What prompted slavery in America?

Question

Where there any "white" slaves?

If none, why?

Were they compensated for the work?

What, or how much was it?

Answer 1

1. What prompted slavery in America?

Basically, our merchants and traders came to Africa, wanting to trade goods with something in another country. African (i think it was kings or the richer people) kings traded lower class people for goods like rum and gold and weapons. Ameican traders came back to America with "slaves".

2. Where there any white slaves?

I don't think so.

3. If none, why?

People in America didn't trust those of a different color and thought they weren't as superior as themselves were. It was racist and thought they deserved the hardest work of all.

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

The need for work to be done is what prompted slavery. Think about it; if nobody had ever told you better, wouldn't you like to have somebody to do all your chores? Never have to clean the apartment again! But yea, back then, they just needed somebody to do lots of work for next to nothing. By the way, slaves were paid. Everybodys says they had it so bad, but they got free food and housing in a time when it cost a ton to move to America. Also, there were lots of white slaves. They were usually called indentured servants. These were people who couldn't afford the trip to America; they were pretty much slaves for three or four years, at which time they were allowed to go free (usually). Black slaves weren't allowed to go free because they were bought and paid for like property, which they technically were.

Answer 3

When the colonies were 1st settled, they needed more workers, and black slaves were too expensive, so the landowners brought over indentured white servants who would work work for 5-7 yrs until their debt was paid for passage to the new world. Due to the "head right" system, any man who paid an indentured servant's passage over got 50 acres.
After Bacon's rebellion which was lead by a man and followed by other present/post indentured servants who ravaged plantations in the Chesapeake region because they were upset because of the lack of available land, the plantation owners started looking for less troublesome labor, so they took to black slaves like flies to honey.
After the introduction of this new labor force, indentured servants became less in # (also because the economy was picking up in England, there were more jobs, and less people looking to leave the poverty), and black slaves were mostly the only used labor force.
At one point, the slaves in South Carolina outnumbered the other inhabitants.

i hope that answers your question.

Answer 4

ECONOMICS. A LARGE LABOR FORCE WAS NEEDED AND THERE WERE FEW VOLUNTEERS.

THERE WERE MANY WHITE SLAVES - CALLED INDENTURED SERVANTS.

SLAVERY WAS WELL ON THE WAY TO BEING MADE ILLEGAL WHEN THE COTTON GIN WAS INVENTED. THIS CREATED A NEW BOOM AND THE DEMAND FOR SLAVES INCREASED TREMENDOUSLY. ECONOMICS AGAIN - WE ARE ALL IMPACTED BY SUPPLY AND DEMAND, GREED, AND OUR OWN IGNORANCE.

Just a few thoughts. The issues are complicated but make for fascinating reading. The making of America took almost two centuries before we became an independent country. It was not a smooth ride.

Answer 5

Slavery came with the colonists before the U.S. was a country and it just sort of stuck around as a matter of course.

Anyone with any degree of non-white geneology, even if they looked white, were not considered white. This held true until long after Abe Lincoln sign the Emancipation Proclaimation.

Answer 6

Greed mostly-It was cheaper to "own" the help than pay wages-- and the workers couldn't quit if they didn't like it.

Indentured servants is the same as slaves, the person sells themselves for period of time. Many English did this to get here.

Slavery is still practiced and legal in Saudi Arabia and some other middle east and African Countries....

Answer 7

Why pay a daily or hourly rate for hard labor when you can pay one up-front cost and amortize it over the life of your worker? Simple economics.

Whether there were white slaves or not depends on your definition of slave. Some would argue that the slave owners were 'slaves' to their own bigotry. And by that definition, among others, we still have slaves today.

Answer 8

whites were called indentured servants. which means they could buy out of their situation. but that was almost impossible to do as the owner would charge him for food and lodging and give them very little pay. most had to run away to escape their bondage.
there were some Indians that were placed into slavery.

Answer 9

lazy rich people eventhough they weren't slaves when slaves were freed there were groups of people who had lower wages one of those groups was the Irish.

Answer 10

lazieness