Factors Leading to Slavery in Southern Regions of America

  This was my first LEQ (Long Essay Question) from Mrs. Richman's APUSH class. I really enjoy being able to think about different perspectives!

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When most people hear the word “slavery,” what most likely jumps to mind is the Civil War and the South. But slavery in the South didn’t just spring up out of nowhere to exist in a historical vacuum. Several factors led to and encouraged slavery in colonial America, and especially in the South, where it became an important part of the economy. Social factors including Bacon’s rebellion, geographic factors such as southern areas being more favorable toward the growing of cash crops, and economic factors including the need for more laborers to produce cash crops all contributed to slavery becoming an important part of the Southern Economy.

There were many social factors that encouraged slavery all over America, the most prominent being a general feeling of superiority to black Africans. This feeling justified the use of African slaves in many areas. Quakers, however, were an exception. Their beliefs were based on non-violence and equality, which directly conflicted with the often brutal methods used to enforce slavery. One argument many people used as a justification was that slavery was more merciful than simply executing captives taken in war. But this too directly opposed Quaker beliefs of non-violence. The Quakers, however, were just one social group, and when fear began to factor into the many reasons for the use of Africans as slaves, it made a great influence. Bacon’s Rebellion involved a mob of indentured servants, former criminals forced to work as laborers for their crimes, waging war with Native Americans and the Virginia government simultaneously. Although the rebellion was eventually put down, it made colonists unwilling to use indentured servants for fear of another uprising. This, along with improving social conditions in England making criminals for the use of indentured servants more scarce, led to a turn toward Africans as slaves. A decrease in the price of black slaves made them more accessible as well. 

As was mentioned earlier, a huge part of the idea of slavery in most people’s minds is the South. But what geographic factors led to an abundance of slaves in the Southern region of America? The biggest reason is that Southern land was better for the growing of cash crops, which plays slightly into the economic factor as well. In the Chesapeake area, tobacco was the main cash crop and a major export, even saving the Jamestown settlers’ lives. It was also a very labor-intensive crop, and the growing of tobacco required a large amount of laborers. While the prices for black slaves were high, plantation owners relied on indentured servants, and when prices on black slaves dropped simultaneously with numbers of indentured servants, black slaves replaced indentured servants as laborers. In the South Carolina area, rice functioned similarly as a major cash crop. The marshy, swampy land was perfect for growing rice, and like tobacco, it took a lot of labor to produce. Black slaves worked ankle-deep in the mud of the rice fields for hours on end. Additionally, the swamps were perfect for malaria. However black slaves had a certain measure of immunity to malaria, which made them perfect for the job in the minds of plantation owners. It also reinforced the idea that Africans were destined to be slaves from birth. It should be mentioned, however, that Africans were not only used as slaves in the South. Black slaves were also used in the North, but as Northern regions like the Massachusetts Bay area were more into trading than agriculture and the production of cash crops, black slaves were used more as household slaves, for which there was less of a demand.

Many of the economic factors encouraging the growth of slavery in the South have already been mentioned. The biggest factor was most likely the need for laborers in order to produce labor-intensive cash crops. Tobacco sold well in England, which quickly became addicted to what the king called “the noxious weed,” and all plantation owners needed to seal their path to wealth was cheap labor... and lots of it. Similarly, rice became a staple in many European countries. Another factor briefly mentioned was the decrease in the price of black slaves, making them more available. Previously, black slaves had been expensive and hard to get, the majority going to work on sugar plantations in the Caribbean.

In conclusion, many factors encouraging slavery in the South overlap between social, geographic, and social reasons, including a decrease in the number of indentured servants, a simultaneous increase in the availability of black African slaves, and the need for slaves to produce labor-intensive cash crops like rice and tobacco. And then, of course, there was people’s attitude toward slaves, seeing them as inferior and predestined to servitude. As America slowly grew in its own sense of individuality and freedom, slavery grew as well, its nature directly contradicting the feelings behind the coming revolution of the new country. Slavery is an excellent example of how a coin can have many sides, and even the noblest of causes can have a darker twist.