Essay On Servitude To Slavery

In between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there was a change made in the most common form of forced labor. The transition from servitude to slavery was a slow one, that developed over time as more laws were created to establish the rules of slavery. These rules are what created the distinction of races and racism, which is still prevalent in today’s society. There were many factors that went into the transition from servitude to slavery but one of the most prominent is the economic benefits that came from slavery.

During the seventeenth century indentured servants were a sounder investment, and posed less of a risk. Due to the many diseases and the malnutrition of these servants many didn’t live long enough to serve their entire seven years. Servants were also much less being a third, to one half the price of slaves. However, this changed once the Virginia Company discovered tobacco. The “growing prosperity” lead to an increase in the labor force. Now that they were profiting and getting a return on their investments it made more sense to invest more. The work load was also larger and required more people to take care of the crops of tobacco that was growing

everywhere. Around this same time the number of servants was increasing and so the most logical step to follow was to fall back onto slaves. Slaves were convenient because they were self-replenishing. If a slave owner raped one of the women her child would also become a slave as mandated in the Virginia Laws. It was a better investment to let the pregnant, either by the slave owner or another slave, to raise her child out of infancy because as a young adult they could be either used on the plantation of their mother or sold for a profit. Thus actually making the slave owner more money than he potentially would have made from the work of the slave alone.
Many of the Virginia Laws were created during the late seventeenth century as a way of determining what was allowed when it came to owning another person.

The laws being created were made to justify the actions of the slave owners. When a problem arose, they simply created their own solution, despite whether or not it was right. Slavery became more popular because it was convenient for slave owners. It became the more beneficial economic choice for the prospering tobacco farmers. The idea of owning another person and profiting of their work was not a new idea that came only with settlers and the African people. Slavery began as early as the Egyptians and Jewish people that they enslaved. The benefits of having slaves over indentured servants was not a race issue but simply one of

convenience.