The System of Slavery

The first question about slavery which comes to the mind -of-a-20th Century person living in a democracy Is: Why did it get started and how did it get started? Asking these kinds of questions is a good preface to the study of the legal and social realities of slavery. There seems to be a single and most Important reason why slavery was introduced into the early years of Colonial American life: money. A good look at that issue is found in a National Geographic article about the "Underground Railroad" which, in later years became a way of escape from slavery. The article (Blockson, 1984, pp. 3-5) talks about the fact that "profits did accumulate" even before the Mayflower came to the American shores:

... In 1619 Africans arrived as indentured servants at Jamestown. Gradually ship captains developed thriving businesses transporting Africans as slaves. In the South slavery took deepest root as gangs of the unpaid laborers turned vast tracts of cheap land into productive plantations of indigo, rice, cotton, and sugar...

The article quotes one planter as saying, "We teach them they are slaves... that to the white face belongs control, and to the black obedience." So we have a look at the mood of the young nation during the evil establishment of slavery.

What specific laws in the colonies applied to a white person's right to "own" a black person? And, what rights did a slave have in the early U.S. society? Accordin

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tion without a certificate and then only on necessary occasions [punishment for which will be 20 lashes]; and further, if any Negro lift up his hand against any Christian he shall receive thirty lashes, and if he absent himself or lie out from his master's service and resist lawful apprehension, he may be killed... Though laws continued to be passed and It became harder for blacks to gain even a tiny measure of dignity, not all of the punishment m . . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Hugh Davis, Slavery Virginia, Jamestown Gradually, Act CXIII, Act Negro, Hast Hast, SLAVERY WORKED, Act III, Higginbotham JrHigginbotham, Underground Railroad, laws passed, servants brought,
Approximate Word count = 2101
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)

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