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Slavery In Virginia

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Slavery has been around for centuries, however, in the late 1600’s it took a dangerous turn. The transatlantic slave trade started with the transfer of Africans from their home villages to the European colonies in the Americas. Many European countries participated, including England, France, Spain, and the Netherlands. Before the arrival of these Europeans, many African empires had formed, and with them trade routes. The Europeans capitalized on these routes, using them to take and transfer Africans from across the continent. From there, a dangerous and sickening journey began for the Africans, as they were brought across the ocean to the European colonies as slaves. This marked the true beginning of building the United States, as the most …show more content…
The British colony in Virginia was highly successful, being one of the richest colonies in North America, however, this only came to be because of slaves. Virginia was home to many tobacco fields, and despite this, the colony struggled. For the first 9 years, they battled to survive, with many of them dying from starvation. When England first became involved in the slave trade, many slaves were sent to Virginia to help save the colonists. The slaves were wanted for the difficult manual labor that was required from the tobacco fields. Although the British could work the fields, they claimed they couldn't because it was too much work. Instead, they believed that Africans should because they were “used to the climate”. This way of thinking is part of the justification used by Europeans when discussing the morality of the slave trade. Because of the hard work of the slaves, Virginia began to boom, with hundreds of people heading there to get in on the action. By 1740, ninety percent of Virginia’s population were slaves. The slaves were responsible for growing, inspecting, producing, curing, and shipping tobacco. All of which was needed to make Virginia a successful, wealthy colony and future …show more content…
In 1775 the British offered a deal to slaves, offering them freedom in exchange for their help in the war. 60,000 slaves joined in an attempt to gain freedom. However, for many, this hope quickly diminished as the American colonists provided no incentive or reward to slaves who joined the fight. Despite this, around 5000 slaves did join the American efforts. After the war ended in 1783 all slaves who were freed by the British were once again slaves, causing all hope to end. While the Americans preached freedom, they ignored the freedom of the slaves. Slaves and slavery are fundamental to American society, however, they are always the forgotten group. Despite the help from Africans in the revolution, they were given no reward and conditions for slaves worsened with the development of cotton as a cash crop. Slavery is the foundation of America, yet throughout its history it has been ignored and forgotten, the first example being the revolution itself. Slavery played an integral role in every British colony and continued to play an important role after the founding of America. Today remnants of slavery and the justification for it can be found all over the country, including in the political and societal atmospheres. The United States was built by slavery, and it is important to always remember

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