Back in the 1600s, there were ships that went to Africa to buy slaves, then to the Caribbean to sell the slaves and buy rum, molasses and sugar, then to the American colonies to sell the goods and buy rice and tobacco, then back to Africa.
The first big crops that were grown in the American colonies were rice and tobacco (cotton came later). Both were very labor intensive. Rice was grown in coastal mud flats where the ground was too soft for horses and wagons so all the work had to be done by humans. Anyway the idea is that some of these ships had slaves left over after they stopped in the Caribbean so some Americans bought them, and slavery became more and more widespread in the colonies over the next century.
It didn't necessarily start at any time in America. Slavery existed in Europe and was also used by European settlers, mainly in the southern colonies where slaves were used to manage massive farming plantations. Originally white slaves were used, but colonists began using black slaves instead since they were cheaper. Often in Africa when there were warring tribes prisoners of war would be taken. Then when Europeans came they would buy the prisoners of war from their captors, then the Africans would be taken to America to work as slaves. This process was known as triangular trade. When the United States of America was first formed the founding fathers did not know how they could promote freedom for all men if blacks were enslaved in the colonies. After America became a free nation slavery was outlawed in the New England and Middle states, but was still allowed in the southern states. This was until the civil war ended with the victory of the north, and slavery was outlawed in all of the United States.
It started with bonded servants from Europe particularly Ireland. The servants signed a contract to work for a number of years to pay for passage to the New World. Laws at the time were used to extend the contract making many of them slaves for life.
people have exploited the labor of others for thousands of years . in early america , they tried using "indentured servants " for a while , were a person would agree to work for another for a set amount of time to pay off the cost of the boat ride over . the white people " skipped out " before the time was up . so they got ( bought ) black people who would not be able to " blend in " with the other settlers and made them permanent slaves .
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I am doing a report for school. I want to know HOW it started. Thanks!
