Question

Explain the raise of slavery in the cheasapeake

Answer 1

The Chesapeake region included Virginia.Jamestown and Maryland was the place where successful settlement established for the first time 1607.Colonies that developed in these regions developed an agricuktural system that mostly revolved around tobacco and then diversification took place to include cotton and indigo.It was during the late 17th century that intensive labor was required for the development of tobacco cultivation in the Chesapeake region.For this ,the farmers in Chesapeake went on to hire indentured servants that included men and women from England.England sold their labor for five to seven years to Chesapeake and in exchange they got free passage to the American colonie so that they could harvest the tobacco crops. But it was by the 1680s that the tobacco prices began to fluctuate and there occured growing scarcity of land in the region.As a result of this, indentured servants were not willing to work in the tobacco fileds in Chesapeake.With the rise in the scarcity of indentured servants,the price of the labor contracts went on to increase.This made Chesapeake farmers look for other alternatives i.e to hire labor at cheaper prices.As a result, the farmers began to import African slaves as they fulfilled the demand for cheap labor.From investment point of view,the African chattel slavery was a very expensive investment than white indentured servitude but the positive point was that a lifetime service of free labor was guaranteed.With an increasing demand for Chesapeake cash crops,the planters began to increase their investment in the Atlantic slave trade.This is how the raise of slavery in the Chesapeake.