African Communities in America

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Table of Contents

British colonies
Eighteenth century America
Rebellion
Britain v. America
Works Cited

In the early years of the 17th century, Virginia had very few Africans. Some of the Africans were already enslaved while others were free men. The main reason for their few numbers was because they had not been brought into the colony. Most servants that worked in the fields included both Europeans and Africans. There was no discrimination based on race (Davidson 45).

However, the labor system began to take a different form as white laborers left the fields to occupy the available land in the Americas. European servants were better positioned to save money and purchase farms elsewhere than African servants.

Politically, white farmers were not supposed to permanently work in the fields. It was therefore dangerous for land owners to keep white servants longer than expected. In effect, land owners experienced a deficit of laborers. They were forced to look for workers elsewhere. The only available option at that moment was to try and convince Native Americans to work in the farms.

However, Native Americans died in large numbers as a result of European diseases. Land owners could not bank on Native Americans to work on their farms because they were weak. The final alternative which they had to turn to was to use enslaved Africans. By 1670, the population of Africans in the southern colonies began to expand drastically. By the mid 17th century, the population of Africans in Virginia and other southern states was less than 500.

But by the mid 18th century, enslaved Africans were more than 200000 in America. Eighty-five percent of the slaves were located in the southern states. The impact of this rapid expansion enabled the growth of plantation farming within the southern colonies.

The image above shows enslaved Africans working in plantations.

Due to a large number of enslaved Africans in the south, a sense of community developed among them. They used to work in groups which were supervised by white overseers. The land owners used the services of overseers to ensure every slave performs their duty effectively. The Africans maintained their original culture from their homeland. They still identified with the culture of their roots.

Their traditional stories, dances, and music were preserved. Their religion and religious practices also formed a basis of their culture in America. Slavery caused families to separate, and it became difficult for the slaves to find a source of strength. According to African culture, families played a very important role in supporting those in need. The enslaved Africans, therefore, had to form kinship customs to provide strength.

British colonies

New England and the Mid Atlantic are two distinct regions in the British colonies. Despite being under the control of Britain, the two regions were distinct from the rest. The two regions had a different economic and government structures compared to the others.

They also tolerated religions, something that was not characteristic of the other British colonies. Most of the colonies especially the ones located in the north were very rich in resources. They had an economic structure where they sold raw materials to their colonial master back in England.

Each state made its own contribution to the mercantilist system. But for the mid-Atlantic regions, their economies depended on crops (Davidson 78). They grew wheat, flax, rye among other crops. They had a perfect climate for agriculture especially the cultivation of grains. The colonies in the Mid Atlantic regions were commonly referred to as ‘the bread basket colonies’ because of their dependence and potential to produce grain.

On the contrary, the economies in New England regions experienced a different climate which could not support the cultivation of crops. The climate there was extremely cold and the soil unsuitable for crop farming. They experienced prolonged winter seasons. As a result, their economy was based on the trade of fish, timber, and fur.

The image above illustrates the harsh weather condition that marked the New England colonies. It became difficult to cultivate any cash crop within the colonies, and they had to trade with other commodities to support their economies.

Another remarkable thing about the two regions was their tolerance to religion. One of the main reasons why people had to leave to the home countries to come to America was to search for freedom of religion. Puritans dominated the colonies in New England. They advocated for their style of worship.

However, in the Mid Atlantic region, there was diversity in religion. The region had Protestants, Catholics, and Quakers. It, therefore, became difficult for one religion to dominate in the region. Most of these new ideas that began during the American Revolution were unbelievable among both the leaders and the people in Europe.

Eighteenth century America

Between 1660 and 1750 a British Empire in America was created. They grew to be a commercial power house where several of the produce was exported in other continents including Africa and Europe and America. They also gained much of control of America such that it had numerous colonies in the region.

By 1750 during the imperial crisis, Britain had gained 13 colonies in North America alone (Davidson). This was majorly characterized by the imperial slave economy. Slaves were uprooted from Africa and traded across the Atlantic.

In the early 18th century, the planters used to focus on the production of tobacco since this produce was highly marketable at that moment. However, due to the changing nature of the markets, they had to shift their focus to mixed crop production. The diversity of the market was not the only reason why this change was necessary. The soil was also getting exhausted as a result of too much cultivation of one type of crop.

Because of the shift from tobacco planting to mixed crop planting, the farmers in the south who owned many slaves realized that they had extra slaves and no work for them. This meant that they had a sale the extra slaves. The idea meant that slavery would expand to the northern part of the country. The north confederation was not ready for the expansion of the slave trade. It had policies that condemned slavery

Compared to the form of labor in the southern part of America, North America had policies of free labor. The restrictions on members of certain racial communities were minimal simply because of the fact they were the minority.

The fire fighting industry also received a lot of support from other companies and government agencies. This was still by the time when fire fighting was still a voluntary work. The navy could assist by volunteering its employees to participate in the fire fighting.

Slavery witnessed in the south was really not a bad thing; that is if it is viewed from a different perspective. The slaves in the south were considered to be freer than the free laborers of the north. They had the best working environment that does not enslave them as much as the working environment of free laborers does.

The old aged people and children were really not expected to work at all. They experienced the comfort, and yet they were getting paid in return. At least they could have free food and a place where they could lay their head without doing anything.

Rebellion

In the sixteenth century, chartered companies and proprietors were granted the power to establish colonies in the newly discovered Americas. The grants led to a completely different political authority from the one witnessed in England. In the 18th century, North America had already been divided into 12 colonies. They stretched from New Hampshire in the west all the way down to South Carolina in the east.

Before the struggle to independence, American colonies remained under the control of the England. King George III was the over ruler of the colonies as well as of England. But in 1776, the colonies came together and fought for their independence after rebelling against the British government (Davidson 90).

The rebellion was triggered by several reasons. The wanted to make their own laws, but the British government could not allow them. They realized that they could only make laws if they had a form of government which recognized their needs. Another reason for the political consciousness that led to the struggle for independence is that the colonies wanted to expand their markets to other counties.

They wanted to engage in trade partnership with other countries. However, the colonial government could not allow this to happen. Also, the colonies were required to pay taxes to the colonial government. The taxes remitted were extremely high, and this angered some of the colonies.

The rebellion began during the last decade to independence. Protest against the British government took center stage. In 1773, the British government made a law that required all the colonies to pay taxes on tea. The new law also required every colony to send all the taxes to England further aggravating the protest against the colonial government.

The colonists fought against this law, and in 1773, the famous Boston tea party happened (Davidson). This was not a real party but a protest against the law to pay taxes on tea. The colonist invaded a British ship carrying tea and threw everything in the water. This event is one of the most common protests against the British government in the history of America.

The image below shows how the colonists invaded the ships and threw containers with tea into the water.

After the famous protest, rebellion against the colonial government became more pronounced. Meetings were held by representatives from every colony to discuss their problems and issues. The meetings prepared a revolution. In one of the meetings, the famous Thomas Jefferson came up with a document that sealed the need to fight for independence.

This was the declaration of independence which indicated the desire of Americans to be free from their colonial master. By 1973, the war between England and America started. American troop was led by George Washington who later became the first president of the country after the war.

The troop led all sort of Americans to rebel against the British. Women, children, and Africans were all involved in the war. Most of the males were recruited into the military while the women played a supportive role of caring for the soldiers in various ways.

Britain v. America

The struggle for independence had to involve all the thirteen colonies coming together as a unit to fight Britain. To ensure the commitment of every colony, the document drafted by Thomas Jefferson, the declaration of independence had to be signed by the colonies. This was the most effective strategy of winning the war; joining forces. Also, the American troop included almost every American in the war.

Teacher, sailors, farmers, and people from all sorts of professions were recruited as soldiers and engaged in the war. Women played supportive roles such as caring for wounded soldiers, making uniforms for the soldiers, and taking care of the farms as the men fight.

The image above shows the committee formed to prepare the document that united all the colonies to fight for freedom in America.

The first major win for the Americans was when they forced the British and their loyalists out of Boston. However, the British reinforced themselves and made a major comeback.

But in 1778, other countries joined the war in support of America. This implied that the Britain was fighting the war alone without the support of their allies. It then became easy for them to lose and by 1783 Britain had to sign a treaty recognizing America as an independent country.

Works Cited

Davidson, James West. US: A Narrative History, Volume 1: To 1877. New York: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print.

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