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The Terrible Transformation

The Terrible Transformation. From indentured servitude to slavery in America. Focus Question. Why was labor so important in colonial society?. Convoluted relationships. “Mr. Taylor and I have divided our corn and I am very glad of it for now I know mine own ground.” Anthony the Negro

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The Terrible Transformation

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  1. The Terrible Transformation From indentured servitude to slavery in America

  2. Focus Question • Why was labor so important in colonial society?

  3. Convoluted relationships “Mr. Taylor and I have divided our corn and I am very glad of it for now I know mine own ground.” Anthony the Negro Virginia Court Document, 1645

  4. Society Based on Indentured Labor • Large quantity of English Poor • Lacked ability to find work • Willing to accept servitude • Low life expectancies in Virginia (average 4 years) • Monopoly on the slave trade drives up the price for slaves

  5. Importance of Indentured Labor • With indentured labor readily available, the cost of indentured servants was low. • Why turn to slave labor? • Remains common in New England SOCIETY WITH SLAVES

  6. The Morgan Theory • Proposed and promoted by Edmund Morgan • English colonies turned to slavery to prevent class conflict • Myth of Pristine Beginnings • Paradise turned to wickedness by elites • American Slavery, American Freedom

  7. Geography of Virginia • Tidewater • Rolling fields along coast • Rich black soil • Easy to till • Plantation style agriculture • Piedmont • Rocky foothills of the Appalachians • Poor, rocky soil • Good only for subsistence farming

  8. Social Classes • Planters claim Tidewater region • Plantations develop • Bring over more servants, claim more land • Freed servants forced to claim land in the Piedmont • Remain poor • Many give up their land to work for the Planters

  9. Role of House of Burgesses • First colonial assembly (1619) • Burgesses were unpaid, met during harvest • Inequitable tax structure • Refused to tax property • Levied a head tax • Refused to support frontier (Piedmont) requests • Meanwhile Virginia faced economic challenges

  10. Bacon’s Rebellion • Piedmont farmers rose in revolt • Reaction to leadership and hard times • Refused to make peace with Native Americans • Raided friendly Indians • Sparked a series of Indian wars • Forced high taxes • Bacon refused to stop the fighting

  11. March on Jamestown • Bacon led a march of Piedmont farmers on Jamestown • Largely the poor, former Servants, Indentured Servants, slaves • Burned Jamestown to the ground • Bacon dies in the winter of 1676/1677 • Revolt collapses

  12. Tidewater Farmers Return • Needs for labor still very intense • Indentured Servants not as attractive • Will settle in the Piedmont • Eventually will overrun the Planters • Virginia needs a permanent unfree labor force • Tie the poor to the Planters by granting privileges • Divide and conquer

  13. Criticisms • Morgan thesis fails to take into shifts in society • Economic shifts within England • Social shifts in the colonies • Morgan heavily influenced by contemporary politics • Thesis developed in the 1960s • Class struggle • Civil Rights struggle

  14. Economic Model • Pool of indentured labor dried up • Learned of the horror of life in Virginia • Public works jobs existed in England • Great Fire of London • Life expectancies rose (by 1650, average was 20 years) • Royal African Company lost its monopoly in 1689

  15. Transformation to a Slave Society • Costs of Indentured servants rising • Costs of slaves falling • Labor needs met by slaves, not servants • Southern economy based on slave labor • SLAVE SOCIETY

  16. South Carolina • Colony of a colony • Founded by sons of Barbados planters • Lack of land in Barbados • Almost all of Barbados given over to sugar plantations • Younger sons sent to South Carolina to raise rice • Take the Barbados Slave Codes at the founding • Slavery deeply part of Colonial South Carolina

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