why was slavery started?

Answer 1

Free labor. Lazy white people

Answer 2

Slavery goes all the way back to the early chapters of the Bible and is well established in Ancient Egype, Greece and Rome, too. It was a way for warriors to take the ultimate prize when they defeated their foes....they took their foes and made them work as slaves in the most menial jobs.

Slavery was a way to make debtors work their way out of debt...though that happened less and less as time went on.

Slavery was a way of one person becoming more powerful at the hands of many, many other people.

Why did slavery come to America? Initially it was a way for poor white people to pay their way out of debt in Europe by becoming indentured servants. Only there weren't enough of debtors to go around, so the work wasn't being done at the pace desired. To drive the new economy's growth, the Brits and Spaniards got into the slave trade. They made money and their costs were low. Once the ship was bought and provisioned, the overhead was low. Travel across the Atlantic with a ship full of kidnapped people, sell them for a high price, make a large profit...and repeat. The rich get richer. The economy grows. The reason for continuing becomes stronger and stronger. Slaves didn't need wages, but they built their own houses and grew their own food. They bred their own replacements. Money, as they say, really is the root of all this evil.

Answer 3

i really don't know how to answer why it was started. slavery has been around forever. it did not originate in america. i think i that because americans may have been the first to realize how wrong it was, and fought state against state, family against family, that this country is the one most noted for having held slaves. this country made it become an issue.
having said that, maybe it was started because an area was defeated by another. the victors wanted to humiliate the defeated, and at the same time use them as free labor. that is what slavery is, free labor. every culture on the globe has exploited other cultures, not necessarily of a different race. it was seen as domination of a defeated foe. the tides could have turned in either direction. i feel i've not really answered your question, but how can anyone explain the cruelty of others?

Answer 4

Slavery existed long before the US and Europe were enslaving the Africans. Slavery existed in across the world, but back then people were enslaving those of the same skin colour as well as those who were different. Slavery was a way of showing the societal hierarchy: The more slaves you have, the better off you are. I get really annoyed at people who whine about the slavery that existed in America while refusing to look back and see that the black slaves brought to America were purchased from black African tribesman who had been using them as slaves. Slavery still exists in Africa as bad as it ever was, it will never go away.

Answer 5

sadly this isn't just a black and white issue. What is even more sad is how many people are shallow enought to think it has to do with race...

Slavery has been going on from the beginning of civilization.

Usually a tribe would have a lower class that would work for nothing but shelter and food. That evolved and soon conquering nations would use their captors as slaves...

The Egyptians used the Jews as slaves, most African tribes had slaves...and when slavery came to America the Africans would sell their slaves to the portuguese and Spanish traders to be used by Spain in South America...

The history goes on...

The reason is that greed causes a person to live off others labors. Today we have illegal immigrants doing the work for far less than they are worth...

Answer 6

Slavery is as old as human kind and was started as a form of work for food and housing, and just snowballed into opression... Every race and culture has experienced slavery from Jews to Irish to Blacks, It is reported that even today there are over 25 million, that is right 25 million, men women and children are subject to slavery today, This figure was Provide by Amnesty International In a News Week Report from Last Year

Answer 7

Not sure you had this answer yet, but I teach 4th grade and that's when kiddlings learn about important questions like these.

Anyway, to the point: Slavery started here in America (note I did not mention anywhere else, just the US) during the 1620's. That's around the time of the Jamestown settlement. England agreed to the Jamestown settlement IF it could prove to be profitable.

It took a while, but John Rolfe thought the natives were on to something with tobacco, and he got the settlers to start growing it. Only problem was, these settlers were fat, rich white men who were not used to an honest day's "work." They liked the thought of money, and other people earning it for them.

They didn't like the thought of sweating more than they had to, so England sent them a ship of slaves they "found" from Africa. They started out to be indentured servants, meaning they voluntarily became servants, and after a certain time their "debt" could be paid off via their years of "free" labor. However, the Africans owed England nothing, so they became slaves.

In my humble teacher opinion, that sucked. But that's history UNfortunately... good question! Hope I helped.

Answer 8

Actually, slavery as we know it (Europeans enslaving Africans) wasn't the first example of people putting others into slavery. Warring nations have been doing it for years where the "winning" nation/tribe takes the "losers" under their control. It's in the Bible quite a bit....but the difference is that slavery was never generational until the 17th century. If someone who was a slave had a child, that child would never be a slave. They were free.

Kind of mind blowing...isn't it?

Answer 9

Slavery has been around forever, and WAY more races other than blacks have been enslaved, (including my people american-indian) I am honestly sick and tired of this white black thing. First of all it's not like white people came and caught slaves, they bought them from their own people. Secondly, there were some slave owners who were terrible to their slaves (Just like any other circumstance concerning slavery)., Then there where some who took care of their slaves, and fed them, and taught them how to read, and treated them as if they were their own family. Honestly, if slavery had never happened more than half of the African -American population would still be in Africa. Now answer a question for me..... Would you rather be here or there???

Answer 10

What is slavery?
Aren't we all slaves?
Some with more the other with less rights!
Slavery started since people started living. It was more obvious when societies were organized!
In some societies, they had the guts to admit they had legalized slavery!
In Athens of the classical times, people would prefer to be slaves in Athens, than free in other places, and definitely not even dead in the barbarian regions! Slaves in Athens had more rights that we now have!

Answer 11

Slavery was started because the white men heard that there were strong people in Africa who were good for labor. The white families needed someone to do things on there farm so they went to Africa and brought the Africans here.Old africans who were not strong enough to pick cotton or fetch pails of water and stuff like that were used to look after the white children, kind off a none paying babysitting job.