America's Part in the Slave Trade
Slavery in America is traditionallyassociated with the southern colonies-Virginia, Maryland, the Carolinas and Georgia. It should not be forgotten however, that the heart of the slave trade lay in New England at one time. The numbers prove this tradition to show the majority of truth however for by 1800, the slave states had 4 million slaves, vastly outnumbering the slaves in the north and even outnumbering the whites in South Carolina. The cooler climate and rocky soil of the Northern and Middle colonies made it hard for most farmers there to earn large profits. The slaves in these colonies worked as skilled and unskilled laborers in factories, homes, and shipyards and on fishing and trading ships.
Dusing the mid-1600's, the colonies began to pass laws called slave codes. These codes basicallygave the whites a right to treat the slaves even more harshly than they were used to. Numberous slaves protested agaisnt their condition. They began to join together and see how far they had come from their homes in Africa and how their culture was disappearing. To try and save the bleak hope of their race, many of the slaves revolted. The prohibition against the purchase of negroes was repealed in 1750. Slavery and racial prejudice were twin aspects of the general debasement of the African in the New World.
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