Slavery has had a big impact on the southern colonies. Between 1607-1775 slavery evolved in the British North American colonies due to economic factors-such as the slave trade, the use of cash crops, and the plantation system- Geographic factors-such as climate, diseases, and the Caribbean connection- and social factors-such as racism, bacons rebellion, and the headright system.
Slavery definitely had some big economic factors influencing it. Slave trade was a big way of making money in the south. The triangle trade contributed to the slaves that were imported into the Americas. Since the south needed a lot of slaves, this was where most of them were sent, but when they didn’t need the slaves anymore, they started to sell them to many places all over the east coast. Cash crops such as tobacco and corn, which are easily grown crops that can be sold for a profit, were used very widespread throughout the south. John Rolfe was credited with bringing tobacco to the new world, and also ended up being one of the most profitable crops to be sold. Plantations were used to plant these cash crops throughout the south. It took a lot to keep up and care for these plantations and so this is where slaves come in handy. They worked on the fields for little or no pay at all which was great for the plantation owners because it would mean that they would make more money without having to give it up.
There were many geographic factors that affected the growth of slavery such as climate. The climate of the south is hot in the summer and cold in the winter. The land was perfect for growing in the summer. The south had rich soil and plenty of rain to sustain the crops. Disease was a big factor because many of the slaves would catch diseases like small pox and malaria on the trip to the colonies, which meant that there was always a need for more slaves. They would also bring these diseases over to the colonies and infect other slaves that were already working. Another reason that there was always a need for slaves was the fact that they stopped in the Caribbean first to sell the slaves to the sugar plantations in places in Barbados.
Bacon’s rebellion in 1676 was what switched the south from Indentured servitude to slavery, and with slavery came racism. Afterwards, people started to consider slaves as something you can own. It’s like a pair of glasses, you own them, and they have value to you, but you can always get new ones. Although it wasn’t hard to take the slaves from Africa to here, why didn’t we just use Indians as slaves? Well, the Indians were susceptible to many types of diseases that the Europeans brought over so they died faster. Also, they had been living there for year and years, they knew the land very well and would be able to escape without notice.
Between 1607 and 1775 slavery evolved in the British North American colonies due to economic, geographic and social factors.
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