The Terrible Transformation

From indentured servitude to slavery in America

Focus QuestionWhy 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 NegroVirginia Court Document,

1645

Society Based on Indentured LaborLarge quantity of English Poor

Lacked ability to find workWilling to accept servitude

Low life expectancies in Virginia (average 4 years)

Monopoly on the slave trade drives up the price for slaves

Importance of Indentured LaborWith indentured labor readily available, the cost

of indentured servants was low.Why turn to slave labor?Remains common in

New England

SOCIETY WITH SLAVES

The Morgan TheoryProposed and promoted by Edmund Morgan English colonies turned to slavery to prevent

class conflictMyth of Pristine Beginnings

Paradise turned to wickedness by elitesAmerican Slavery, American Freedom

Geography of VirginiaTidewater

Rolling fields along coast

Rich black soilEasy to tillPlantation style

agriculture

PiedmontRocky foothills of the

AppalachiansPoor, rocky soilGood only for

subsistence farming

Social ClassesPlanters claim Tidewater region

Plantations developBring over more servants, claim more land

Freed servants forced to claim land in the PiedmontRemain poorMany give up their land to work for the

Planters

Role of House of BurgessesFirst colonial assembly (1619)Burgesses were unpaid, met during harvest

Inequitable tax structureRefused to tax propertyLevied a head tax

Refused to support frontier(Piedmont) requests

Meanwhile Virginia facedeconomic challenges

Bacon’s RebellionPiedmont farmers rose in revolt

Reaction to leadership and hard timesRefused to make peace with Native AmericansRaided friendly Indians

Sparked a series of Indian warsForced high taxesBacon refused to stop the fighting

March on JamestownBacon led a march of Piedmont farmers on

JamestownLargely the poor, former Servants, Indentured

Servants, slavesBurned Jamestown to the groundBacon dies in the winter of 1676/1677Revolt collapses

Tidewater Farmers ReturnNeeds for labor still very intense

Indentured Servants not as attractiveWill settle in the PiedmontEventually will overrun the Planters

Virginia needs a permanent unfree labor forceTie the poor to the Planters by granting

privilegesDivide and conquer

CriticismsMorgan thesis fails to take into shifts in

societyEconomic shifts within EnglandSocial shifts in the colonies

Morgan heavily influenced by contemporary politicsThesis developed in the 1960sClass struggleCivil Rights struggle

Economic ModelPool of indentured labor dried up

Learned of the horror of life in VirginiaPublic 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

Transformation to a Slave SocietyCosts of Indentured servants risingCosts of slaves fallingLabor needs met by slaves, not servantsSouthern economy based on slave labor

SLAVE SOCIETY

South CarolinaColony of a colony

Founded by sons of Barbados plantersLack of land in BarbadosAlmost all of Barbados given over to sugar

plantationsYounger sons sent to South Carolina to raise

rice

Take the Barbados Slave Codes at the founding

Slavery deeply part of Colonial South Carolina