The Plantation System
Driving Question: How was slavery in the Atlantic plantation system different from earlier forms of slavery?
While the concept of slavery was certainly not new—slavery has existed in various forms throughout much of human history—the transatlantic slave trade and the plantation system it supported were distinct in terms of their scale, organization, and racialized nature. The more than 12 million enslaved Africans who were forcibly transported to the Americas over the course of several centuries were treated literally as legal property, and the transatlantic slave trade was accompanied by the development of racial theories and ideologies that sought to justify the enslavement of Africans based on perceived racial hierarchies. This racialization of slavery contributed to the long-lasting impact of racism in the Americas.
- Understand and critique the motives and justifications for the transatlantic slave trade.
- Evaluate how conceptions of race affected communities and labor systems.
- Use the historical thinking practice of continuity and change over time to assess how the first global age transformed communities, networks, and production and distribution.
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What was the legal status of enslaved people of African descent in the Americas?
- How did this legal status impact enslaved people’s experiences?
- What information does the advertisement announcing the escape of an enslaved person in Jamaica give us about the person named York?
- How did laws and beliefs around race impact enslaved people and free people of color?
- What information do the articles from the French Code Noir give us about the way race worked in the French colonies in the Americas?
Evaluate
- Using the evidence in this article, write a definition of “slavery” that fits the time and place described in the article.
- Under the system of slavery in the Americas, what kinds of communities do you think enslaved people could form? What challenges might they have faced in forming communities?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- What contradiction does the system of slavery in the Americas highlight?
- What was the principal motive for using enslaved labor?
- How were the people in William Clark’s 1823 painting “Cutting the Sugar Cane, Antigua” economically related to Harewood House in Leeds?
- In what ways did people use religion to justify slavery?
- In what way did people misuse science to argue in favor of slavery? Were these arguments sustained by evidence?
Evaluate
- What is the difference between a “motive” and a “justification”, as the author uses them in this article?
- How is it possible that the same society could create both important ideas about individual sovereignty and the rights of citizens, and a system of perpetual, violent enslavement? What particular set of ideas made it possible in this context?
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Guiding Questions
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Note: For more detailed directions on completing the three close reads below, refer to the Three Close Reads – Introduction activity.
Skim
Before you read, you should quickly skim the article, by looking at the headings of each section and the charts. Read the questions below as well, so you know what to look for when you read!
Key Ideas
- Why does the author argue that the relationship between capitalism and slavery has meaning today?
- Why, according to some theories cited by the author, does capitalism theoretically promote free rather than enslaved labor?
- What evidence, from the United States, is cited to support the argument that enslaved labor was an inefficient system for the owners of businesses?
- How does the author connect abolitionism to industrialists?
- What evidence does the author provide to argue that the Atlantic slave trade may have helped to stimulate industrialization and capitalism?
Evaluate
- One side of the debate in this article argues that capitalism and slavery were tied together in this period. But in the era following this one, slavery was abolished, while capitalism continued to grow. Does this point provide evidence that the two were not really related to each other? Why or why not?
- This article makes some surprising connections between slavery and capitalism. What are some ways that capitalism influences your daily life?