Slave Uprisings

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The introduction of the New World initially brought upon the use of indentured slaves for cheap labor which was an effective system for a time. Demographically there became a high imbalance of birth rates and life spans in the southern colonies in contrast to the New England colonies. Consequently, the southern society was scarce on a labor source. With the discovery of the high in demand cash crop tobacco by Virginian John Rolfe, the south began its heavy reliance on agriculture. To fuel their economy, with the effectiveness of indentured labor weaning down, slavery became the next most convenient thing and eventually, with the introduction of the Middle Passage, having a substantial number of slaves became capable of altering a family’s social …show more content…
While proof of wealth is a pro to slavery that many colonists sought after with their new lives, many cons that also came about as more slaves arrived to America. Particularly, slave uprisings. Colonial Georgia, in such fear of these uprisings, was the only colony to ban slavery entirely. Typically uprisings sprung from slaves that were treated very harshly. Come 1739 in South Carolina the Stono Rebellion broke out when a group of African slaves acquired weapons and attempted to escape to Spanish Florida. Prior to this point the “most frequent form of resistance was simply running away … [but] There was nowhere to go” (Brinkley, 85). The uprising was extinguished quickly and most of those who rebelled were either formally executed or shot down during the rebellion. This was the last slave uprising that South Carolina would see as a colony. Although the rebellion was an ultimate failure, no other slave rebellion left the same impact as the Stono Rebellion …show more content…
Though, as time went on, the North found innovations in technology to ease the labor intensity while the South mainly increased their already large slave population. The North had a growing “thriving commercial class … and, with it, an increasingly elaborate urban culture” (Brinkley, 96). This was a kind of progression that the South did not see. They remained a very rural and agricultural society with very little significant cities and a less prospering commercial growth. Logically speaking, the colonies had to have, at one point, created a plantation economy in order to survive. In order to sustain large numbers of people, food of about an equal quantity has to be made somehow. One thing that separates the North and the South is their societies. The North was going on its way to becoming an urban society while the South had no changed from their initial rural settlement with South Carolina as its most influential colony

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