Importance of Slavery Essay

Economic, geographic, and social factors all contributed to the rise of importance for slaves in the southern colonies as their position in American society changed from 1607 and 1775. Slaves not only influenced Jamestown in 1607, but they influenced America, all the way into the American Revolution in 1775. Slavery ultimately flourished and aided economic triumph in the southern colonies. With the hopes of making it big in the new colonies, indentured servants came through the headright system, usually people who lacked funds of any sort hoping to make money. During this time, English practiced mercantilism and since they lacked the proper agriculture to grow tobacco. John Rolfe made it a cash crop in the new colonies and they were able to sell it quite easily to their mother country, England. This lasted until about the time of Bacon’s Rebellion where indentured servants were mad due to them thinking they would get land after their 20 years of work. But with this the south turned to slavery as a viable option. Now they could tell by just the color of their skin what class they were in. The triangular trade made this even better. They got more and made slaves work on their large plantations. Since slaves were not citizens they had no rights. The South flourished with their labor. They had huge profits. America did not just depend on tobacco they also had rice and indigo that helped the economy an immense amount. Social factors in the south also encouraged growth. The American slave code is based off the barbatos slave code. Aristocrats who were at the top of the pyramid in social class had many slaves. The blacks were at the bottom and they had no rights. The slave owners often had there slaves reproduce to make them more slaves. The more slaves you had the more money, and the higher nobility you had. Racism was a huge social factor of slavery. The whites thought they were superior to the blacks and they showed it. with the social presser to hate blacks slavery would not have been so successful economically. The geography of the southern colonies was not suited to standard farming as that of the northern colonies. The soil of the land was not suited to the growing of standard crops like wheat and corn. Also, the hot weather of the south did not allow for easy farming, and its wet and temperate sub-tropical climates was best suited for the growing of tobacco, rice, and indigo. Along with this, the extensive river system which divided the southern colonies into tiny interconnected pieces provided the best transportation for mass goods and for wet soil. The many river parts of the south made it easy to transfer goods grown on plantations, and to facilitate the purchase of slaves.