Slavery In The Americas

The dramatic growth of slavery in the Americas arose shortly after the first European settlers arrived in the Bahamas after the Columbus expeditions. These European settlers viewed the fertile North American lands and forests as perfect areas to grow massive crops and chop down trees for lumber. These activities required massive amounts of manual labor and large workforces to work these new lands. The solution was to install the practice of slavery in the Americas which would provide the business men with large cheap labor forces which worked for no profits. The first people to be enslaved were the Native Indians of the newly settled regions. The Native people were viewed as mentally deficient and less human than there white European counterparts …show more content…
The European settlers intrigued by the prospects of the land began to realize that maximizing the production of the land would entail the need for a large labor force. They turned to the Native Indians who they viewed as an easy target for forced labor. Native Americans had long practiced the institution of slavery as a means of tribesman replacement in the aftermath of deadly events such as a war which killed productive members of tribes1. European settlers begin coercing Native Americans to actively enslave other tribe’s people and sell them into slavery. This practice continued to flourish until the 17th century when the trans-Atlantic slave trade began introducing large number of African slaves in the American regions. In order to morally justify the act of slavery and to create an environment conducive to is growth, Europeans begin a long practice of dehumanizing the enslaved people. Both Native Americans and Africans were considered as non-human animals which were meant to be enslaved and place under white male’s guidance. Along with an increasingly growing Southern agriculture economy came an increased need for slave labor. In order to ensure stability and leadership in a southern society which was largely becoming predominantly African, officials turned to the practice of vilifying and degrading the enslaved people. The increasingly …show more content…
As a result of the souths Agriculture economy the need and importation of African slaves begin to drastically rise in comparison to the north. Southern whites who felt a growing need to maintain their dominance in society and keep the African slaves submissive implanted legal actions such as the slave codes. These laws enforced widely held beliefs of the African inferiority and lack of knowledge as it prohibited them from learning to read, leave the plantations, and bear arms along with other restrictions. The Sothern legal system was mirroring the beliefs of the society which upheld that blacks were not be afforded the same rights as whites or even the formally enslaved Native Americans due to the color of their skin. As a result of the constant discriminatory laws and dehumanization of Africans a racial superiority complex began to develop amongst white Americans in regards to the African