How Did Slavery Affect The Colonies

The Impact of Slavery in the Development of Britain’s North American Colonies
In the years 1607 through 1776 slavery had become relatively easy due to the fact that more slaves could easily be purchased because of the triangular trade.The Americans could trade material goods in return for slaves. This was all due to the overwhelming need of cheap labor in the colonies. The existence of slavery impacted the development of Britain’s American Colonies from 1607 to 1776 by providing economic growth, developing social classes, and expanding population. Slavery existed in all the British American colonies. Africans were brought to America to work, with an emphasis on agriculture. In Virginia, most of the slaves brought worked in tobacco fields. Men, women, and children worked from sunup to sundown, with only Sunday to rest. Only having one day of rest was hard considering that most of the kind of work they did was hard, backbreaking work. Some enslaved Africans worked as cooks, laundresses, manservants, blacksmiths, coopers, or in other skilled jobs. While these men and women were generally considered “privileged” compared to field slaves, we must keep in mind that they were still enslaved. More so, they lived and worked every day under the constant watchful eyes of their masters, and had little time for themselves. The development of Britain’s North American colonies was impacted by slavery because it provided economic growth. …show more content…
During the 16th and 17th centuries, Britain had sugar cane, tobacco, cotton, corn, and wheat plantations. One of the many duties slaves had to complete was the converting of the juice from the sugarcane into sugar, molasses, and eventually rum, the most popular alcoholic beverage at the time. In return for their goods, the Americas received African slaves. More than half of the enslaved Africans in the Americas were employed on sugar plantations. Sugar then developed into the leading slave-produced good in the Americas. The development of Britain’s North American colonies was impacted by slavery because it created social classes. To this day, this is still a problem. The social classes went enslaved field workers, which were slaves working mainly in agriculture. They were followed by enslaved house servants, which worked indoors. Next were free Africans which the British American colonies had a small, but very important population of. Although they were considered free, these men and women did not have the privilege to the same rights as white citizens. After them was the farmers, most Americans lived and worked on small farms. They worked the farms with the help of their families and occasionally one or two slaves were hired for help. After farmers were what they called “Middling.” These were individuals who were considered to be part of the middle class which consisted of working in trades - blacksmithing, silversmithing, printing, and millinery. They also worked as professionals, such as lawyers and doctors, or merchants who owned stores. After the middle class was the gentry, or the upper class. The upper class consisted of landowners, very wealthy merchants, and financiers. These individuals owned an immense amount of land and usually many slaves. Upper class men took it as their right and duty to govern others. These men served as church vestrymen, magistrates, and councilmen. In most cases the upper class women were