Slavery in the Colonial America

Slavery in the Colonial America
ABSTRACT
Slavery--- this has been a social concern since time immemorial. Despite the fact that slavery has long been abolished, issues are still arising, proving that this situation has still effects up to this era. As such, there is a need to look over the historical background of this dilemma.
This paper flicks through slavery in some parts of the world, specifically on the Colonial America`s experience. Moreover, this research examines the emergence of slavery and the actual characteristics of slaves. The paper also focuses on the enslavement of Africans and how is this connected to the America`s slavery. Finally, the research delves on the abolition of slavery in the Colonial America and how this situation does impacts our world today.
Definition of Slavery
During the Slavery Convention of 1926, slavery was defined as "the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised." Slave, meanwhile, is a person in such condition or status.
Slavery, in its strictest sense, is the first historical form of exploitation, wherein a slave becomes the private possession of a slave owner. That is, slavery converts individuals into a "thing". Much worse, they are converted to some type of consumer things.
Slave trade has had a long history. The Code of Hammurabi even mentioned about slavery. During those times (1760 BC) slavery was an established institution. People before are involved in the acquisition and disposal of other people with the intent to selling and/or exchanging them.
Slavery in the Old World
Slavery started because of the development of farming, which was about 10,000 years ago. Farming made people the chance to let their war prisoners` work for them. In the earliest civilizations, the people captured during war were the main sources of slaves. The other sources of slaves are those people who were guilty of crimes; some were those people who had no ability to pay their debts (Mackey, 2007, p. 24).
At about 3500 BC, Sumerians in Mesopotamia or the present-day Iraq were the first slaves who made up the lowest class in the society. Other parts of the world by those times had also adopted slavery--- Babylonia, Egypt, Persia and other Middle East countries among others. This was practiced by ancient China and India, the Black Africans and American Indians as well.
Slavery in the Modern World
In the modern world, as commerce and industry experienced a dramatic soar, slavery expanded. The growth of trade demanded for a labor force which would produce excellent export products.
In this regard, the Arabs initiated the transportation of Sub-Saharan Africans from their own land for taking a labor job. As the European expansion took place, the Portuguese took over the African slaves (Mackey, 2007, p. 30). They used them as a source of cheap labor. The Dutch followed. After which, slavery became a major economic endeavor of the European age as they went on to colonize the world.
In the 18th century, slaves, particularly Africans, peaked. Before 1807, British were the dominant Atlantic slave trader. More than three and a half million Africans were transported in the Atlantic by British ships during this period. In addition, during the three last years of the British trade, one in five African was passed from Liverpool (Eltis, 1987, p. 378).
Slavery Performance
Slavery, the practice of owning one person, has different faces regardless of the place it is being practiced. In almost all nations, slaves were put into "forced labor". In this case, slaves were lured of having a better job. However, they found themselves to conditions wherein they were slaved. Much worse, they were asked to work without payment, and they were often abused physically. Slaves who were into forced labor were subjected to work in hazardous and harsh conditions (Eltis, 2000, p.90). This was the case of the Africans who were transported to the British colonies to work in the sugarcane company. Slaves who were into forced labor were treated in various ways. Almost no slaves would marry legally. They could not raise a family of their own, nor could they be allowed to own property.
"Chattel slavery" is another form of slavery. The slaves were owned by their masters, and they were exchanged for money or any other personal properties. More than that, chattel slaves were not only performing labor, they were also to offer sexual favor. Chattel slavery is racially based, which means the children of this kind of slave would also be doing the same. Chattel slaves are born that way, or they might be from a social group which is seen as suited to being a slave laborer (Eltis, 2008, p.357).
The most far and wide experienced form of slavery is "debt bondage." This was prevalent in Southeast Asia. An estimated 15 to 20 million people were victims of this slavery. This was especially true in the Philippines, in which the parents offer their children or even themselves as collateral for a loan (Eltis, 2008, p.350). The overwhelming poverty was the major force for which the people were into this kind of slavery. Debt bondage slaves were given the promise of working only until they would be able to pay their debts. Nonetheless, it would be impossible, in reality, to pay off the debt. With that scenario, the debt was inherited by the children of the bonded labor, thus bringing about a cycle which affected the next generations.
Meanwhile, the most common slavery form in underdeveloped areas was "wage slavery". Employers in this case employ people at a very low wage. The people would readily accept the job, since they could not risk employment (Eltis, 2008, p.355). This was also the start of child labor. That is to say, child laborers could accept a lower wage, so the employment of children in manual jobs soared to a great extent. As an illustration, most Indians were enslaved by Europeans in the 18th century, especially so when Portuguese colonists had started sugar plantations in Brazil. These Indians received harsh treatment. After which, blacks from West Africa were imported by the Spaniards and the Portuguese, and they were given a small amount of money as pay to their services in the plantations.
Poor people, most of whom did not receive proper education, were tricked and were made to sign contracts as a laborer. This is what we call the "contract slavery." These people did not understand the stipulated contract, and they were not aware that their labor was the payment. This was the scenario in ancient Greece and Roman Empire. The slaves who were working in large groups in mines or those working in the plantations were illiterate Africans (Richard, 2009, p.569). They served for long hours working, and most of them suffered inhumane punishment.
In the New World, European colonies were established. During the 1500`s, this brought slavery into expansion. As the sugar plantation in Cuba and West Indies Islands (Caribbean Islands) was developed, a large number of laborers were needed. Likewise, the Spanish also had the need for more workers to work as gold miners, so they did "contract labor" to people who were uneducated, making them their slaves (Richard, 2009, p. 576).
Sex Slavery was another form of slavery practiced. The women, and shockingly the children, were offered better jobs. However, they were beaten and were forced into prostitution. They were forced to work in brothel. Others, meanwhile, were kidnapped from home countries to work as prostitutes. In other cases, the slaves paid thousands of dollars to go to another country, but they were forced into prostitution to pay off their debts.
Emergence of Slavery in Colonial America
It was around 1619 when slavery was first introduced in Colonial America. The first slaves were brought in Virginia. For the next 250 years, slavery was an institution.
Africans were the largest group of migrants who became slaves in the New World, during the four centuries of Atlantic slave trade. An estimate of 11 million Africans were taken to the North and South America during that time (Richard, 2009, p.588).It was estimated that 653, 000 slaves arrived from different places going to Colonial America, some of whom were from the Caribbean. A feature of this was that 291,000 slaves (45% of the total) arrived in thirty years, which was from 1780 to 1810. Meanwhile, 21%, or 21% of the total came during the years 1801 to 1810 (Bruns, 1977, p.107).
With the British leading the case of slavery, how did the Colonial America began this slave trade?
Ironically, slave trade began in the Americas because of the suggestion of Bartolome de las Casas. He was s Spanish cleric and a Dominican Monk. De las Casas offered a suggestion of having the Sub-Saharan Africans replace the people of America as the main source of labor. By 1540, a treaty was made by de las Casas, and the Pope prohibited people of the Caribbean and the Americas as slaves. The Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, gave the Portuguese the authority to arrest black Africans to be slaves in the Spanish colonies. The Portuguese also did the same, and the Dutch immediately followed after throwing off the Spanish regime (Richard, 2009, p.572).
Different circumstances made slavery a trade in Colonial America. The arrival of a slave vessel of Dutch in1619 in Virginia, a British Colony in America, promoted slavery as a source of manual labor. Another factor that introduced slavery in the Americas was the colonization of England of Jamaica (Richard, 2009, p.575).This country was a former Spanish Colony. The Jamaicans were black, and so they were made into slaves.
In the 1660s, developments allowed the English to be involved in trans-Atlantic trade in Africa. At those years, England took over other colonies in Africa, America and the Caribbean (Richard, 2009, p.569). Because of this scenario, the America developed administrative mechanisms so as to secure their economic resources. With that in mind, slavery flourished more and more in the Colonial America. It can be generally conceived that the need for developing the economy, as well as maintaining the economic resources, was the major reason by which slavery was accepted in the modern America.
Slavery Condition in the Colonial America
The demand of Africans as slaves in the Colonial America reached its peak at the end of the 18th century. During those periods, more than double as many slaves were brought in the Colonial America every year as compared to the previous centuries.
In this growing number of slaves, how were they treated by the Colonial America?
In the United States, slaves were given no rights. Just like an animal, they could be bought and sold. Slaves were given no choice as to where they will live or what work they will do. In the political arena, they had no representative. Much worse, they were not given the chance to own pieces of properties, and they were not given the chance for education--- they were not given the chance to learn how to read and write (Bullard, 1993, p.110).
In the slave market in the Colonial America, African slaves were hired out or being leased temporarily. Slave owners in the Colonial America could hire out their slaves to other areas. As an illustration, Colonial Americans who own slaves sell their slave to people in the fields of industries, plantations, government works, and railroads in order to do some jobs on a specific time. This system would also depend on the nature of the job, so that hired slaves could go back to their families a...