Posted on 02/26/2019 4:04:41 PM PST by kathsua
The initial forced labor in the British North American colonies involved indentured servants who served a limited amount of time and were then freed. Many whites volunteered to serve a period of time in exchange for funds to pay for their trip to North America. Although these indentured servants were only temporary slaves, they were slaves in every sense of the word. Owners could mistreat them and even choose their sexual partners. Use of indentured servants continued through April, 1775, when prominent Virginia planterGeorge Washington advertised a rewatd for the teturn of 8 white 2 black runaways. s The Africans and many Irish were forced to travel to the British colonies. Irish were sometimes sentenced to "transportation to America" for illegal acts. Over 300,000 Irish were sent to North America and the West Indies as slaves. . Thousands of children from London streets were rounded up and sent to the Americas.
Most indentured servants were white, particularly Irish, but some were Africans like Anthony Johnson who like white indentured servants was given some land after being freed. Johnson used indentured servants on his land.
Later when a decision was made to allow people to be held as permanent slaves, only Africans could be permanent slaves because they were foreigners. The law didn't allow British subjects to be permanent slaves. However, initially black children of indentured servants could be treated as permanent slaves because the mother's status as free or nor free determined the child's status. If the mother was a slave the child woul be a slave. This practice differed from the traditional practice of having the father's social status determine the child's status. A white slave child would be considered an indentured servant. A black slave child would become a permanent slave.
By the time permanent slavery began whites and blacks had been having relationships for years and produced children of mixed ancestry. Some plantation owners forced white female indentured servants to mate with black men so the children would become permanent slaves. This practice increased the portion of the slave population that had European [white] genes as well as African [black] genes. The slave population received additional white DNA from slave owners and overseers.
The relationships among those of mixed ancestry and between those with mixed ancestry and whites were producing children who could " pass for white " in the 18th Century. Some with a slightly dark complexion might have claimed to be of North American or Mediterranean ancestry to gain acceptance as whites.
Later when a decision was made to allow people to be held as permanent slaves, only Africans could be permanent slaves because they were foreigners. The law didn't allow British subjects to be permanent slaves. However, initially black children of indentured servants could be treated as permanent slaves because the mother's status as free or nor free determined the child's status. If the mother was a slave the child woul be a slave. This practice differed from the traditional practice of having the father's social status determine the child's status. A white slave child would be considered an indentured servant. A black slave child would become a permanent slave.
By the time permanent slavery began whites and blacks had been having relationships for years and produced children of mixed ancestry. Some plantation owners forced white female indentured servants to mate with black men so the children would become permanent slaves. This practice increased the portion of the slave population that had European [white] genes as well as African [black] genes. The slave population received additional white DNA from slave owners and overseers.
The relationships among those of mixed ancestry and between those with mixed ancestry and whites were producing children who could " pass for white " in the 18th Century. Some with a slightly dark complexion might have claimed to be of North American or Mediterranean ancestry to gain acceptance as whites.
The strange case of Jane / Alexina Morrison demonstrates that slavery wasn't necessarily about color. According to the slave trader who sold her in Louisiana the blonde haired blue-eyed young woman he called "Jane" was born a slave. The woman who called herself "Alexina" sued him for kidnapping her after she escaped from him. The case bounced around the Louisiana courts just before the Civil War with juries siding with the woman and the courts with the slave trader. It apparently is still technically before the courts. Regardless of which person was telling the truth, the fact that the courts even considered the possibility of Morrison being a slave demonstrates that white slaves were a part of southern slavery by the start of the Civil War. Some of the escaped slaves whose narratives were published before the Civil War mentioned having seen white slaves. Harpet's Weekly in January carried a picture of slaves recently freed by the Union armywho were white.
The US imported about 400,000 slaves, total.
Brazil imported 4 million.
Total number of slaves brought to new world from Africa was around 10 million.
And the slave trade from Africa was performed by Muslims from the middle east and sold the newly captured slaves to English ship owners for transportation to the colonies in the Caribbean, South, Central, and North America.
bkmk
Back in high school my son had to write a persuasive paper. He is an overachiever, so he figured he should go against conventional thought in order to be able to really persuade the teacher and his classmates.
He wrote about why slavery was good for America, and how it ended was bad.
I thought he was nuts. But after he did all of the research he was able to put forth some interesting points. (With the huge disclaimer that of course, slavery is wrong.)
As you posted, and I didn't know until he wrote his paper, it was pretty early on that America (maybe even while still colonies???) that we outlawed importing slaves. So that meant the owners took care of their slaves, allowed them to have families (for more slaves), etc. The average life span of a slave was long compared to those elsewhere in the world.
And I forget exactly how he described things, but the slaves got a raw deal after the Civil War. He made some arguments that it would have died on it's own in a bit more time, and with better treatment of the former slaves.
Anyway - I learned a lot. He got an “A”.
How clever, tangential, obtuse and incorrect, your citing of a “relationship” with a “sister-in-law”. For indeed Martha Wayles Skelton had NO full sisters.... ONLY half sisters.
And IF you are referring to Thomas’s half sisters in law Sarah Wayles or Elizabeth Eppes or Tabitha Skipwith or Anne Skipwith- you might wish to define or expand just what those “relationships” were, if there is any historical record of it.
As regards the half breed— the true certified genetic tracking of DNA proves Only that “A” male Jefferson had sexual relations with Sally Hemings leading to a child. This is ALL that has been able to be claimed with any accuracy. Certainly not what the agenda driven claimants were looking for, and also the said accuracy and history, they studiously avoid in their persistence in falsehood.
If you wish to read a seriously excellent book on the subject of the white slaves/lifetime indentured servants in the Colonies and elsewhere in the New World,in fact long before the African import trade began (some 60 years before)- you might want to look into the very well researched book “White Cargo”. The colonies were peopled by indentured servants, whose lives were valued far less than a later owned slave (black or white) because the indentured servants could survive their contract, and thus— they were worked often to death. This is a fact customarily overlookedby the self righteous rewriters of history. A slave who was owned was an investment- to be taken care of to last a long time to justify the serious expense of ownership.
“White Cargo” https://www.amazon.com/White-Cargo-Forgotten-History-Britains/dp/0814742963
bump for later.
I read that another 50,000 slaves in the Caribbean were later brought to the US, making the total about 450,000.
But 350,000 mostly white Union soldiers died in the Civil War to free those slaves, with another 1,000,000 or so being seriously injured.
I think that equates to reparations.
Plus, as I said on another thread, $3 Trillion in entitlements has already been spent - and wasted - in Great Society, etc. payments.....double reparsations - already paid.......
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