The origin of slave trade can be traced back to the earlier years of the 17th century. The white settlers at the time were in the habit of keeping farm help as indentured servants. This system included five to seven years of unpaid labour in exchange for food and shelter. This system was replaced by slave labour because of the lack of restraint and boundaries governing slavery. 1
Hundreds of thousands of slaves began to be transported to the United States and sold to willing buyers. Majority would be purchased to cultivate the fields or to carry out manual labour in the households or small industries. Initially, slavery was an accepted institution in all the regions of the states. But towards the end of the 17th century, the Northern States set into place mechanisms to gradually end slavery. By the beginning of the 18th century, it had become illegal to import slaves. However their population had continued to grow due to smuggling and biological growth. 2
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How slavery dominated the South
Slavery had by now become an accepted institution in the South. This coincided with the increase in commercial cultivation of tobacco and an increase in the worldwide demand for cotton. The nature of slave trade changed as the agricultural landscape evolved. The farmers who grew food crops such as corn, oats ,wheat and rye, and those raising livestock, found themselves with an extra work force than they had need for. An internal slave trade then developed. The farmers growing labour intensive cash crops like sugarcane, rice and tobacco bought more slaves. The cotton farms took up the largest number of slaves. This further concentrated the slaves to the southern states where about a third of the population owned slaves. 3
The system and culture
Though some slaves worked in the houses as cooks, cleaners and seamstresses, their working conditions were as inhumane as the farm workers. A slave was expected to start work early in morning before dawn. They were not to take a break until lunch time when they only got to break for two hours. Then they would go back to work till dark. The house slaves would only retire after their masters had gone to sleep and there was no more need for them. There were no rules that governed the treatment of slaves by their masters. Physical punishment including caning, starvation and sexual abuse upto and including death were practiced according to the discretion of the slave owner. 4
The slaves who worked in large plantations lived in slave cabins commonly called quarters. These living areas though inadequate and measly were the only place the slaves could call home. Here the slaves interacted freely with each other and developed their own culture and way of life. This included singing and dancing to entertain themselves. Movements of resistance soon developed as the masses became more learned. This developed from the slaves who worked in the houses as they had a first hand view of the privilege they were denied. 5
How slavery shaped the economy
The 18th century proved to be a season of economic transition for America. While the Westerners thrived through industrialization and establishment of industries, the South grew through agriculture. While a large percentage of Southerners survived from farming, only a third of them did so through slave labour. This third of the population were the elite or financially endowed who owned large tracts of land. Majority believed that the white man had no business toiling or doing hard manual labour. They could afford to buy a large workforce to plough their land and tend to the crops. They employed like minded supervisors who worked the slaves beyond their capabilities.
The farmers were rewarded by bumper harvests with minimum input. This system proved to be financially liberating to this farmers who became richer. The Westerners were also thriving at this point. However, they began you look down on the southerners who they felt had an unfair advantage over them. It was common belief that Westerners had risen through the ranks through honest hard work and determination. This was in sharp contrast to the Southerners who were seen to be eating off the black man's sweat and blood. It was becoming increasingly clear that the cash crop based farming could not earn farmers as much as it did through the use of machinery or paid labour. 6
The balance of free states and slave states
The wealthy plantation owners were soon to form a rich mans club of sorts. They set up exclusive entertainments spots where they would meet to drink, eat and race horses. They developed a sense of superiority and they began you look down on any other people who did not fit into their criteria. They became the face of white supremacy where the formula to wealth was equals to land ownership, enslavement and cotton farming. Their financial status placed them in a place of immense influence. This influence was even felt by the government and some of the leaders adopted the southerners code of honor. 7
The West soon began to resent the south because of the unfair advantage that their positions accorded them. Attempts to abolish slavery were then proposed from the free states. The southerners defended slavery by equating it to wage labour that was popular in the west. The wage labour was defended by demonstrating the advantages that laborers under wages could enjoy. This included freedom and the right to self improvement. Both middle class or poor and rich white southerners supported slavery and they sought to maintain it. The rich were direct beneficiaries of the system while the poor feared additional hardship and competition from the African Americans. Eventually slavery was abolished after the civil war although it's implementation still has a long way to go. 8
Bibliography
Feagin, Joe R. Racist America: Roots, current realities, and future reparations . Routledge, 2014.
Genovese, Eugene D. The political economy of slavery: Studies in the economy and society of the slave South . Wesleyan University Press, 2014.
Hecht, Michael L., Mary Jane Collier, and Sidney A. Ribeau. African American communication: Ethnic identity and cultural interpretation . Sage Publications, Inc, 1993.
Hummel, Jeffrey. Emancipating slaves, enslaving free men: a history of the American civil war . Open court, 2013.
Smedley, Audrey, and Brian D. Smedley. Race in North America: Origin and evolution of a worldview . Westview Press, 2012.
Spring, Joel. Deculturalization and the struggle for equality: A brief history of the education of dominated cultures in the United States . Routledge, 2016.
Tindall, George Brown, and David E. Shi. America: A narrative history . WW Norton " Company, 2016.
Zinn, Howard. A people's history of the United States . Pan Macmillan, 2014.
1 Feagin, Joe R. Racist America: Roots, current realities, and future reparations . Routledge, 2014 .
2 Genovese, Eugene D. The political economy of slavery: Studies in the economy and society of the slave South . Wesleyan University Press, 2014.
3 Hecht, Michael L., Mary Jane Collier, and Sidney A. Ribeau. African American communication: Ethnic identity and cultural interpretation . Sage Publications, Inc, 1993.
4 Hummel, Jeffrey. Emancipating slaves, enslaving free men: a history of the American civil war . Open court, 2013.
5 Smedley, Audrey, and Brian D. Smedley. Race in North America: Origin and evolution of a worldview . Westview Press, 2012.
6 Spring, Joel. Deculturalization and the struggle for equality: A brief history of the education of dominated cultures in the United States . Routledge, 2016.
7 Tindall, George Brown, and David E. Shi. America: A narrative history . WW Norton " Company, 2016.
8 Zinn, Howard. A people's history of the United States . Pan Macmillan, 2014 .
