ULRICH BONNELL PHILLIPS

AMERICAN

NEGRO SLAVERY

A Survey of the Supply,
Employment and Control
Of Negro Labor
As Determined by the Plantation Regime

TO

MY WIFE

CHAPTER I. THE EARLY EXPLOITATION OF GUINEA II. THE MARITIME SLAVE TRADE III. THE SUGAR ISLANDS IV. THE TOBACCO COLONIES V. THE RICE COAST VI. THE NORTHERN COLONIES VII. REVOLUTION AND REACTION VIII. THE CLOSING OF THE AFRICAN SLAVE TRADE IX. THE INTRODUCTION OF COTTON AND SUGAR X. THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT XI. THE DOMESTIC SLAVE TRADE XII. THE COTTON RÉGIME XIII. TYPES OF LARGE PLANTATIONS XIV. PLANTATION MANAGEMENT XV. PLANTATION LABOR XVI. PLANTATION LIFE XVII. PLANTATION TENDENCIESXVIII. ECONOMIC VIEWS OF SLAVERY: A SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE XIX. BUSINESS ASPECTS OF SLAVERY XX. TOWN SLAVES XXI. FREE NEGROES XXII. SLAVE CRIMEXXIII. THE FORCE OF THE LAWINDEX

AMERICAN NEGRO SLAVERY

CHAPTER I

THE DISCOVERY AND EXPLOITATION OF GUINEA

The Portuguese began exploring the west coast of Africa shortly beforeChristopher Columbus was born; and no sooner did they encounter negroesthan they began to seize and carry them in captivity to Lisbon. The courtchronicler Azurara set himself in 1452, at the command of Prince Henry, torecord the valiant exploits of the negro-catchers. Reflecting the spiritof the time, he praised them as crusaders bringing savage heathen forconversion to civilization and christianity. He gently lamented themassacre and sufferings involved, but thought them infinitely outweighed bythe salvation of souls. This cheerful spirit of solace was destined long toprevail among white peoples when contemplating the hardships of the coloredraces. But Azurara was more than a moralizing annalist. He acutely observedof the first cargo of captives brought from southward of the Sahara, lessthan a decade before his writing, that after coming to Portugal "they nevermore tried to fly, but rather in time forgot all about their own country,"that "they were very loyal and obedient servants, without malice"; and that"after they began to use clothing they were for the most part very fond ofdisplay, so that they took great delight in robes of showy colors, and suchwas their love of finery that they picked up the rags that fell from thecoats of other people of the country and sewed them on their own garments,taking great pleasure in these, as though it were matter of some greaterperfection."[1] These few broad strokes would portray with equally happyprecision a myriad other black servants born centuries after the writer'sdeath and dwelling in a continent of whose existence he never dreamed.Azurara wrote further that while some of the captives were not able toendure the change and died happily as Christians, the others, dispersedamong Portuguese households, so ingratiated themselves that many wereset free and some were married to men and women of the land and acquiredcomfortable estates. This may have been an earnest of future conditions inBrazil and the Spanish Indies; but in the British settlements it fell outfar otherwise.

[Footnote 1: Gomez Eannes de Azurara Chronicle of the Discovery and
Conquest of Guinea, translated by C.R. Beazley and E.P. Prestage, in the
Hakluyt

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