Life for African Slaves in Early America

One of the groups of people that made up a large chunk of the population in British Colonial America were African slaves.  Life in colonial America was obviously pretty difficult for the slaves, and they faced many rough conditions and trials just to get to America in the first place.  Once they arrived, things did not get much better.

The African Slave Trade was an extremely brutal thing for many Africans.  Europeans set up ports at different places in Africa, and European sailors would bring goods to these ports in exchange for humans (PBS).  The sailors would then sell the humans to American slave owners so they could provide labor on their fields and farms (PBS).  The conditions for the Africans on the ships were absolutely terrible.  There was limited space, and diseases spread quickly (PBS).  A classmate said during the discussion, "The people were treated like animals." Sadly,  I think that is a fair way of describing it.  Many of the Africans died before they reached America on these ships (PBS). 

For the Africans who reached America on the boats, there was not exactly a great sigh of relief.  Cash crops had become a huge industry in the colonies, and with the newly arrived Africans as slaves, the plantation owners realized they could get a lot of labor for basically no cost (PBS).  Many of the Africans knew how to cultivate the crops so they were used to help make the owners rich (PBS).

The conditions on the plantations were usually very inhumane.  The slaves often had to work very long hours and they often were treated with violence, such as being hit or whipped if they were not keeping up with the required "pace" of work (PBS).  This was even the case on Thomas Jefferson's, one of America's presidents, plantations.   I was somewhat surprised when I heard that Thomas Jefferson had slaves.  Jefferson inherited slaves from his parents and owned a plantation called Monticello in Virginia (Jefferson and Slavery...).  Jefferson however did not want his slaves to be treated brutally, but whenever he was gone from the plantation, his workers often went against his wishes (Jefferson and Slavery...).  The African slaves often had to live in fear because they never knew what was going to be facing them in the upcoming days.  As the relations between the white colonists and black Africans grew more tense, the colonists grew stronger in their oppression against the African slaves (PBS).  There were times when some Africans would try to rebel, but they were often unsuccessful.  The cruelty of the slaves had almost just become normal (PBS).   Some of the colonies legalized killing and torturing slaves (PBS). 


The lives of Africans slaves in early America were extremely difficult.  They were shipped over to the new land in harsh conditions, and stepped onto land in conditions that were almost just as bad in some places.  The slaves were beaten, lived in fear, and often did not get sufficient food and water.  The relations between the white colonists and the slaves grew more and more bitter, and set off a racism trend that would continue for many years.











"Jefferson and Slavery at Monticello: Paradox of Liberty- Thomas Jefferson's Monticello." Thomas
        Jeffersons Monticello Blog RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.

PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2013.

British Colonial Regions in North America

The three British colonial regions in North America, which were the Northern, Middle, and Southern, were all very similar in their reasons for colonizing land and creating the same goals.  However, based upon geography and the factors that shaped their society and economy, they each had different factors and ways of acheiving those goals.

One of the main reasons all of these new colonies were created in North America was over religion, as in the case of the Pilgrims and the Puritans.  The three different regions had different religious influences, but it was still one of the core parts of the colonization.  Similarly in all of the regions, as time went on, there began to be a decline in religious favor, though.   Also, the settlers were curious to start society in a new place and to expand as much as they could with their abundant land they had found in this new territory and to in a sense "spread their wings" from England.  They didn't necessarily want to seperate from England, but just become more adventurous.  The three different regions had different ways of going about this though, beginning with the first colonies in the southern region.

The first region to be colonized was the South ("Slave Law...").  Jamestown, Virginia was the first British North American settlement in 1607 ("Slave Law...").  The present day states included Virginia, Maryland, and both of the Carolinas.  The main factors that shaped the economy in the south were cash crops such as tobacco, rice and indigo.  These crops were abundant in the region and were sold for heavy profits.  These cash crops required a lot of labor, and in order to accomplish all of the work, the colonists brought in slaves, which first arrived from Africa in 1609 ("Slave Law..."). The region was defined by slavery, and was mainly settled by single men and not families.  The South also did not have as good of relationships with the Native Americans as the other regions.

While the south relied on cash crops and slavery, the Northern/New England colonies utilized subsistence farming, maritime industries such as shipbuilding and fishing, and trade in livestock and timber.  The region also had a lot of Pilgrim and Puritan influence.  The only difference between the two groups was that the Pilgrims were seperatists from the English church and the Puritans were not.  One classmate in an earlier lecture said, "The Puritans believed that they could purify the church."  There were few slaves, especially compared to the South.  This region was shaped more by whole familes rather than single males. The Northern colonies (Current-day Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut) were the the least diverse and had mostly an English population.  This is in direct contrast to the third and final region, the Middle Colonies.


The Middle colonies were made up of present-day New York, New Jersey, Pennslyvania and Delaware.  This was the most diverse colony because it was settled by several different nationalities, such as the Dutch, Germans, and obviously English.  Since the colony was so diverse, it led to more religious tolerance and acceptance ("The Middle Colonies").  There was a large Quaker influence in the region, which is a religious group that believed in peace and no social class distinctions.  The main crop was wheat, as flour made up 75% of the regions' exports.  There was a pretty high standard of living so they enjoyed a wide range of imports.  There was not a huge emphasis on cash crops overall, though, as subsistence farming played a somewhat larger role("The Middle Colonies").

The thre different British Colonial Regions in North America all seemed to be pretty different when looking in from the outside with all of their different economic and social factors.  However, on the inside, they had a lot of the same core goals and reasons for colonizing, which included religious toleration and blazing their own trail away from England.


"The Middle Colonies." The Middle Colonies. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.

"Slave Law in Colonial Virginia: A Timeline." N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2013.

Columbian exchange

The Columbian exchange was obviously a huge part of American history, and had huge implications for both the European colonists and the Native Americans.  The appearance of the colonists had both negative and positive affects on the native people, while the native people as well created benefits and drawbacks for the Europeans.
To begin with, there were some very apparent negative results for the Native Americans after the European colonists settled in the New World.  The Europeans were colonizing the land.  In class, I was asked what colonization meant, and I responded with, "Claiming new land and starting a civlization where no one has been before."  Dr. Holden slightly corrected me by saying, "By claiming land that you don't AKNOWLEDGE where others have already settled." This statement is completely true about the Columbian exchange because the European settlers came and began to start their own civlizations and almost acted as if there was no one there in some areas, which was obviously very disrespectful to the Native Americans.  Along with the disrespect, the Europeans also brought many diseases that turned out to be fatal for the native people.  Diseases such as smallpox, influenza, and malaria killed many Native Americans and were devastating to their population ("The Columbian Biological Exchange").  The natives did not have any prior contact with these diseases, so their immune systems were not strong enough to handle them.  The Europeans were also affected by disease, as they had never been exposed to some illnesses that the Native Americans passed on to them, such as syphilis ("The Columbian Biological Exchange").  The diseases were be far the most negative side effects of the Columbian exchange.  However, there were also some positive things that came out of it.

The Native Americans benefited greatly from the technology that the Europeans brought over to the New World.  The natives learned a type of European alphabet and were able to communicate through a common language, which led to a breakthrough in their own society ("The Columbian Exchange").  The enhanced farm equipment, like the plow, helped lead to more efficient farming and a greater crop surplus ("The Columbian Exchange").  The Europeans also benefited from the fertile soil in the New World.  Guns and knives brought over from Europe also helped the Native Americans to hunt and to get more food that way as well ("The Columbian Exchange").

The exchange of different plants and animals had important and positive implications for both the Europeans and Native Americans.  The Europeans brought over horses, pigs, cattle, chicken, sheep, and goats ("The Columbian Biological Exchange").   These animals served as a new mode of transportation, labor, and food.  The Native Americans shared turkeys, alpacas, and guniea pigs that were sent back to the Old World, once again signifying a mutual relationship with the Europeans.  The exchange of different plants also had great economic benefits. The Europeans brought over Sugercane, which ended up being a huge cash crop in the New World.  The two main plants sent from the New World to the Old World were Maize and Potatoes (The Columbian Biological Exchange").  Both of these plants became large parts of a European diet ("The Columbian Exchange").

The Columbian Exchange plays a substantial part in the story of American History.  It had huge effects on both the Native Americans and European colonists.  Overall, the effects were both positive and negative for both sides.  The Native Americans and Europeans were negatively effected by disease, but theu also benefited from the exchange of technology, plants, and animals.

"The Columbian Biological Exchange." The Columbian Biological Exchange. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.

"The Columbian Exchange." The Columbian Exchange. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Feb. 2013.