Role Of Oppression In Colonial America

Amanda Fuentes
Period 1

Land of Oppression
“Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught, will we realize we cannot eat money.” In this quote, it is saying that we are ruining the planet and all the life that comes with it, and only after we have destroyed it all will we wake up and see that money is not everything. During the time era of colonial America, the European settlers abused their power and used others to do their work for them. During this time of colonial America, there were many people who were being oppressed by the settlers from Europe. Since these groups of people were foreign to the new settlers, they used them for their own selfish gain.
Some who suffered oppression

from these European settlers were Indentured Servants. They had first arrived in America a decade after the following settlement of Jamestown. The idea for indentured servants was born for a need of cheap labor. The earliest settlers had realized that they had much land to take care of but no one to take care of it. Passage to the Colonies was expensive to all but the wealthy who could afford it. Knowing this, the Virginia Company created the system of indentured servitude in hopes to attract workers. Soon indentured servants had become vital to the colonial economy. A new life in the Americas offered a glimmer of hope for those in Europe who were without work. This shows why most immigrants who came from Europe to the American colonies arrived as indentured servants. These servants usually would work for four to seven years in exchange for board, room, passage, lodging, and freedom dues. Although the life of an indentured servant was restrictive and harsh, it was not slavery. There was laws that protected some of the indentured servants’ rights. However, their life was not easy. The punishments that were meted out to those who wronged, were even harsher than for those who were non-servants. Indentured servant’s contracts could be extended as a punishment for breaking a certain law. For example, running away, and in the case of female servants, becoming pregnant. Those who survived all the work and received their freedom package, historians argue that they were better off than most new immigrants that came freely to the country. Their contracts could have included at least 25 acres of land, a cow, new clothes, arms, and a year’s worth of corn.
Some servants would rise and become part of the colonial elite, however for the majority of them that actually survived the dangerous journey’s by sea and harsh conditions of the New World, their satisfaction was just a modest life, living free in the colonial economy. The first black Africans came to Virginia in 1619. Since no slave laws were in place at the time, they were initially treated the same as indentured servants, and they were given the exact same opportunities for freedom dues, just as whites. Although, slave laws were soon passed in Massachusetts in 1641 and Virginia in 1661, and any small chance at freedom that might have existed before for blacks were taken away. As the demands for labor grew and grew, so did the costs of the indentured servants. Many of the landowners also felt as though they were being threatened by newly freed servant’s demands for land. Soon, the colonial elite realized the issues of indentured servitude. Landowners then turned to African slaves as a more profitable and effective source of labor, and the shift from indentured servants to racial slavery had begun.
In the early 1600’s, there was a massive tide of emigration from Europe to North America. Each person and family having their own diverse reasons for crossing over, creating a new civilization on this newly found land. By the 1600’s, slavery had already been established in the America’s. Slavery throughout the years took different forms. Some slaves were respected and allowed to marry, own property. Others were not treated so kindly however. Indian tribes were pushed continuously further west and shuffled place to place on marches. One commonly known march is the Trail of Tears. With the rising of sugar plantations, slavery began changing and Europeans were using slaves to grow sugar. Portugal and Spain set up sugar plantations towards the eastern Atlantic and bought African slaves to work in these plantations from traders. Portugal and Spain had brought the plantation system with them when they founded their colonies in the America’s. First they had tried to enslave the Native American’s to work in fields and mines, but most Native Americans died either from overwork, or disease. The Spaniards began then looking for other sources of slave labor, including Asian slaves, Spanish slaves and black Christian slaves. However, there were still not nearly enough of any of these groups to meet the demand. Eventually, the Portuguese and Spanish enslaved Africans to provide labor. The Africans were enslaved for four reasons. They had no friends nor any family in the Americas that could help them escape or resist enslavement. Enslaved Africans were a permanent source of cheap labor. Many Africans had already worked on farms in their native lands. Lastly, Africans were immune to most of the European diseases.
As soon as the enslaved Africans arrived at the colonies, they were being sold for auction.

Most of them were forced to do hard labor in mines, while others were taken to large homes and they worked as servants. They were fed and housed poorly. There were many slaves who tried to resist slavery and run away. Sometimes the enslaved Africans would rebel. In order to prevent retaliation, the Spanish government passed slave codes and laws in order to regulate the treatment of the slaves. Some of the laws tried to soften harsh conditions the slaves had to face, however most of them were created to punish them and keep them in bondage. Over time, Europeans had associated slavery with black Africans. Having a dark skin tone eventually became a sign of inferiority to many Europeans. Slavery which was originally created in order to prove labor force, led to racism. The slave trade lasted for about 400 years. From as early as the 1500’s to the mid 1800’s. This contact between the Americas and Africa had also formed part of the Columbian Exchange . Africans suffered tremendously in slavery, being separated from their families, whipped, and

humiliated.
Most slaves were living on small plantations or large farms.

The goals of slave owners were to make their slaves dependent on them. Slaves were not allowed to learn to read or write, their movement and behavior was constantly restricted. There were many masters that took sexual liberties with enslaved women, and they would reward obedient slave behaviors with favors. Meanwhile, rebellious or misbehaved slaves were brutally punished. Strict hierarchy amongst the slaves made it less likely to conspire against their masters and helped keep them divided from one another. Slave marriages did not have any legal basis, however slaves did marry and have large families. Most of the slave owners did encourage this, but they wouldn’t hesitate to separate slave families for sale or

removal.
In conclusion, European settlers had pushed Native Americans away from their homelands and used slaves and indentured servants in order to take care of their newly acquired land. These Europeans were oppressing these three groups of people and treating them all under harsh circumstances.