Enslaved Peoples in Colonial America

Analysis

Objective What claims can you make about enslaved peoples in Colonial America?

Brain Dump: The following activity reviews enslaved peoples in Colonial America. To help you prepare
for this task, in the table below list 5 things you’ve learned about slavery in America in the past.

Slavery in America

Historical Context - Part 1 Slavery in the 13 Colonies: Review the image below, and use it to answer the analysis
questions that follow.
Historical Context - Part 1 - Analysis Questions:

1) Between 1660 and 1740, which state saw the largest growth in the number of slaves?

2) Which state had the most slaves in 1660?

3) Which state had the most slaves in 1740?

4) Which were the first three states to legalize slavery?

5) According to the graph on the lower left hand corner of the image above, which year saw the
biggest change in growth of African Americans in the American colonies?

Historical Context - Part 2 Slavery in the 13 Colonies: Review the timeline below and answer the four analysis
questions that follow.
 Timeline of Slavery in Colonial America 1600 - 1705
Compiled using: Ferris State University Timeline | PBS Slavery in America | Colonial Williamsburg - Lesson

1612 The first commercial tobacco crop is raised in Jamestown, Virginia.

1619 Jamestown, Virginia 20 captive Africans are sold into slavery -

1626 Dutch West India Company imports 11 black male slaves into New Netherlands.

1636 First colonial slave trading ship is built in Massachusetts.

1640 When three runaway indentured servants were captured, the General Court of Colonial Virginia gave the
white servants additional years to serve while John Punch, a black man, was sentenced to servitude for
life. Punch was the first African in Virginia to be enslaved for life.

1639 / 1640 The General Assembly of Virginia specifically excludes

1641 New Netherlands law forbids residents from harboring or feeding runaway slaves.

Massachusetts is the first state to legalize slavery.

1642 Black women are deemed tithables (taxable),

1652 Rhode Island passed laws restricting slavery and forbidding

1662 The General Assembly of Virginia decides that any child born to an
enslaved woman will also be a slave.

1664 The State of Maryland mandates lifelong servitude for all black slaves. New York, New Jersey, the
Carolinas, and Virginia all pass similar laws.

1669 Virginia: An act about the "casual killing of slaves" says that if a slave dies while resisting his master, the
act will not be presumed to have occurred with “prepensed malice.”

1676 Bacon’s Rebellion in Virginia saw poor whites and blacks fighting side by side, with the government’s
response hastening the transition to black slavery and away from indentured servitude.

1694 Rice Cultivation in the Carolinas begins, dramatically increasing the demand for slaves.

1703 Connecticut assigns the punishment of whipping to any slaves who disturb the peace or assault whites.

Rhode Island makes it illegal for blacks and Indians to walk at night without passes.

1705 Virginia Slave codes decree that all black, mulatto, and Indian slaves are considered real property -
specifically, slaves are now legally considered as real estate. The laws forbids slaves and free colored
peoples from physically assaulting white persons, and denies slaves the right to bear arms or move abroad
without written permission, etc. Many other states follow and pass similar laws over the next 50 years.
Historical Context - Part 2 - Analysis Questions:

1) When does John Punch become the first person to be enslaved for life?
 2) When do states pass a law that mandates lifelong servitude for black slaves?

a) What does the distinction of “black slaves” tell you about the institution of slavery?

3) What patterns, if any, do you notice on the restriction of freedoms of black slaves between 1640 and 1705?

4) Based on this timeline, what are two claims you can make about slavery in Colonial America?

Primary Source Document Analysis - Part 1: Analyze the primary source document below by
answering the questions below the document.
 From: Transcript from Adolph Philipse Probate Inventory 12 Feb. 1750
Original—New York Public Library Manuscript Collection

Note: In this document, the term “VIZ” stands for videlicet, which means "that is" or "namely".

Analysis Questions:

1) Sourcing: What is the title of this list? Why do you think it was created?

2) Close Reading: How are the slaves on this list classified (what categories are they divided into)?

3) Contextualization: What does the inclusion of slaves on this list tell you about how slaves were viewed by
colonists?

Primary Source Document Analysis - Part 2: Review either primary source document A or B below. When
you are done reviewing your document, turn to the back and answer the analysis questions for your document. Be
prepared to share your findings with a partner.
Primary Source Document A
May 5, 1738.

Ran away from the Subscriber's home on Sapponic, in Prince George County, Maryland - 14 or 15
Weeks ago, a Mulatto Man Slave, named Tom, 25 Years old, about 5 feet 8 or 9 Inches high, thin faced,
and bushy hair, if not cut off; he is very likely to grin when he speaks, or is spoken to; had on an old
dark thick twilled coat, with plain yellow metal buttons;

Has been several times captured, and escaped again before he could be delivered to the master whom
unto he belonged; and the last time shackled, handcuffed, and an iron collar about his neck, with
prongs, and to some of them links.

Whoever will deliver him to me, in Charles-City County, shall have a Reward of gold coins, besides
what the law allows; and if brought from any great Distance a farther reward suitable to the Trouble,

by John Stith

Note: It is suspected he will seek to escape on Board some Vessel

Primary Source Document B

I am now to acquaint you that very lately we have had a very wicked and barbarous plot of the negroes
with a design to destroy all of the white people in the country and then to take control of Charles town
in full body but it pleased God it was discovered and many of them taken prisoners and some burnt and
some hanged and some banished.

I think it proper for you to tell Mr. Percivall at home that his slaves was the principle rouges and tis my
opinion his only way will be to sell them out singly or else I am doubtful his interest in slaves will come
to little for want of strict management since work does not agree with them. Their plot was to get to St.
Augustine and would have got a creek fellow to have been their pilot down the river but the Savanna
militia found the negroes half starved...

Analysis Questions Document A:

1) Sourcing: When was this document written?

3) Close Reading: What does this document tell you about how black slaves resisted in Colonial America?

Analysis Questions Document B:

1) Sourcing: When was this document written?

2) Close Reading: What happened to the slaves who tried to organize a revolt? Were they successful? Cite
textual evidence to support your claims.

3) Close Reading: What does this document tell you about how black slaves resisted in Colonial America?

Compare and Share: Share your document and your answer to the last analysis question with a partner who read a
different document. After you are done sharing, answer the following analysis question:

After reviewing a second primary source document, what else can you now claim about how black slaves resisted
in Colonial America?

Enslaved Peoples in Colonial America

Analysis What claims can you make about enslaved peoples in Colonial America?
Task

Directions: Using information from the documents above, you will now complete the task below.

Task: Using the information from the document above, and your knowledge of US History, respond to the prompt
below in ONE paragraph explain the following:

● To what extent did the enslavement of black people grow between 1619 and 1705 in Colonial America?
● How did colonists view enslaved peoples?
 ● How did enslaved people resist the institution of slavery?

Use evidence from at least two of the documents above to support your claims.

In developing your answer be sure to keep these general definitions in mind:

● explain means “to make plain or understandable; to give reasons for or causes of; to show the logical
development or relationships of”