Notes on Slavery in the USA

Slavery The development of slavery The first slaves to reach the mainland colonies arrived in Virginia as early as 1619. Their numbers at first grew very slowly: even in the 1670s Virginia's slave population did not exceed 2,000. Nor at first were slaves geographically concentrated: New York City in the 1690s had proportionately as many as Virginia. In the early 18th Century the importation of slaves rose rapidly and slavery took firmer roots. Slavery had a number …

…Declaration of Independence, claiming that a free competitive order meant in practice the law of the jungle and the exploitation of the weak, whereas the slave system provided for the social well-being of all. Another leading argument was that slave-owners were in fact paternalistic towards their slaves. Inferior blacks were better off as slaves than working freely in Northern factories or freed in Haiti or Africa. Indeed slavery helped to civilise and Christianise the race.