The Awesome Stuff

LEQ 8/32/15 David Ahmed

From 1607 to 1750, many nations began to colonize. One nation in particular was England. It colonized all along the east coast of the Americas. The colonies consisted of the New England Colonies, The Middle Colonies, the Chesapeake Colonies, and the Southern Colonies. Before slavery indentured servitude was used under the headright system. Someone would pay for the voyage of a fellowman to the Americas and would get 50 acres of land. Also the fellowman would work for up to 7 years and then would be free. After Bacon’s rebellion the headright system was transitioned to slavery. The slaves were bondage for life and could never achieve freedom. Slavery impacted the development of British North American Colonial colonies economically, socially, and politically.

First and foremost, slavery impacted the development and the economy of the British Colonies. The Southern Colonies developed as plantation colonies. This is most likely because the settlers to the South were not looking for religious freedom. They were instead looking to make money. In the Chesapeake Colonies the main cash crop was tobacco and in more southern colonies like South Carolina, the main cash crop was rice. That being said, slavery was the very backbone of the plantation system. This is because it was the slaves who grew the crops, and it was still those same slaves who harvested and prepared them. The merchants were only the ones who sold them. Also, the slaves were expendable. This means they could be assaulted, killed, sold, bought, and traded. This is similar to buying shares today. Slaves were cheap so there was a constant flow of slaves coming over, so the plantations kept on running. If there was not a constant flow of slaves, then the plantation system would fail, and the British Colonies as we know it would not be the same. The economic structure would be different because now with no indentured servants, a few natives, and a few slaves the vast plantations would...