Slavery

Describe the conditions and

impact on Africans

Dis-Africanization• The act of

stripping African peoples of their culture and traditions

Africans were called natives or savages

African names were not usedDerogatory names were usedRenamed with a Christian

nameNative languages were not used

Slavery equals deliverance

Slave life was better than life in Africa

To be saved you must be Christianized

Religion changed from Islamic to Christianity

The Middle Passage

Ship board journey from Africa to the Americas

Dreadful conditions

• Native Americans: die from disease & harsh conditions

• Indentured Servants supply labor needs in early colonial period

• As competition for land increases land owners will shift from Indentures to slaves from Africa

Labor in the Chesapaeke

Slavery in the Chesapeake

• 1st Africans arrive in Jamestown in 1619 as Indentured Servants

• At first they toiled as indentured servants, later legislation will convert the indentures to servitude for life

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Royal African Company

• A London slave-trade monopoly was given to the Royal African Company in 1672.

• Set up by the Stuart family and London merchants

• Led by James, Duke of York, Charles II's brother.

• Slaves were branded with RAC on their chests.

• Between 1672 and 1689 it transported around 90,000–100,000 slaves.

The RAC FlagThe RAC Flag

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Virginia Slave Code

• Landowners began to include slaves in the grant process, giving them an additional 50 acres for every slave they owned.

• By 1700, the number of African slaves in Maryland and Virginia was about 19,000

• This was 22% of the total population compared to 7% in 1680.

• In 1705, Virginia compiled a number of such slave laws to form the Virginia Slave Code.

Georgia & South CarolinaLargest number of slavesWorst conditionsSite of rice & indigo plantationsMajority of population

Slavery Continued

Virginia & MarylandMinority of populationVariety of tasksLimited movement

Slavery continued

New England & Middle ColoniesSmallest number of slavesGreatest variety of occupations

Resistance

Work slow downsFake illnessBreak toolsViolently rebelPoison masters

Free Blacks

Very limited rightsSevere discriminationSeen as a threat

From West Africa they were torn

A Tight Pack

Below Deck

Trade Routes

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Bacon's Rebellion

Bacon's Rebellion, was ultimately a duel between two men, Sir William Berkeley, Colonial Governor of Virginia who served for some thirty years, and Nathanial Bacon, a planter who had moved from England to Virginia in 1674.

• In 1676, in response to an Indian raid on a plantation that left at least one man dead, Bacon began protesting the colonial response to Indian attacks and high taxes. Angered by the raid, Bacon insisted on the creation of a militia to rid the area of the perceived Indian threat.

• Instead, Berkeley opted to refortify the Virginia borders, a move Bacon found dissatisfying. As a result, Bacon formed his own army and began accosting Indians in the area.

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The Rebellion • Bacon was originally arrested, yet

was subsequently pardoned by Berkeley.

• Following his pardon the famed Bacon's Rebellion began. Able to incite large groups of farmers and planters to his cause, Bacon organized an informal army of his own, attacking settlements throughout Virginia.

• Bacon's Rebellion, consisting largely of disgruntled planters, farmers, and slaves, pillaged the area, ultimately burning Jamestown to the ground on September 19, 1676. Just over a month later, on October 26, Bacon died of natural causes.

• The rebellion floundered without him, and order was restored to Virginia.

Outcome – more land Native American land opened to white settlement & a greater reliance on slave labor

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The Enlightenment and the Great Awakening

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John Locke • One of the great philosophers of

the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century.

• An Oxford scholar, medical researcher and physician, political operative, economist and ideologue

• According to Locke, we can know with certainty that God exists.

• We can also know about morality with the same precision we know about mathematics, because we are the creators of moral and political ideas.

• He gives us the theory of natural law and natural rights which he uses to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate civil governments.

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Upper Classes• In the eighteenth-century, an

American upper class had emerged and had begun to mimic their counterparts in England.

• This new socio-political elite was built largely on the growing trans-Atlantic commerce.

• During this same period, however, ordinary Americans made increased demands for “English liberties” in the face of aristocratic privilege and power. In 1705, Governor Joseph In 1705, Governor Joseph

Dudley personified the Dudley personified the reason many common reason many common Americans challenged Americans challenged

established authorityestablished authority..

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Jonathan Edwards Jonathan Edwards was the most Jonathan Edwards was the most

famous and influential of America’s famous and influential of America’s revivalist theologians. revivalist theologians.

Expressive of two ideas: Expressive of two ideas:

the ultimate power and majesty of the ultimate power and majesty of GodGod

God’s amazing holiness. God’s amazing holiness.

Edwards synthesized traditional Edwards synthesized traditional Protestantism with Newton’s Protestantism with Newton’s physics, Locke’s psychology, physics, Locke’s psychology, Shaftsbury's aesthetics, and Shaftsbury's aesthetics, and Malebranche’s moral philosophy.Malebranche’s moral philosophy.

He led the fervid religious revivalist He led the fervid religious revivalist movement that was dubbed “the movement that was dubbed “the Great Awakening.”Great Awakening.”

A History of Rebellion

• The Great Awakening – an outpouring of religious fervor during 1740’s – 1760’s

1. Response to softening of religious attitudes

2. Puritan beliefs were challenged – predestination questioned, free will determined your fate not God’s will

3. Earthly pursuits were surpassing the Sabbath

The Leaders

• New Light preachers Jonathon Edwards and George Whitfield

• Edwards – must be dependent on God’s grace• Famous sermon, “Sinners in the hands of an

Angry God”, sinners were like a spider suspended over a flame

• “Hell was paved with the skulls of unbaptized children”

• Whitfield – emotional orator who stressed human helplessness, Divine Omnipotence

The Great Awakening

Their Impact

Religious spirit rekindled, sinners must seek salvation

Emotional preaching over reason Appeal to less educated and less affluent Mid 1700’s conversion of African Americans Larger role for women Churches divide New Lights vs. Old Lights New Light centers of learning (Princeton, Brown,

Rutgers, Dartmouth) Unifying effect on American people