THE PECULIAR INSTITUTION IN AMERICA

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THE PECULIAR INSTITUTION IN AMERICA

• SLAVERY TO 1800

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Greek Slave
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SLAVERY IN THE ANCIENT WORLD

• Most cultures had some form of slavery.
• Ancient Middle East
• Babylonian law codes prescribe laws for slaves
  and even give some slaves rights.
• Began slave trade from Africa to Mediterranean
  World. Imported Nubians and Ethiopians as slaves
  after conquest and bought through a slave market.
  
• Ancient Greece
• Even democratic Athens had slavery.
  Approximately 1/4-1/3 of the population was
  slaves. They varied in rights from mine workers
  with no real rights to Scythian
  archer/mercenaries who served as the Athens
  police force. Most slave owners owned only a few
  slaves
• In Sparta the helots were bonded serfs
  conquered by the Spartans and used as
  agricultural workers.
• Ancient Rome
• Most slaves were conquered people although some
  were sold in slave markets or occasionally are
  debtors. As in Greece slaves have various levels
  with most serving as miners, field laborers,
  gladiators, and domestic servants with few rights
  or authority. Clerical functions and banking is
  also managed by slaves and in the household of
  elite Romans these slaves had great authority.
  Approximately two million of six million Romans
  are slaves. Slave ownership is widespread.
• Roman law gave some rights to slaves but
  ultimately it was the head of the household who
  could determine life or death for not only their
  slaves, but their own children.

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Muslim Slavery
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Slavery in the Middle Ages

• The Rise of Christianity saw the decline of
  slavery in much of Europe.
• The church forbid the enslavement of fellow
  Christians.
• In regions and times when Christianity was
  challenged by pagan invaders (Vikings and Magyars
  in the 9th-11th centuries) slavery remained more
  common but declined shortly after these groups
  converted. Approximately 15-20 of the
  population were slaves.
• By 1066 slavery was in decline in England and by
  1200 it was virtually non-existent, replaced by
  serfdom. By 1066 only 10 of the population were
  slaves.
• In areas where the Christian frontier collided
  with the Muslim frontier (Spain, Portugal,
  Southern Italy, and the Balkans) slavery
  continued as both groups could and often did
  enslave members of the other faith. Even in
  these areas slavery in Europe was often small
  since slaves were costly and conversion could
  lead to immediate freedom.
• In the Muslim world slavery for concubines,
  soldiers, and labor on galleys and in mines
  created a healthy slave market. The majority of
  these slaves came from Africa after 1100. Many
  of these slaves were sub-Saharan non-Muslims
  enslaved by the newly converted Muslim Africans
  in the nations of Mali and Songhai. These slaves
  were marched overland to markets in Morocco,
  Tunisia, and Egypt. Cities like Zawila in Chad
  are major slave trading cities. In 1250 Muslim
  slave-soldiers called the Mamelukes take over in
  Egypt and rule there for years.

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Elmina Slave Fort
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Slavery, the Crusades, and Exploration

• In 1099 crusaders conquered Jerusalem and they
  came into contact with the slave trade of the
  Muslim world. They also became familiar with
  sugar cane which hade traveled west from
  Southeast Asia. Both of these connections joined
  together to begin the reemergence of slavery in
  Europe.
• Sugar cultivation grew first to Cyprus and Crete
  by 1100 and on to Sicily, Tunisia, Southern Spain
  and Morocco by the 1300. From there the
  Portuguese and Spanish took sugar to Madeira, the
  Canary islands, and the Cape Verdes. As the
  original inhabitants died African slaves were
  brought in to keep up the production of sugar.
  Demand for this product in Europe remained high
  and brought in good profits. About 2000 African
  slaves were brought in annually before 1500.
• Columbus brought sugar cane to the New World on
  his second voyage in 1493. Sugar was largely
  ignored in these islands because of Spanish
  preoccupation with the gold and silver from
  Mexico and Peru in the early years of
  colonization so cultivation of sugar remained low
  in the initial years of Spanish colonization in
  the Caribbean.
• Portuguese cultivation of sugar was not retarded
  by discoveries of empires to plunder so
  production in Brazil took off shortly after it
  was introduced in 1540. By 1560 Brazil was
  producing 2,500 tons of sugar annually. It grew
  to 16,000 tons by 1600 and 20,000 tons by 1630.
  For the first time in history, slavery is
  becoming an issue of race.
• The rapid decline of the native population and
  difficulty in finding enough immigrant laborers
  from Portugal caused the Portuguese government to
  look for another means of supplying labor to the
  sugar cane fields. Slavery from Africa filled
  that bill. They were more resistant to disease
  than Native Americans and were familiar with the
  crop. By 1630 the Portuguese had imported at
  least 400,000 Africans to work in their fields.
• By the 1600s the Dutch, Spanish, and British were
  all entering the global trade in sugar and sugar
  products and slavery was expanding rapidly in the
  New World. Sugar plantation absorbed 70 of all
  slaves brought to the New World.

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Africa and Slavery
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THE IMPACT OF THE ATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE ON AFRICA

• Europeans tapped into a centuries old slave
  market originally established by the Muslims.
  They established forts along the coast of West
  and Southwest Africa to buy slaves from African
  traders interested in European goods. The
  diseases common along this coast were often
  lethal (45 of ships crews died per month while
  ships were in African waters trading during the
  1770s for example) to Europeans so large
  permanent settlements were unlikely.
• As the central African gold empires of Mali and
  Songhai disintegrated in the 1500s and tribes
  like the Ashanti and Kongo rose, opportunities to
  capture slaves in war around Africas west coast
  increased.
• For these reasons a cheap supply of labor
  appeared in Africa at exactly the same time
  Europeans were seeking labor in the New World.
  Geography also helped as Africas west coast was
  along the best sea routes to the new world from
  Europe.
• The Dutch were the main exporters of these slaves
  until the British took over in the 1660s. The
  British imported 3.25 million slaves alone with
  42 of these coming from the Bight of Biafra.
  71 of these slaves went to Jamaica or the
  Leeward Islands. Only 14.5 went to the British
  North American colonies that would eventually
  become America.
• Of the 12 million Africans who boarded ships in
  Africa destined for the Americas, only 10
  million lived through the middle passage to
  arrive in the Americas.
• During that same time approximately 3 million
  immigrants from Europe came to the Americas.
  African slaves outnumbered these settlers by more
  than 3 to 1.

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Slave Ship
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THE MIDDLE PASSAGE

• Initially ships leaving Africa could take from 48
  to 70 days depending on where they were
  traveling to and from and the weather. By the
  1700s better maps and experience had dropped this
  number down to one to two months.
• Slavers learned to pack slaves tightly and also
  started using larger ships as time went on,
  increasing the size of human cargo from 200 in
  the mid 1600s to almost 400 by the late 1700s.
• The longer the ship stayed in port with its cargo
  blow decks, the higher the death rate.
  Starvation, disease, poor sanitation, and
  rebellion all contributed to the death rates.
• Even before being placed on the ships, many
  slaves had been marched for miles by their
  original captors. They may stay in the prison
  forts for days or weeks before being loaded on
  ships. All of this reduced immunities and
  increased the hazards faced by slaves.
• After arriving in the New World many slaves died
  during the seasoning period when they were
  moved to their final destinations and tried to
  become acclimated to the area. Perhaps another
  5-15 may die off during this period with the
  highest mortality coming in Brazil and the lowest
  in British North America.

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Slavery in British North American Colonies

• The first slaves were brought to Jamestown,
  Virginia in 1619 but did not replace indentured
  servants as the prime choice for labor until the
  late 1600s. This labor was used to cultivate
  tobacco which by 1750 brought in 70 million
  annually. By 1670 Virginia declared that slaves
  were slaves for life.
• With life expectancy low in the early years, it
  made more sense to invest 100 for an indentured
  servant than 200 for a slave since neither was
  likely to live more than a few years.
• By the late 1600s life expectancy was increasing
  making the investment in slaves a better idea.
  Owning the slaves offspring was also a plus.
• Also, freed indentured servants became
  competitors for land and slaves did not.
• By the 1690s 3,500 slaves were in Virginia to
  work on Tobacco plantations. By the 1720s slave
  imports from Africa to Virginia reach its peak at
  15,000. In 1750 there were 100,000 slaves in
  Virginia. After the importation to Virginia
  declined as natural increase met the demand for
  more slaves. Consequently, Virginia slaves lost
  contact with their African ancestry early.
• In South Carolina the more deadly cultivation of
  rice created a more continuous demand for slaves
  from Africa. South Carolina saw the importation
  of 60,000 slaves. The high demand and die-off
  rate required a more continuous influx of slaves
  from Africa, strengthening and renewing ties to
  Africa with each arrival. By 1750 rice brought in
  27 million annually.
• Although South Carolina and Virginia were the
  dominant destination for slaves in British North
  America, all colonies had some slaves. New
  England had 11,000 slaves by 1750 and New York.
• Slavery in the North was never as important to
  the economy as it was to the cash crop
  agriculture in the South.

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SLAVERY DURING THE REVOLUTION AND CRITICAL PERIOD

• On the eve of the revolution the total slave
  population in the U.S. was about 500,000. By
  1810 it would reach 1.4 million.
• In complaints about British treatment of her
  colonies political writers used the terms
  slavery and servitude to describe the
  relationship almost as often as they used the
  term tyranny. As a result they were very
  conscious of the negative connotation of the word
  and rarely used it to describe the enslavement of
  Africans.
• While many of the founding fathers were aware of
  the contradiction of freedom and slavery, they
  were often compelled by various reasons to ignore
  or downplay the contradictions.
• Thomas Jefferson considered including language
  condemning slavery in the Declaration of
  Independence but withdrew it because of his
  belief it would not be supported and his own
  feelings about racial inequality and ties to
  slavery.
• Washington railed against a British decree
  offering freedom to any slave who joined the
  British Army to fight the rebels. He feared it
  would lead to mass rebellions.
• After prolonged debate on two slavery related
  issues in the Constitution led to the 3/5ths
  Compromise and the promise to end the slave trade
  by 1810. The actual word slavery is not used
  anywhere in the document.