Chesapeake Slavery Essay

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Slavery was mainly used to support tobacco plantations in the Chesapeake Bay. Malnutrition, disease, and death were prevalent in the Chesapeake. Slaves were a cheap and an abundant resource, which could be easily replaced at any time. The Chesapeake took advantage of the use of black slaves just as many other parts of the world would have at the time. Chesapeake colonies of Virginia and Maryland were settled in the early 17th century. Life for the first colonists was extremely difficult and many colonies failed to survive. Colonists first thought to use the natives as slaves. Colonists decided not to enslave the Native Americans because they proved to be too difficult to combat. Another reason Native American men made bad slaves was becauseit Plantation owners could treat their slaves in any way they pleased no matter how cruel. Many colonists saw the Africans as savages that were only meant to serve because the African empire was falling apart so they seemed to be weak and narrow minded. The slave traders that went to Africa thought they were some kind of devil worshipers because of their rituals, religion and skin color. It was thought that Africans were biblically cursed, because of their darker skin color. As a result of the fear that the Africans instilled in the colonists, laws were made to take away any slave rights. The laws were eventually given the name of the Slave Codes which removed any of the rights Africans had, and further restricted Africans from any rights. The code stated that slaves were prohibited from owning property, assembling in large groups, marriage, and leaving the plantations without direct permission from their “owner”. If a slave ran away the slave owner had the right to do whatever he wanted to do to that slave. Slaves that had previously been freed were not allowed to vote, hit a white person, or own

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