1 / 15

HTY 232: Civil War

HTY 232: Civil War. Part I: Slavery in colonial America Origins, Legal Structures, Economics, Rationales, Objections, Revolution, and Slavery in the Constitution. Origins and Law. Premodern unfree labor: slavery, serfdom, peonage Hierarchical social structures Permeable status Roman Slavery

dieter
Download Presentation

HTY 232: Civil War

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. HTY 232: Civil War Part I: Slavery in colonial America Origins, Legal Structures, Economics, Rationales, Objections, Revolution, and Slavery in the Constitution.

  2. Origins and Law • Premodern unfree labor: slavery, serfdom, peonage • Hierarchical social structures • Permeable status • Roman Slavery • African Slavery

  3. Historical Rationales • Rationales for slavery: just war (defense, religion) • Captives • Crime • Debt

  4. European expansion • Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch sugar plantations • Rise of Consumer demand: Sugar • Asia-Persia-Mediterranean • Madeira-Canaries-Cape Verde-Azores-São Tomé-Fernando Po • Columbus 1493: sugar to Caribs, Dutch to SA

  5. Sugar

  6. American Development • 1619 First Africans in Virginia (Tobacco) • Incidental, status undifferentiated • 1640 First racial differentiation in VA law • 1660-1705: inheritable status, limits of individual rights, corporal punishment, status of property

  7. Transformation to plantation Slave System (18th Century) • Indentures versus slaves 17th century • Base cost • Mortality • Immigration rates (peak 1650-1680) • Freedom Dues • Land availability • Costs of conflict with Native America • Bacon’s Rebellion: class war • Royal African Company

  8. North America: Tobacco

  9. Economics of Labor • Tobacco, Rice, Indigo • VA the largest population and economy based on 30-60 million pounds of tobacco annually exported. • Note trend to grain production • Rice exports reached 80+ million pounds by 1770. • Impact: the South developed into a prosperous, commercial, rural society dominated by a class of planter elites.

  10. Slave Trade

  11. Rationales in Modern Era • “Savage” v. “Civilized” • Heathen v. Christian • See Finkleman on evolution of rationale • Environmental: suitability for hard labor • Scientific Racism: biological inferiority • Slave/Free =“Black”/“White”

  12. Objections • Africans to African-Americans • Reproduction: cultural and demographic • Christianization • Slave Uprisings • Stono Rebellion (1739) • New York Conspiracy • Militias/violence • 1757 Quakers (John Woolman) • 1776 Wealth of Nations (necessity of free labor) • Fears of insurrection (Dunmore)

  13. Revolutionary Era • Conundrum of natural rights • Rhetoric of inalienable, god-given rights • Black initiatives • Adopting language of liberty • Escape • Service • British opportunities • American • Historic linkage between service and citizenship

  14. Constitutions and Laws • Massachusetts (1781) and Vermont (1777) • Manumission in VA, DE, MD. • Gradual emancipation: PA, NY, CT, RI, NJ. • Northwest Ordinance (1787)

  15. U.S. Constitution • Compromises: • International Slave Trade • Fugitive Recovery • Political Representation • The words: slaves=“other persons” • Did the Constitution bolster slavery in America?

More Related