Lexi Beckstead

History 1700

Assignment 3

Read Foner (2011), The Origins of American Slavery (posted under files) and consider the
following questions:

How did slavery develop in the Chesapeake?

Slavery developed in 1619 when a dutch ship arrived and sold about 20 African slaves. Tobacco
planting and high demand cash crops required intensive labor, eventually the English followed suit of
the Spanish and pursued African American slaves over the previously popular white indentured
servants, due to the longevity of servitude and the lowering mortality rate.
How were the experiences of indentured servants and slaves similar and how did they
differ over time?
In the beginning they were pretty similar besides the fact that slaves were twice the money as
indentured servants, and because of the high mortality rate, made indentured servants more
affordable and popular (they would both probably die anyway). As the colonies became more settled
and stable, the mortality rate decreased, leaving the servants to outlive their servitude with not many
prospects once they finished. This created the boom in slavery in the 17th century because, well,
slaves you owned for their entire life, becoming a better economic investment.
What role did Bacons Rebellion play in the development of a slave society?
Bacons Rebellion is what started slave laws and the division between whites and blacks. When the
Virginia aristocrats realized they were outnumbered to their servants and slaves, and that they could
rise up against the elite, they began driving wedges, creating better laws for the white people and
giving fewer rights to the slaves.

Then read the Virginia Slave Laws (also posted under files) and discuss the following among
yourselves:

What do you notice when you read the laws? Can you detect the evolution of a racial ideology in the
statutes? Why or why not? Which of the statutes (if any) seem designed to drive a wedge between
white servants and black slaves? Why might the people who wrote the laws have deemed this
useful?