Describe The Changes In The British American Colonies From 1600 To 1763

The British were motivated to explore North America so they could evangelize and share the glory of God, obtain wealth, and trump rival European nations. With the flow of British colonists into North America increasing, colonies started to flourish. Economies started to boom and there was a growing reliance on forced labor. The English became increasingly aware that coercible labor would be the primary method of maintaining a successful economy. From 1600 to 1763, interactions between Europe and the British American colonies shaped the labor systems of the colonies. A major change was the shift in the source of the workforce, but the reliance on forced labor stayed the same.

From 1600 to 1763, the source of forced labor changed in the British North American colonies. The Virginia Company developed the system

of indentured servitude to attract workers in the 1610’s. These indentured servants worked unpaid for an allotted time to remove the debt of their rite of passage to their masters. In the Chesapeake, the headright system masters earned more land with the more servants they imported. Both African and European indentured servants were allowed to pay for their freedom, and were then given a piece of land that would help them to survive and give them the right to vote.

With growing demand for labor came the increasing cost of indentured servants, whose four to seven years of labor would end. They would expand to the West, demanding land and creating their own lawless settlements. Bacon's Rebellion came to show landowners that white rebellious males posed a threat, and the event came to represent the threat indentured servitude had become. By 1763, landowners’ focus turned to African slaves for a number of reasons. The amount of land and demand for colonial raw materials and goods skyrocketed along with the developing plantation systems in the Chesapeake other southern colonies. These regions had enormous amounts of slaves; the southern colonies’ population was 30-60% slaves. Slaves were a more profitable source of labor since landowners did not have to pay them. Slaves were typically bound for life, versus the seven year cycle that indentured servants were bound to their masters. This proved to be a more efficient model, especially since slavery became legally perpetual. Slavery was extended through the generations, whereas indentured servants would eventually be

able to buy their own freedom. Furthermore, laws were passed to ensure that slaves’ rights would be limited and slavery would be legal. One such case is the Virginia Slave Code, which legalized punishment and torture of slaves. Landowners could force African slaves to work under abysmal conditions, such as in the case of Venture Smith. This African slave was kidnapped and sold into slavery, forced to perform strenuous work as early as the age of nine and had to serve several masters. Difficult tasks on plantations were left to African slaves because of their resistance to local diseases such as malaria and the steadily decreasing amounts and willingness of indentured servants.