African study research paper for the Grade

The development of maritime technology in the Western World, allowed Europeans to travel across the Atlantic Ocean to the Africa Continent. From the 16th Century, nearly 30,000 sailors engaged in the Slave Trade, and Africans were traded to the New World, including Americas, as slaves. The ships of European banks shipped Africans to the production sites in Americas and make them separated from their home and family, in order to have the free labor for the sugar, tobacco, cotton, mineral and rum production in Americas (History.com Staff, 2009).

The Portuguese were the first to engage in the slave trade in 16th Century, they shipped the first group of slaves to Brazil which was the beginning of the slave trade, and then other European countries soon followed. During the Atlantic Slave Trade, uncountable slaves were shipped to the Americas and separated from their family in order to make profit for the western society. With the profit made during the slave trade, European countries had enough capital for science and technology which has contributed to emerge of modernization of the world. At the same time, it brought the Americas a great market and a lot of opportunities which has built a great basis for the modern U.S. economy. In 1619, the first African slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia for the tobacco production business, and then more and more slaves were brought to the U.S. The slave trade continued until 18th century (Lewis, 2017). It was the reason of the large proportion of black population in the U.S. and was the primary condition for the growth of the U.S. economy.

Slave population constituted about one-third of the southern U.S. population. And, those slaves were all owned by slaveholders, each of who had at most fifty slaves. Those slaves were made to completely depend on their slaveholders. They were not allowed to learn to write or read and their behavior were strictly restricted. Those slaveholders even created a hierarchy system for them, dividing slaves into different levels, so that they would not stick together and rebel. Female slaves were also forced to commit into sexual behaviors with the slaveholders. However, marriage between slaves were allowed, because that way the slaves can have offspring to be the new generation of slaves. Whereas, slaveholders would never hesitate to separate a slave family in order to make profit out of them (Mclnnis, 2015).

Slave trading business soon became a mature business in the southern U.S. Slaveholders make a lot of profit by selling those slaves. And, it was a business with a low cost. The slaveholders did not need a lot of money to raise those slaves. Most slaves lived on farms or plantations, and only basic supplies were required, just like raising animals.

Although being a slaveholder was just as simple as that, all other slave-related business would not exist without it. Therefore, it can be seen as the starter of the U.S. economy. Because all other slave-related business depended on it, its effect on the U.S. economy is irreplaceable and inconceivable.

Atlantic Slave Trade and the Tobacco Production Business in the U.S.

In the beginning, the African slaves were brought to the U.S. for the tobacco business. The success of this business not only made slavery profitable and Virginia tobacco slave owners rich but also led to a mass importation of the African slaves. The Virginia slave owners let the U.S. people realize the great profit hidden behind the Atlantic slave trade.

The slavery population increased significantly in Chesapeake due to the demand of cheap tobacco production labor. Without the Atlantic Slave Trade, those tobacco production site owners will never find a way to get labors nearly as cheap as the African slaves. Therefore, the slave trade played a critical role in the field of tobacco business in the Southern U.S. and the foundation of the U.S. economy. Even after the 1775, the slaves were no longer imported to Chesapeake, because of the importance of slaves to the economy, the slave owners forced those African slaves to have as many offspring as possible (History.com Staff, 2014).

The owners pushed the slaves to their physical limits, in order to have maximize the profit. Because of that, the African slaves became not only the cheapest labor power but also the most efficient labor power. Therefore, the African slaves were the perfect labor resource. With this perfect labor resource, the foundation of the U.S. economy was built successfully, and primarily, it was all because of the Atlantic Slave Trade conducted by the Europeans.

As white people in the southern U.S. found cotton business to be profitable from 1787, the African slaves were used for the cotton production. From 1787 to 1808, the year that slavery becomes illegal in the U.S., 250,000 new slaves were transported to the U.S. With those cheap labor power, the southern cotton business owners and slave owners made a great profit. The slave-grown cotton made up over half of the U.S. export earnings (US History Staff, 2014). The cotton production business that was supported by the slavery system even led the U.S. into the beginning of industrial revolution, the invention of cotton gin.

In 1793, the invention of cotton gin, which is a kind of engine that separates seeds from short-stapled cotton, became an ice-breaker for the illegalization of slavery in the U.S. The invention of cotton gin has made the speed of cotton production increase by fifty times what a single slave could process in a day (US History Staff, 2014). With the cotton gin, the cotton business in the U.S. soon did not need the slavery system, which had also been an epitome of industrialization replacing slavery system in the early 19th century U.S.

The Atlantic Slave Trade and the slavery system in the U.S. not only boosted the U.S. economy but also led the U.S. into the industrial revolution. Without those cheap labor force, the U.S. cotton business and other agricultural business might not grow so fast or even exist, which would make the invention of cotton gin and industrial revolution lose their purpose. Therefore, it was the Atlantic Slave Trade which built the foundation of the U.S. economy and led the U.S. society into the new era of industrial revolution.

As oppose to the southern U.S. economy which depended on the agricultural business, the northern U.S. economy depended on the variety of services created for the slavery business in the southern U.S. The white people in the north realized that not only slave-based agriculture is able to make profit, the services that support the slave trade and slave-based agriculture can also make a lot of profit. Therefore, they started a variety of services for the south, including insurance companies, shippers, cotton brokers, food producer and etc. (Arrington, 2015).

Insurance companies were for the transportation of the slaves. The shippers were for the transportations of the slave-based products. The cotton brokers deal with the exportation and selling of the cottons made by the slaves. And the food producers deal with the food supply for slaves. With those businesses, the northern U.S. economy boosted in an incredible pace. Those subsidiary businesses of slavery in the north were just as profitable as those in the south. In another way, those businesses are also the foundation of the financial field today. For example, the insurance business was started from then. Without the Atlantic Slave Trade, those services would not exist, which can really change the modern economy structure of the U.S.

As countries like France and Britain started to illegalize slave trade, the U.S. also started to outlaw the slave trade. However, this action was not effective at all, because a lot of the government official are southerners and they were trying to protect the southern economy by allowing slave ships to transport African slaves to the United States (Richardson, 2011).

This situation continued until 1862, after the civil war, the southern officials were gone from the government. Therefore, the Atlantic Slave Trade can be taken as an important factor that caused the Civil War in the United States. After 1862, although slave trade still exited in the U.S., it began to disappear and five years later, the trace of slavery cannot be found in the U.S. (Richardson, 2011).

At the eve of the Civil War, the cotton price was at an all-time high, because people realized that without slavery the cotton production will not stay the same (Richardson, 2011). Moreover, the economy situation of the whole United States was totally changed after the Civil War. The northern economy became better and better, but on the other hand, the southern economy was undermined. It was also because of the Civil War that a lot of big cities nowadays existed in the north like New York, Philadelphia and etc.

As an important cause of the Civil War, the Atlantic Slave Trade had totally changed the economic map in the United States, with the northern economy being boosted and the southern economy being collapsed. It is unbelievable that those slaves who had no rights and even were not taken as human beings can make such a significant change to a country as big as the U.S. Although it was a brutal and unethical history, without the Atlantic Slave Trade, maybe the United States would never become the United States of today.

The Atlantic Slave Trade affected the U.S. economy from every aspect. It all began from the first African slaves arrived Jamestown, Virginia. Back then, nobody would ever know what would the Atlantic Slave Trade bring to the U.S. From the tobacco business to the cotton production business and the subsidiary services to the slave business in the north and to the Civil War, the Atlantic Slave Trade not only built the foundation of the U.S. economy, but also brought it to a revolutionary change, moreover, the U.S. economic map were totally changed by it.

Those African slaves might never realize that they could change the history of a country’s economy and make a big effect on the lives of modern U.S. people, but their contribution and effects could not be ignored. Although they were treated unethically and now nobody would ever want what happened to them happen again, it was them who were the engines of the U.S. economy, and it was them who pushed the development of the U.S. economy from the foundation to the revolutions. People’s life would be so different without them. Those automatic machines for factories might not exist as early as 1793, when the cotton gin was first invented. And, those financial service businesses like insurance and banking might not even exist. However, even though the Atlantic Slave Trade contributed a lot to the U.S. economy, the kind of history that is as brutal as the slave trade should never be tolerated.

References

Arrington, Benjamin T. “Story (U.S. National Park Service).” National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, 3 Aug. 2015, www.nps.gov/resources/story.htm%3Fid%3D251.