Question

Explain the growth of slavery in the southern colonies.

Answer 1

• The history and growth of slavery in colonial America were tied to the rise of land cultivation, and particularly the boom in the production of rice (in the Carolinas).
• High European demand for cash crops (sugar, and rice).
• Difficulty in enslaving Natives, and lack of indentured servants were the reasons for the growth of slavery.
• By 1840, cotton produced in the American South earned more money than all other U.S. exports combined.
• White Southerners came to believe that cotton could be grown with slave labour.
• Over time, many took for granted that their prosperity, even their way of life, was inseparable from African slavery.
• Because the climate and soil of the South were suitable for the cultivation of commercial (plantation) crops such as tobacco, rice, and indigo, slavery developed in the southern colonies on a much larger scale than in the northern colonies.
• The latter's labour needs were met primarily through the use of Europeans.