The History of African Americans: Slavery Essay

In the South, cotton plantations were the main source of revenue during the antebellum period. From Eli Whitney’s cotton gin, to the development of the sewing machine, this greatly increased the demand for cotton to be export from the South to England and New England. Plantation owners could get many acres of land for little money, especially after the 1830 Indian Removal Act. These plantations depended on a large force of slave labor to cultivate and harvest the crops of the plantations. The United States expanded south and west, and slaves not only provided labor, but they could not quite or demand higher wages. This ensured that

The South’s first experience with exporting wasn’t a good one, in fact it was horrible. One bale of cotton was sent to England and that one bale of cotton rotted on its way across the Atlantic. At that time all of America’s cotton was grown on a total of two hundred acres on the Sea Islands just off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, however this was just the beginning. The only downside of growing cotton was the intense labor it demanded. The most tedious work with the cotton was the picking out of seeds, eventually Eli Whitney’s cotton gin would make this a much faster process and lowering the price of cotton as well. The cotton industry took off after the invention of the cotton gin, there was a much higher demand for cotton especially in

“Between 1680 and 1750, the southern white tidewater settlements changed from a frontier society with high immigration, a surplus of males, and an unstable social organization to a settled society mostly of native-born families” (Nash, p. 99). African slaves grew tobacco and rice, as well as a rapid population growth in the southern colonies because of migration. They replaced indentured servants by African slaves and the unfree labor force was black. They shifted fields from grain, hemp, and flax to cattle and swine. They soon became more productive with iron, leather, and textiles in both economic and social reasons. They all had several differences. The rice coast transformed their land into swampy coastal lowlands around Charleston. Rice

Many items came from the south such as cotton, sugar, and rice. Because of the high need for these cash crops, slave labor was used. As stated above, the development of the cotton gin “transformed the south and condemned millions of African Americans to slavery”. (Faragher 202)The south relied on the slave labor for their economy as the more slaves the south had, the more crops could be tended to, and ultimately sold to the North. Slavery was essential to the south's economy, and even though the North was against slavery, clearly the North relied on slavery to expedite their need of materials. The Southerners invested in the slave labor instead of the factories and machines like the North. The Southerners were content with buying land, having a small farm and a few

The fertile soil and warm climate of the South made it ideal for large-scale farms and crops like tobacco and cotton because agriculture was so profitable few Southerners saw a need for industrial development. Eighty percent of the labor force worked on the farm. Although two-thirds of Southerners owned no slaves at all, by 1860 the South's peculiar institution was inextricably tied to the region's economy and culture. In fact, there were almost as many blacks - but slaves and free - in the

Farming crops through the use of slaves (slaves would do all the work without any pay). This idea was present in the south where agriculture was the main source of income due to geography. Slaves provided free labor so plantation owners could gain more profit. While unjust (Separation of families through trade; long, backbreaking work; poor treatment by owners; small rations; whippings and other cruel punishments), this drove the nation forward economically, as factories (textile industry) in the north depended on the farming of the cash-crop cotton in the south. Slavery quickened the process of farming and increased production of mainly cotton for the whole nation. This

The work on the plantations is undertaken by slaves making the job a lot more easier. Some of the Southern plantations are massive and consisted of the main house, smokehouse, barns and more, making the plantations to a large degree, self-sufficient. Crops are traded for items that could not be produced on the plantations, including farm tools, shoes, lace, and dishes. If you are looking for jobs that fits your needs you should come to South Carolina.

During the early 18th century colonial America’s demand for slaves grew ever more as each colony has a different manner of creating a stable economic income. Although the prime economic factor was having cash crops, each colony had a dissimilar cash crop which meant a distinct and specific slave system to accommodate their demand. As a result of the there were three perspicuous ways of slave system ranging tobacco- based plantations slavery, rice based plantations in South Carolina and Georgia, and non plantation based slavery in New England and the middle colonies. Tobacco- based plantation systems of the Chesapeake was the oldest and largest with a population of 270,00 in 1770, nearly half of the region's population. The rice based slave

Agriculture was the main economic trade was in south. With mild climate and fertile soil, they planted tobacco, rice, sugar, cotton, wheat, and hemp. Landowners brought African slaves to work because of shortage of labors. However, hiring slaves were easier and profitable for farmers rather than hired white labors because white labors were expensive. Not only massive farmers used slave as their labor, small farm owners used them as well. When cotton became the primary source income in South, Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri planted tobacco and hemp. Maryland focused on wheat. In South Carolina and Georgia farmers grew rice. Also, sugar grew in Louisiana by slaves. Not only for plantation, the transportation also was a big industry in slave

The land was so fertile, it was perfect for all types of plants and crops. But the most important plantation, which brought the bulk of the people’s income, was cotton. Wealthy landowners could not find workers that were willing to work themselves to exhaustion and beyond, so they forced slaves into working for them, treating them immorally and overlooking their salary and food. Gradually, slavery became a huge part of the South’s

Slavery, a term we have learned of in school growing up, is most commonly used to describe the time in American history when African Americans were taken from their homeland to America, where they were sold to white slave owners as labor workers, with the majority of these slaves being separated from their families. Like most people growing up in the American education system, we were taught that slavery started around 1501 with the Atlantic Slave Trade, and ended in 1865 after the conclusion of the Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all slaves in rebel territory were free, and later outlawing slavery with the passing of the 13th amendment. Thus, most people today have the perception that slavery has been “dead” since 1865.

There were middle-class white, merchants and slave owners who were a farmer and own a large or small farm. The colonies discovered that they could grow other crops. In order to do that, they needed cheap labor. The labor of African American slaves was used to grow the south wealth. Slaves became much more valuable. When cotton became the king of the south and expanded and dominated the south. The south became to rapidly expand and move westward because it demanded a lot of lands to grow cotton. Some land was taken from the Indians, who were being removed during the grow of cotton Georgia and South Carolina begin growing enormous amount of cotton and soon, began to expand to other major southern states. African slaves played a significant role

Cotton boomed the market and the plantation owners invested more to purchase slaves for labor. The superiority of cotton made the planters used looms and spinning wheels to make clothes. Around 60% of the cotton was exported.

The plantation economy in the Atlantic created a tremendous need for human labor. In the absence of machinery, human labor was required for the cultivation, planting and harvesting of the various cash crops e.g. rice tobacco and indigo. Although slavery had been existing throughout the 1600s, indentured servitude was an ancient English labor contract, it is a system whereby the servant would be at

One of the problems that led the colonies to implement permanent and brutal slavery upon the black population was based on economic reasons. In the 1690s, many colonies turned from naval stores and fur trade to the cultivation of rice, sugar, and tobacco. These products required great amounts of land and capital equipment for large scale operations. As a result, there is an immediate search for the cheapest and experienced laborers: African Americans. The immense profits that the landowners gained continued the incentive to work the black slaves as hard as possible. In addition, the King Tobacco Diplomacy also supported that it is the natural interest for the United States to depend on a lifetime of slave labor.