AMERICAN SLAVERY AMERICAN FR essays

AMERICAN SLAVERY AMERICAN FR essays AMERICAN SLAVERY AMERICAN FREEDOM In the book, American Slavery American Freedom, Edmund S. Morgan believes and supports the idea that slaves were brought about by a long process and that slaves were not needed or profitable during early colonization. He writes about the process colonists took to finally bring slavery to America. Indentured servants were originally the workers of the early colonies. Slavery originally started in America by the deportation of restless roistering rogues from England to Virginia. Morgan writes, England kept them down by the workhouse, by the gallows, by whipping them back to the parish they came from, by sending them off on military expeditions-and by shipping them to Virginia. When these men were sent over to America they had to work and received little pay. Edmund explains that the Virginians found out a way to cheat the workers. They created an artificial scarcity of land, which meant that the workers who were in servitude waiting to be freemen had no where to live so they went back into servitude. They also took off as much as they could off the workers profits through rents, taxes, and fees for the benefits of the burgesses, councilors and collectors. But by doing this, Morgan believes, put colonies at constant risk of rebellion. As the years went on workers began to get pushed more and more to make profits for who ever it is they have been serving, and Virginia moved closer to slavery than ever. Servitude in Virginias tabacco fields approached closer to slavery than anything known at the time in England. Men served longer, were subject to more rigorous punishment, and were traded about as commodities already in the 1620s. England had never dealt with slavery before than, but was moving so close towards it that it was inevitable that it would happen. ...