Rise and fall of africanized slavery
- Tobacco plantation
  - Jamestown struggling settlement; considered abandoning
  - John Rolf observed tobacco from native americans, brought better tobacco from caribbean; boomed Jamestown economy
  - Tough labor intensive crop
  - Slaves were expensive; could afford them but would they survive the labor
  - Thought of indentured servitude from England
    - Indentured servants were entitled to land plot when they finished (4 - 7 year contracts) , but if they died the owner of servants would earn that land
    - Offered upward social mobility; very rare at the time
    - Early example of Meritocracy
    - Servants can easily die, risky investment
      - Owners wanted servants to die so they wouldn’t fulfill contracts; did not want to give them land and other contract agreements etc.
      - 1- 2 years they are treated relatively well
      - 3- 4 years gradually worse treatment
      - Can create competition if servants fulfill contracts
  - Mid 1600s Tobacco price eventually plummets due to life expectancy in Jamestown improved
  - Mid 1600s saw increase of slave use due to shrinking incentives of using indentured servitudes
- Nathaniel Bacon arrives
  - Nobleman / Aristocrat
    - Nobleman’s viewed as those who would represent the people
    - Can lead armies
    - Take political decisions
  - Looking to expand his land ownership; approaches local government to address his needs
  - Berkley sees Bacon as threat
    - Berkley is part of coastal elite; wealthy
    - Interior planters were poorer
    - Bacon wondered if he could trade with natives; not aware of how relations were with interior land owners
    - Berkley warns Interior land owners were being killed by natives; Bacon did not care
- Bacon confronts Berkley
  - Berkley had monopoly on native trade
  - Berkely did not care if interior landowners were killed
  - Bacon sees how discontent interior farmers were
  - Bacon rallies landowners;
  - tells Berkley he will attack indians
- Bacon attacks indians
  - Bacon attacks indiscriminately, even with peaceful indians
  - Berekley declares Bacon a criminal / rebel
- Summer of 1676 Bacon razes Jamestown (in response to being labeled a rebel / criminal)
  - Buildings wiped out
- Bacon gets dysentery and dies after a month
  - People start analyzing what happened
    - Bacon was noblemen; maybe they should have welcomed noblemen; will recognize next noblemen that will come
    - Mid- level planters weren’t recognized, should bring them in for government decisions
    - Ultimately recognized, that indentured servants were a big problem
      - The disgruntled landowners were former servants; former servants opinions were the problem
      - They should stop using indentured servants; start using slaves
- Indentured servants
  - Don't revolt because they see their prize at the end of their contracts
- Slaves
  - Never see a way out; if they want freedom they would have to fight
  - Slaves must be always watched, as they are dangerous, they are the enemies
  - Even the poor of the white landowning community would have to watch the slaves;
  - Slavery united communities towards a common enemy
- Example of early racism
  - 3 indentured servants escaped
    - Two white; added years on contract as punishment
    - One black; became slave as punishment
- 1650
  - No african descent can own firearms
- 1660s
  - Baptism cannot free slave ( as you cannot enslave other christians)
- Free black people in colonial settlements see their rights gradually taken away
  - There were free black people, that had indentured servants
- 1680’s
  - Imports of slaves was commonplace
  - Conscious establishment of racism
- Stono Rebellion South Carolina
  - Largest slave rebellion in colonies
  - Jimmy en- slaved from angola
    - Angolan Slaves
      - Can handle a lot of physical activities
      - Hard to manage; independent mindsets
    - Leads rebellion
    - They get weapons, and gather slaves from plantation to plantation
    - Carolina militia gets notified; handles situations, kills slaves
    - Surviving slaves get hanged
      - Sent message “If you revolt, you will die”
  - Some slave owners get mad
    - “this is our property that you destroyed”
  - South Carolina said they would compensate the landowners
  - Led to banning slaves from learning how to read
  - Restrictions on slaves earning / holding money
- Slave culture
  - New planters receiving restrictions
  - “The more slaves you have, the more important you are”
  - Europe shifting from chivalrous society to more capitalistic
  - Colonies don’t have wealthy elites with titles
    - They have wealthy elites with land
    - Typically, noblemen had land
  - Landowners now looked at as noblemen
    - Dubbed as “Country Nobility”
- Social manners / mentality (Code of chivalry)
  - Mimics elites of Europe
  - Social elites act like social elites
    - Wealthy aristocracy class
  - Women find status going down
    - Seen as prized possessions
    - Objectified
  - View themselves as the fatherly figure taking care of slaves
- Southern White population 1860 (on verge of civil war timeline)
  - 8 million white southerners
  - Slave owners only made up 25% of population
    - Half of those had <10 slaves
  - 75% of southern white population had not invested in slavery by civil war
- Slavery has created a social hierarchy, identity, class structure
  - Which is why the ones not invested in slavery were willing to die for it
- Founding Fathers not only had slaves, but were in the elite class of slave owners
- What type of social benefits were the poor whites in the south getting in order to defend slavery
  - Fear of revolts
Questions
- Who is berkeley
- How were slaves treated relative to indentured servitudes
- How come many noblemen didn’t see the need to invest in new America’s early
- What type of social benefits were the poor whites in the south getting in order to defend slavery

The Rise and Fall of Africanized Slavery¶

sugar plantation main reason for buying slaves currently.

short supply of gold and silver in Virginia. very humid Salt water contamination. tldr: jamestown is not healthy average lifespan is 40 years.

Jamestown was recovered because of growth of tobacco. new tobacco plantation tobacco has to be constantly attentended to and requires constant labor John sold his crop yield for 500 shillings collonists called him the one that saved Jamestown making tobacco slave go for 300 shillings from the carabeans and last only a few months.

idea of importing indentured servants from England theyre people who are in debt for about 1 or 2 years. most people aren't even in debt and join in for "new opportunity" to become a land owner since England's land has been mostly taken by nobels. indentured servants only cost 30 shillings. if indentured servants agree to do forced labor for a bit of time, they get their travel across atlanta paid, and get land at the end of the contract. initial indenture went from 2 to 4 years, then later 7 years of forced work. indenture contrancts were now usually 4-7 years. you want the servants to live for about 1 year. if they live out their 4 years, you have to give them the land, plus tools, seeds, etc. most indentured servants died before their contract died.

its high risk high reward. people want them to stay healthy to survive for 3 years, by year 4, they are downright brutal to indentured servants to kill them.

any servants who survive become competition for growing tobacco

by the 1650's the tobacco price plummeted, because the life expectancy of Jamestown shot up. it shot up because they made Jamestown healthier over time.

now it's harder to recruite indentured servants now.

people started switching to slaves.

people in Barbados moved to south carolina and brought slaves. slaves and indentured servants often worked together

the poorer planters were being held down by richer planters because it helps control the price of tobacco

Nathaniel Bacon is a nobelmen from aristocracy. he goes to the governer and requests to own the land Berkerly treats Nathaniel badly because he doesn't want to lose his land

interior planterns are typically more poorer

western planters were more rich.

Bacon doesn't know about the divide that Berkeley has created.

Bacon catches on to how Berkeley is trying to kill off the interior planters where bacon set up his plantation by using the indians to kill them off.

Bacon confronts Berkeley.¶

In Europe, they are raised with two classes: lords, and commoners.

nobels are expected to be the proctectors of the people. commoners are groomed from birth to follow what nobels tell them to do.

the interior plantern farmers group up with Bacon and attack the indians.

most indians were peaceful with the English, however Bacon attacked all indians.

Berkeley told the governor that Bacon is a rebel for attacking the indians.

Bacon was now called a rebel by people.

Bacon Razes Jamestown¶

Bacon and the interior plantern farmers attack Jamestown

Jamestown completly destroyed. interior win a month later after they win, Bacon dies from disintary (swamp disease)

Bacon was a nobelman, and he was kept at arms length. rule #1: treat nobelman with respect from now on. rule #2: let the midlevel planterns to have a voice in the government now. rule #3: indentured servants arent wanted anymore. use slaves now.

Slaves are more risky due to much higher risk of revolts. The poor know that they have to show unity against slaves to prevent slaves from revolting. so it ends up being a huge unifier between everyone. racism starts to get a foothold. by 1650, there are now laws against african americans by preventing them from owning guns, etc.

by the 1660s, they say baptism will not free slaves from slavery.

Bacon's rebellion changed everything.

by 1680, slavery was now the new standard instead of indentured servants.

Virginia made more stability by importing women from England, and allowed voting now.

Women wanted to come because the men were landowners. by the 1680s and 1690s, the balance between women and men mostly balanced out went from 9:1 men to women, to 9:8 men to women.

Jemmy leads a slave rebellion of about 20 slaves. They attacked a store with weapons. They now went from plantation to plantation and gain numbers. Now the carolina militia finds them.

Stono Rebellion¶

the militia wins against the slaves.

the stono rebellion signaled a warning to the plantation owners. they started to put heavy restrictions against slaves, including adding laws preventing slaves from earning money and learning how to read.

newer plantern farmers are facing a social barrier because the amount of slaves you have, the more important you are.

people are made to look up to those with huge successful plantations

slavery has rewritted the rules their society is based on.