Spanish counterpart, “In Spain there is nothing to compare with it.”(53) What could have been a great acquisition was destroyed so that Cortes could get his loot as quickly as possible. Fear spread through the tribes and destroyed Spain’s chance at prolonged trade. The lack of stability required that Spain import slaves for the fallen native Americans.

The French at least were able to begin with peaceful trade among the native tribes in the north. The French did not have to means to conquer and destroy as the Spanish had, and so were at the mercy of the natives trading terms. This peaceful transaction was good for both parties, until other native tribes learned of the items to be gained by trading with the french, and later other European traders desire to trade with the northern natives. The competition for furs led to an exhaustion of animals to hunt, forcing the tribes to hunt elsewhere, usually in rival tribe lands. This led to conflicts between tribes. Other European nations saw the wealth to be had in the North and began to compete with the French. This competition in some cases meant giving guns and other weapons to the tribes to be used as they pleased. All this fighting and hostility was caused by the desire for wealth. The way that the different nations went about fulfilling their desires led to many problems and a complete lack of peaceful interaction.

The new world was full of potential for trade and prosperity for all parties, but the greed of the parties led to unequal trading, infighting, and fighting amongst economic rivals. All parties at one point manipulated another and this lead to hostility. The Spanish killed and instilled fear, the French tried to rip off the native people whenever they could, other European nations tried to steal goods and trade routes, and the native Americans fought to get the best items for their goods. The riches to be had caused too much greed and this ultimately destroyed any chances for peaceful interaction.