The advantage of African slaves over indentured
servants was that they could be purchased outright for life.
Moreover, the Africans had no contacts in the European capitals
through which they could bring pressure to bear against the
abuses of the plantation masters. In fact, African slaves really
had no rights which the master was obliged to respect. The supply
of African labor seemed to be endless, and many masters found it
cheaper to overwork a slave and to replace him when he died,
rather than take care of him while he lived. In short, the
plantation experience was a brutalizing one.
In the beginning, the major plantation crop had been tobacco, It
could be grown efficiently on small plantations of twenty or
thirty acres. The tobacco plant needed constant, careful
attention throughout the season, and this meant that the number
of raw, unskilled laborers that was needed was relatively small.
However, when the new colony of Virginia entered the tobacco
field in the early seventeenth century, it was able to produce
larger quantities of tobacco at a lower price. The Caribbean
islands were hit by a severe economic depression.
Pages:
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67