HIST 1301
2.
Yes. The formation of a racially-based slave labor system was inevitable in colonial Virginia. Before the 1660s, the legal system of Virginia oscillated between tacitly recognizing the relative equality of persons of African descent and their inferiority. The early Virginian slave law was instituted to eliminate any ambiguities inherent in the customary practices, which gave recognition of the interests in people. From the beginning, black labor was accorded different treatment from white labor. Legally, the basis of white labor in colonial Virginia was contracted, and ordinarily, the white laborers in colonial Virginia possessed indentures that specifically stated a specified period of time in which their labor would be the property of their masters. Customarily, the majority of the Africans in colonial Virginia did not arrive under voluntary status and thus were not subject to any legal protection against perpetual servitude. Furthermore, the services offered by the Africans were not safeguarded under any law. The unequal treatment of African labor compared to white labor was also evident in colonial Virginia in that there were statutory provisions that safeguarded the terms of service of white laborers who arrived without indentures while their black counterparts were not subjected to the same statutory protections. Thus, the customary practice of Virginians of holding African servants for a term of life commenced the legal path of conversion of persons with rights and duties into a chattel property.
The cultural and legal environment in colonial Virginia enabled the gradual Institutionalization of slavery. Noteworthy, the availability of free land in Virginia and a parallel rise in prices of tobacco during the1620s drove the demand for labor in the colony. Thus, economically, wealth acquisition in the colony would be made possible through a large and stable supply of labor as land, and the market for tobacco was readily available. Consequently, as the demand for labor increased in Virginia, the tobacco planters sought the services of indentured servants to meet the demands. The servants were bound by contracts that were meant to extract long terms of service from the servants in exchange for transportation into Virginia. The long-term services resulted in the creation of a market in men in which Masters in Virginia had the freedom to buy and sell servants without their consent at any time for the period covered by their contracts.
Politically, the environment in colonial Virginia necessitated severe ill-treatment of lower classes in Virginia, which included dentured white laborers and enslaved Africans. The political climate further engendered slavery following the rebellion of Bacon in 1676, which the dentured white laborers and enslaved Africans were part of the rebellion. In political response, greater authority was accorded to the courts against dissent and vagrancy through compulsory labor and colonization as a means of responding to disorder, further establishing slavery in the Virginia colony.
3.
The colonists in North America were unified to an insignificant degree in political, economic, and cultural matters prior to the American Revolution. However, between 1763 and 1776, the colonists United in their economic agitations against the Empire and parliament on the basis of unfair taxation and a perception that the British rule was overarching and too controlling. Prior to the revolution, unity by the colonists against the British was not necessary and was uncalled for since the colonies needed the protection of the British Empire against the French and the Indians. It was in the interest of the colonies to be under the rule of the British Empire. However, after the French and Indian Wars, the need for the protection of the British Empire was no longer available. Consequently, a division arose between colonists loyal to the British Empire and agitators for independence. Furthermore, the colonists felt ignored in their pleas to the British Empire and parliament to have issues such as land and taxes addressed. Following the French and Indian War, the British attempted in futility to prevent Indian conflict along the frontier through the Proclamation Line along the Appalachian Range, which prohibited colonial settlements west of boundary. The boundary was not effective in Barring the settlers, and as a result, resentment ensued among the settlers who view the British as overbearing and controlling for the purposes of taxation.The colonists thus started galvanizing unity against the British through wars along the frontier, such as the Pontiac’s War of 1763, which was key in the revolution against the British.
Taxation after the French and Indian wars was one of the points of contention between the British and the colonists. The Sugar Act of 1764 was the first tax imposed on the colonies as a means by the Empire to make the colonies pay for the wars they felt benefited the colonies; the tax faced little resistance because the colonists did not fully honor. However, the stamp act of 1765 elicited much resistance as it was levied internally, and there was no means of evasion by the colonists. Another reason for dissent by some of the colonists was for religious freedom. The Presbyterian revolution wanted more freedom from the established church against Anglicans, who sided with the benefits of belonging in the British Empire and thus were loyal to the British.