Why did a Slave society develop in colonial Virginia?

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Why did a Slave society develop in colonial
Virginia?
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Big point!

• The shift to a slave society was not inevitable!

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The shift to a slave society was not inevitable!

• The status of Africans in 17th century Virginia
  was fluid and ambiguous until the establishment
  of slave codes at the turn of the 18th century.

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Problems in VirginiaProblem 1 Land but no
labor!

• Lots of land!
• Available and unused, from a English perspective

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Problems in VirginiaProblem 1 Land but no
labor!

• Lots of land!
• Available and unused, from a English perspective
• Landowning tied to idea of independence
• Landowners had control of their lives and
  livelihood

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Problems in VirginiaProblem 1 Land but no
labor!

• Lots of land!
• Available and unused, from a English perspective
• Landowning was tied to idea of independence
• Landowners had control of their lives and
  livelihood
• Landlessness equated to dependence
• A tenant was subject to the landlord

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Problem 2 Profitable commodity but no labor

• Plenty of land to grow tobacco and plenty of
  demand in Europe

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Problem 2 Profitable commodity but no labor

• Plenty of land to grow tobacco and plenty of
  demand in Europe
• Demand pushed production
• 60,000 lbs., in 1620
• 35 million lbs., in 1700

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Tobaccos popularity exacerbated the labor
shortage
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Tobaccos popularity exacerbated the labor
shortage

• Labor intensive crop

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Tobaccos popularity exacerbated the labor
shortage

• Labor intensive crop
• Many tedious, relatively unskilled, steps
• Planting
• Tending
• Harvesting
• Drying
• Packing

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Lots of land, profitable crop, but whos going to
work it?

• How about using Indians?
• The Spanish did!

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Lots of land, but whos going to work it?

• Indians?
• The Spanish did!
• Didnt work in Virginia

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Lots of land, but whos going to work it?

• Indians?
• The Spanish did!
• Didnt work in Virginia
• Could easily run away, knew the land

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Lots of land, but whos going to work it?

• Indians?
• The Spanish did!
• Didnt work in Virginia
• Could easily run away, knew the land
• Had military backing, support of allies

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Lots of land, but whos going to work it?

• Indians?
• The Spanish did!
• Didnt work in Virginia
• Could easily run away, knew the land
• Had military backing, support of allies
• Had suffered depopulation

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Lots of land, but whos going to work it?

• Indians?
• The Spanish did!
• Didnt work in Virginia
• Could easily run away, knew the land
• Had military backing, support of allies
• Had suffered depopulation
• Too dispersed
• No encomiendas in British America

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A solution Indentured Servants
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Indentured servants

• An indenture, or contract, to labor in exchange
  for passage to America.

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Indentured servants

• An indenture, or contract, to labor in exchange
  for passage to America.
• Terms ranged from four to seven years

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Indentured servants

• An indenture, or contract, to labor in exchange
  for passage to America.
• Terms ranged from four to seven years
• Few rights, often cruel treatment

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• Why would anyone do this?

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• Why would anyone do this?
• To escape poverty in England!

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Domestic problems in England

• Population growth

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Domestic problems in England

• Population growth
• Eviction of tenant farmers

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Domestic problems in England

• Population growth
• Eviction of tenant farmers
• Growing poverty and pressure on English cities

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Opportunity for aspiring aristocrats

• Headright system

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Opportunity for aspiring aristocrats

• Headright system
• 50 acres of land for passage of laborer

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Opportunity for aspiring aristocrats

• Headright system
• 50 acres of land for passage of laborer
• Often times ships captains transported potential
  servants and sold them upon arrival

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Keeping up with the Byrds

• William Byrd I
• To Virginia, 1670

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Keeping up with the Byrds

• William Byrd I
• To Virginia, 1670
• Grandfather, a ships captain

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Keeping up with the Byrds

• William Byrd I
• To Virginia, 1670
• Grandfather, a ships captain
• Collected a substantial amount of good land in
  Virginia through headrights

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Good land went quickly

• Wealthy able to grab up land along waterways

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Good land went quickly

• Wealthy able to grab up land along waterways
• The Byrds land was along the James and Potomac
  rivers

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Good land went quickly

• Wealthy able to grab up land along waterways
• The Byrds land was along the James and Potomac
  rivers
• Advantage to wealthy

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But while everything was coming up tobacco, it
was not coming up roses!

• Problems with indentured servants

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Problems with indentured servants

• Runaways

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Problems with indentured servants

• Runaways
• Rights of Englishmen limited control by masters

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Problems with indentured servants

• Runaways
• Rights of Englishmen limited control by masters
• Frustration upon completion of indenture

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Frustration upon completion of indenture

• Little good land available
• Distant from waterways
• On fringe of English settlement

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Moving toward African slavery

• Precedent in Latin America

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Moving toward African slavery

• Precedent in Latin America
• Caribbean, Brazil

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Moving toward African slavery

• First African slaves to Jamestown, 1619

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African slavery

• Very limited for most of the 17th century

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African slavery

• Very limited for most of the 17th century
• More expensive than servants
• Perpetual servitude

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African slavery

• Very limited for most of the 17th century
• High mortality among field hands
• Rigors of work, disease
• Slavery was a bad investment

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African slavery not a foregone conclusion

• Up until the last decades of the 17th century,
  black status in Virginia was fluid.

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African slavery not a foregone conclusion

• Up until the last decades of the 17th century,
  black status in Virginia was fluid
• Free blacks, some who owned servants!

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African slavery not a foregone conclusion

• Up until the last decades of the 17th century,
  black status in Virginia was fluid
• Free blacks, some who owned servants!
• Black indentured servants

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African slavery not a foregone conclusion

• Up until the last decades of the 17th century,
  black status in Virginia was fluid
• Free blacks, some who owned servants!
• Black indentured servants
• Black slaves

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Over time, slavery began to make economic sense

• Increased longevity in colony

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Over time, slavery began to make economic sense

• Increased longevity in colony
• Slavery began to make sense economically

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Over time, slavery began to make economic sense

• Increased longevity in colony
• Slavery began to make sense economically
• Decreased supply of white servants

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Over time, slavery began to make economic sense

• Increased longevity in colony
• Slavery began to make sense economically
• Decreased supply of white servants
• Improved conditions in England

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Over time, slavery began to make economic sense

• Increased longevity in colony
• Slavery began to make sense economically
• Decreased supply of white servants
• Improved conditions in England
• Other colonies (Pennsylvania, 1681)

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Over time, slavery began to make economic sense

• Increased frustration of former servants
• Slaves never became free!

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When and why race-based slavery?

• Historians tend to agree that
• Indentured servitude as a model

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When and why race-based slavery?

• Historians tend to agree that
• Indentured servitude as a model
• Latin America as a model

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When and why race-based slavery?

• Historians tend to agree that
• Indentured servitude as a model
• Latin America as a model
• Economic necessity

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When and why race-based slavery?

• Historians tend to agree that
• Indentured servitude as a model
• Latin America as a model
• Economic necessity
• African vulnerability in Virginia
• No rights, no support

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When and why race-based slavery?

• Winthrop Jordan prejudice/racism led to slavery
• English pre-disposition toward Africans
• Negation of white

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When and why race-based slavery?

• Winthrop Jordan prejudice/racism led to slavery
• English pre-disposition toward Africans
• Negation of white
• Deficient in religion and culture

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When and why race-based slavery?

• Winthrop Jordan prejudice/racism led to slavery
• English pre-disposition toward Africans
• Negation of white
• Deficient in religion and culture
• Stereotype Africans inferior, less than human

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EvidenceDe facto slavery, 1619-1660

• 1640, runaway servants
• Severity of punishment based on race
• 1646, bill of sale
• term of service for Negros is forever
• 1648, bill of sale
• Black servants more expensive
• 1660, slave code
• Blacks legally defined as slaves

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When and why race-based slavery?

• Jordan
• Legally defined by the 1660s
• Original English prejudice reinforced and
  bolstered by economic need and legal definitions.
  Slavery by custom became slavery by law.

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When and why race-based slavery?

• Edmund Morgan slavery led to prejudice/racism
• Status of blacks ambiguous until late 17th
  century
• Lower class whites and blacks enjoyed same rights

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Black status ambiguous, fluid

• Could own property
• Could sue, testify against, whites
• Could own servants
• Class, not race, divided 17th century Virginia

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When and why race-based slavery?

• Morgan
• A calculated strategy by elite plantation owners
  to divide the lower class by promoting white
  supremacy and black inferiority

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When and why race-based slavery?

• Morgan
• A calculated strategy by elite plantation owners
  to divide the lower class by promoting white
  supremacy and black inferiority
• An effort to quell the growing unruliness of
  frustrated former servants as illustrated by
  Bacons Rebellion in 1676.

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Slavery supported legally and socially by 1700

• Africans equated with slavery

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Slavery supported legally and socially by 1700

• Africans equated with slavery
• Manumission limited

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Slavery supported legally and socially by 1700

• Africans equated with slavery
• Slavery and racism reinforced each other
• blacks are slaves so must be inferior, since they
  are inferior, it is proper that they be slaves