Written By BLADE RUNNER [AMiTECH]

                         Essay on Slavery

     Slavery was caused by economic factors of the english

settlers in the late 17th century. Colonists continually tried to

allure laborers to the colony. The headright system was to give

the indentured servant, a method of becoming independent after a

number of years of service. Slavery was caused by economic

reasons. Colonists chiefly relied on Indentured Servitude,

inorder to facilitate their need for labor. The decreasing

population combined with a need for a labor force, led colonists

to believe that African slaves were the most efficient way to

acquire a labor force that would satisfy their needs.

     Before the 1680's, Indentured Servitude was the primary

source of labor in the newly developed colonies. After the

1680's, the population of the Indentured Servants decreased,

exponentially. Their were a number of different reasons why the

population of Indentured Servents had decreased. The indentured

servents were running away from their temporary masters, to find

a job where he could become more independent.  Indentured

servents were also dying of many diseases, which was caused by

harsh conditions. The immigration of servents thus declined,

becuase of the people in England being informed of the  harsh

treatment in the colonies. The society was where the land was

easy to find, while the labor was most scarce. Indentured

servitude, was a form of labor which was declining, and the need

for labor increased rapidly.

     In the 1600's, when tobacco was founded by John Rolfe,

tobacco became the main source of income for most of the
colonists. The economic prosperity of the colonies was primarily

dependent on the amount of tobacco produced. The growing of

tobacco, needed a large amount of land, with a large stable work

force. The increased demand for a large, stable work force 

combined with the availability of African slaves, led to the use

of slavery in the colonies. During the late 17th century, the

indentured servants were running away from their masters farms,

if a slave had run away from their master's farms, then the slave

would be easier to discern because of the color of his skin.

To the planter, slavery was the ideal form of labor that would be

most beneficial to productivity of his crop.

     Planters had an abundance of land and a shortage of labor.

This relationship, made the amount of tobacco directly

proportional to the number of slaves that the planter owned.

Slavery was the backbone of the prosperity of the colonies.

A major factor in the consideration of slaves on plantation, is

the flux of the land. Tobacco was the major crop of the 17th

century, and tobacco is a plant that exhausts nutrients from the

soil, which led to the rotation of crops, inorder to replenish

the crops. The planter needed to educate his workers on certain

agricultural techniques inorder to know how to make the land most

productive.  With a permanent work force, such as slaves, the

slaves would only require to be educated once, instead of the

planters having to re-educate indentured servants every X number

of years. The African slaves also had other characteristics that

enticed colonists to use them as a labor force. 

The African slaves were immune to malaria, which resisted them

from disease. The africans also were subsistence farmers in

africa, thus, they had a tradition of farming, and essential

agricultural skills.

     Slavery was a course in history, where it was opportune for

the colonists to use slavery as a labor force. The decline in

population of indentured servants exacerbated the situation, as

time progressed, slavery became more and more imminent.

Morality was not taken into consideration, because of the

settlers were only viewing slavery from a economic view, rather

than a humanitarian point of view. The introduction of slavery

into the colonies can be summarize with a cliche of the settlers

being "at the right place at the right time".