Why Is Slavery Important In Colonial America

Unit 1 Test Slavery in the colonial America was greatly over-exaggerated. Only about six percent of the slaves traded during this time actually were sent to the colonies. The rest of the slaves were sent to the caribbeans. During the early 17th century settlers turned to African slaves as a labor source, more plentiful and less expensive than indentured servants. This created the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. England became a dominant slave trading power. The English provided slaves for Spain and Portugal. The English colonies in North America became slaveholding societies because slaves provided cheap labor for the colonies to exploit. Slavery became illegal in Britain because of the court case Somerset v Stewart. Europeans originally enslaved the Native Americans. The Native Americans, however, did not like this and fought back, ran away, or died of disease. The colonists, in a panic, decided that they had to replace the lost workforce. The colonies turned to Africans. This is where the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade originated. Unlike most slavery occurrences, The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was different because it was racial slavery. Only Africans were
enslaved. Portugal was the first major slave trading nation. Most of Portugal's slaves were sent to Brazil. So, Portugal would buy slaves from a nation in West Africa and sail across the Atlantic to Brazil or the Caribbeans. There were Slave factories where African merchants would sell slaves to the Slave Trade. From Portugal, to the Caribbean, and then to the colonies. That is the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. After King Charles I was executed, the Puritans established the Commonwealth of England.
During this time, England and the Dutch Republic had gone to war over who had control of trade and the colonies. The Parliament of England had enacted the First Navigation Act to prevent English colonies from trading with the Dutch. This led to the Dutch Republic declaring war on the Commonwealth of England. King Charles II was determined to make England into a major slave trading power, in order to supply its own colonies with slaves. King Charles II chartered the Royal African Company. This established slave factories which supplied slaves to the colonies and the Caribbean. These slave factories could be used by any merchants who were able to pay the required fees to the King. This made England a strong slave trading
power. English and British colonies in North America became slaveholding colonies because of the slave’s ability to be exploited, the demand for cash crops like tobacco and rice, and Native Americans were running out of supply. When the colonies first adopted slavery around 1660, Native Americans were the slave population. Native Americans either fought and died, ran away, or died of diseases. This factor dwindled the population of Native Americans and the slave population. This enticed the colonies to find a new population for slaves. They turned to the Africans. They were relatively cheap, expendable, and could be taught trades. Most slaves in the colonies lived on plantations. These were commercial properties dedicated to the production of cash crops to be exported to their mother country. This created a booming economy in the colonies. Slavery was in. In 1772, Earl of Mansfield ruled in the case Somerset v Stewart that slavery was illegal in England. Mansfield stated that freedom is the natural state of all people, and slavery could only exist in England if Parliament passed a specific statute to legalize it. No such statute had been passed, so slavery was basically illegal in England. However the case, this did not affect the slave trade over seas or in the colonies. So, in a sense, one person illegalized slavery in England.