Lesson 1.05 Economics and Slavery

Assessment: Written Assignment

1. Complete the reading and any interactives for this lesson. Review your 411 file. You are responsible for understanding the vocabulary and concepts in the Lesson Handout (last page).

2. Watch the video “The Atlantic Slave Trade” (length 5 minutes 39 seconds). https://safeshare.tv/x/ss589dd918a0f8b

3. Using the Lesson Handout, your 411 file, and information from the video, answer the following questions in your own words and in a minimum of three (3) complete sentences.

Why did slavery start in the colonies? How were slaves brought to the colonies? What types of jobs did slaves do in each colonial region: New England, Middle, and

the South? Why were slaves important to the colonial economy?

4. In one (1) well written paragraph (5-6 sentences), describe the difficulties and hardships slaves faced. Include your thoughts on how the colonists could have used an alternative to solve the labor shortage.

Rubric:

Excellent Good Needs Improvement Poor

Content 35–40 points

The work contains all of the required elements:

Complete and correct

29–34 points

The work contains most of the required elements:

Complete and correct

20–28 points

The work contains some of the required elements:

Complete and correct

0–19 points

The work contains few of the required elements:

Complete and correct

responses to each question in #3

Complete and thoughtful responses, supported by details from the lesson and video to question #4

responses to each question in #3

Complete and thoughtful responses, supported by details from the lesson and video to question #4

responses to each question in #3

Complete and thoughtful responses, supported by details from the lesson and video to question #4

responses to each question in #3

Complete and thoughtful responses, supported by details from the lesson and video to question #4

Quality 35–40 points

The original student work contains all of the following requirements:

Well-written and thoughtful responses regarding slavery during the colonial era

Strong incorporation of historical details from the lesson

29–34 points

The original student work contains most of the following requirements:

Well-written and thoughtful responses regarding slavery during the colonial era

Strong incorporation of historical details from the lesson.

20–28 points

The original student work contains some of the following requirements:

Well-written and thoughtful responses regarding slavery during the colonial era

Strong incorporation of historical details from the lesson

0–19 points

The original student work contains few of the following requirements:

Well-written and thoughtful responses regarding slavery during the colonial era

Strong incorporation of historical details from the lesson.

21st century presentation

skills

17–20 points

The work is well organized, easy to read and comprehend. It has few spelling or grammar errors.

14–16 points

The work is mostly organized, easy to read and comprehend. It has few spelling or grammar errors.

10–13 points

The work is somewhat organized, easy to read and comprehend. It has some spelling or grammar errors.

0–9 points

The work lacks organization, ease of reading, and comprehension. It has many spelling or grammar errors.

Lesson 1.05 Handout

The 13 Colonies were divided can be divided into three groups; the New England colonies, the Middle colonies, and the Southern colonies. The colonies in each region share some basic characteristics like climate and natural resources. These basic differences encouraged trade between the colonies. Think about it like this, today we grow a lot of different types of citrus in Florida thanks to our climate and soil, but when is the last time you saw an apple orchard in Florida? The apples you find at your local grocery store are not grown here in Florida. They are imported from other states that are able to grow apples. The colonies had an economic relationship, they traded for natural resources they did not have or could not grow. The relationship between the people of a town is very similar to the relationship of the colonies. Most people were farmers during this period and they tried very hard to be self-sufficient, but they were not able to grow /or produce everything they needed. Towns had a small number of craftsmen (tanner, blacksmith, and carpenter) that produced goods the typical farm was not able to produce for themselves. This type of relationship is called domestic interdependence; both the colonies and the colonists within a community were economically dependent on one another. European countries also had an economic relationship with their colonies. The English 13 colonies provide raw materials like cotton to England. Factories in England would use the cotton to produce cloth. Manufactured goods like cloth were then shipped back to the colonies to sell or traded to other European countries. This type of economic relationship is called international interdependence.

Because of the demand for cash crops like cotton and tobacco in Europe, the colonists needed more workers in their fields and help at home. Indentured servants were used at first; however they were later replaced by African slaves. They depended on the transatlantic slave trade (also called “triangular trade” from the three ports of trade: New England, Africa, and the Caribbean) to supply manual labor. Having proven themselves capable workers on sugar plantations in the Caribbean, enslaved Africans were a commodity that colonists bought and sold. Stripped of their rights and freedom, slaves were beaten, separated from their families, and worked continually. Because slaves were not paid, profits were higher.

A large number of enslaved Africans in the Southern colonies worked in the fields harvesting cash crops such as tobacco, cotton, and rice. Crops grown for profit were common in the South, while crops grown and used by the farmer’s family, called subsistence crops were more common in the North or among poor families in the South. A few slaves worked as butlers, sailors, and launderers, others held jobs as carriage drivers and grooms. Slaves were also artisans such as carpenters, stonemasons, blacksmiths, and weavers.

Enslaved Africans were an important part of the colonial economy. State and local governments made money on slavery by imposing taxes on all slave transactions and by collecting taxes from each plantation estate based upon the number of slaves living there.