(, (------- "
01111'1{ BIHII,S 11\ FIlI\II!!':!) s. !\(O({(;:\:'-i
'ff,I' /'l/ril'lII F"wily: N,('li!!,ioJllflld /)o1JleJ/ic Uc/,lliollJ IV nv 1~'I1,!!,Ii1l1d
c
Fbe ,)'ll1llljl Act ('riJi'\": ( 'wi I b /I cIell ,II. The Uirlb 0/ Ibe
The PuritlTlI IJilcll!1JM: Thc ,""Ioyy of lob" I/'illlbllll' Tbe Gemle Purittlll: A Lile 0/ 1~-::,ri1 Sliles
Visible Saillts: The History of a Puritau Idea
Williams: The Churcb ami the State So TVhl1! about History?
EDITED WOHKS
Prolop,lle to Re ..'olutioll: Sources mlii /)ocmJlellfJ Oil tbe 5ha1llp Act Crisis
Tbe /)iaTv of Micbael TVip,'gles,worth: The CO'll.lciCIIl'C of a Puritan
l'uritml Political Ideas The F01l7ldillg of' Massacbllsett.l': fiiJtoriall,f
the Sources Tlie American Revollltioll: Two Ce1lturies
of luter pretatioll
AMERICAN SLAVERY
AMERICAN FREEDOM
The Ordeal ofColonial Virginia
EDMUND S. MORGAN
9 W. W. Norton &- Cmnpan'V, Inc. NEW YORK
1t47333
eM t ......Illnt~"q",__"",.t.'••••••
15 TOWARD SLAVERY
IT could be argued had relieved one of England's social problems by importing it. gillians of the late seventeenth century secmcd to be plagued by the same kind of restless, roistering rogues who had wandered through Flizabethan England. England had kept them down by the work hOllse, by the gallows, by whipping thcm back to the parish they came from, by sending them off 011 military expeditions-and by slllpping them to Virginia. Richard I Ialduyt had hoped that the New vVorld would save them from thc gallows. It had, and al
Virginians were not all happy about it, throughout the cen they kept crying for morc. They wanted men. They could not
of them. The problem was not, as in England, to find work for them but simply to keep them working for their betters.
As we have seen, Virginians had coped with the problem "('veral \vays: by creating an artificial freemen back into servitude; by cxtending terms of service; lIicring severe penalties for killing the hogs that offered easy "it hout work. They had also through rents and taxes and ',killllllCd off as much as they dared of the small man's small profits lor the benefit of burgesses, cOllllcillors, and collectors. But the bur dellS imposed on Virgini:l's workers placed the colony continually I 011 I he brink of rebellion,
Flsewhcre the \,\Iurld W:lS trying less dangerolls ways to m:lxi lIi/l" bhor alld the returns front LtI)()L OtiC way, which had a l:trge
flllllrc, grew ollt of lilt: idC:lS tl1:11 \\T associate wit" Ma.\ \Vl'bl'l''s 1('1111, "Ill(' l'rott'S!:1Il1 Ethic." \\'hl'lher 1Ill' oril!in of I host· idl':ls I:!v III :I r )11 or lIot, prl'\,:lilcd I her n('111'11
297 I 29 6 AMERICA.s SLA\'F,RY-A1VIEIUCAN FR1<:IWOM
in employers and employed alike a zeal for work that exceeded any thing the world had formerly known. J\1en imbued with a yearning for salvation found in diligent, systematic work at their jobs a sign of their predestined election to the joys of paradise. In their eager ness thus to demonstrate their sainthood to themselves and to others, they delivered more work than could be obtained by most external forms of compulsion. But the extraordinary capacity for work dis played by men addicted to the Protestant Ethic was the by-product of a special religious zeal. And religious zeal of any kind was not conspicuous among Virginians. It was the specialty of the New Englanders whom Governor Berkeley so despised. There remained, however, another way of compelling men to a maximum output of labor without as great a risk of rebellion as Virginians had been rtIn mng.
Slavery is a mode of compulsion that has often prevailed where is abundant,l and Virginians had been drifting tovvard it
the time when they first found something profitable to work at. Servitude in Virginia's tobacco fields approached closer to slavery than anything known at the time in England. Men served longer, were subjected to more rigorous punishments, were traded about as commodities already in the 1620S.
, That Virginia's labor barons of the 1620S or her land and labor barons of the 1660s and 1670S did not transform their servants slaves was probably not owing to any moral squeamishness or to any failllfe to perceive the advantages of doing so. Although slavery did not cxist in England, Englishmen were not so unfamiliar with il that they had to be told what it was. 'vfhey knew that the Spaniards'
and silver were dug by slave labor, and they themselves had eVCD toyed "\>\'ith temporary "slavery" as a punishment for crimc in
sixteenth century. ~ But for Virginians to have pressed their ser vants or {heir indigent neighbors into slavery might have been, . tial\y at least, more pcrilous than exploiting them in the ways thai eventuated in the plundering parties of Bacon's Rebellion. Slavery, Ollce established, offcred incomparable advantages in keeping labor
but the transformation of frec men into slaves would hav(' a tricky business. It would have had to procced hy stages, eaeh
carefully calculated to stop short of provoking rebellion. And if slle
I). DOlllar, "Cau~~>s of SlalTI"Y or Serfdo1l1," IH 'F; Briden baugh, No "1',1,'" ",'yolld rb,' 1.11/,>, !(l'j,
~ (:, S, I" I >al'in, "SlaIn\, alld the I'rollTlOr SOIIII'I'S('I: The Al'l 01 1"17," I':c(}//(lllli,' Ili'forv {<"'I,j"'ll" 111.1 '('r., XIX (1<)(,(,), 'ill .f'! .
•
....
TOWARD SLAVERY
cessful it would have reduced, if it did not end, the flow of potential slaves from England and Europe. Moreover, it would have required a conscious, deliberate, public decision. It would have had to be done, even if in stages, by action of the assembly, and the English government would have had to approve it. If it had been possible for the men at the top in Virginia to arrive at such a decision or series of decisions, the horne goverument would almost certainly have vetoed the move, for of a rebellion or of an exodus from the colony that would prove costly to the crown's tobacco revenues.
But to establish slavery in Virginia it was not necessary to en slave anyone. Virginians had only to buy men who were already enslaved, after the initial risks of the transformation had been sus tained by others elsewhere. They converted to slavery simply buying slaves instead of servants. The process seems so simple, advantages of slave labor so obvious, and their system of production and attimde toward workers so receptive that it seems surprising they did not convert sooner. African slaves were present in Virginia, as we have seen, almost from the beginning (probably the first known Negroes to arrive, in 1619, were slaves). The courts clearly recognized property in men and women and their unborn progeny at least as early as the 164os,:l and there was no law to prevent any planter from bringing in as many as he wished. Why, then, did Vir ginians not furnish themselves with slaves as soon as they began to grow tobacco? Why did ~ .
The answer lies in the fact that slave labor, in spite of its scem superiority, was actually not as advantageous as indentured labor
the first half of the century. Because of the high mortality :tlllong immigrants to Virginia, there could be no great advantage in owning a man for a lifetime rather than a period of years, especially since a slave cost ronghly twice as much as an indentured servant. 4
If the chances of a man's dying during his five years in Virginia were better than fifty-fifty-and it seems apparent that they werc
:, See chap. 7, note I A newly ;}rrived Fnglish servant with fivc years or morc to serve cost
1,""0 poullds of tobacco, lI10re or less, in thc 1640$ and C;}rly 1650s. The clrii.'st surviving contract for importation of Negroes, ill 1649, called for Ih('ir sale on :tlTi,,:!1 at !,OOO pounds :Ipi('('(', hUI whether Ihey actually sol<l lor Ih:1t price is IIlIkno\\,11 (Nonh:lII1II1011 III, HLp), A scasollcd Negro 111:111 or \\'0111:111 Ihell ('oSI IWIII'('('11 I,O"O alld \,""'" V,III1(,s for bOlh slav('~ :llId ',''1'1':1111\ 111 1I11,("llIori['s 1'0 .... in 1 h(' LI1(' I('~"S, \\'illl ,,'I'\',IIIIS as IIllIcl! ;'s I,""" alld ,!an's 'P''''', SIT ,ti',o .. h;II" H, 11011", (,H alld ()f),
298 AMERICAN SLAVERY-Al\IERICAN FREEDOlV!
and if English servants could be made to work as hard as
, )
Eng. lish servants for a five-year term were the better buy.
If Virginians had been willing to pay the price, it seems likely they could have obtained Negro slaves in larger numbers
they did. During the first half of the century the Dutch were busy dismantling the Portuguese empire and, in the process, taking over the African slave trade. They promoted the development of English sugar plantations in the \Vest Indies and supplied those plantations with enough slaves to give Barbados (founded t\venty years Virginia) a black population of 5,000 by 1645 and 20,000 by 1 66o. r
Virginia could scarcely have had a tenth the number at either date. Yet the Dutch were heavily engaged in the purchase of Virginia to· bacco. They would surely, in the course of that trade, have Virginians with slaves if the Virginians had been ready to
Virginia's tobacco planters would not pay, sugar planters would, requires explanation, for mortality was
evidently as heavy in Barbados as in Virginia. H If servants for a terlll were a better buy for Virginians, why not for Barbadians?
Up until the 1640s, when the principal crop in Barbados was, as in Virginia, tobacco, the labor force was mainly composed, as ill Virginia, of white servanrs. But a shift from tobacco to cotton then to sugar in the early 1640S made the islands less attractive the mainland for servants who crossed the ocean voluntarily. Sugar production required such strenuous labor that men would not will ingly undertake it. Sugar planters, in order to get their crops grown, harvested, and processed had to drive their \vorkers much harJer than tobacco planters did. Richard Ligon in the late 16405 was scan dalized to see how the Barbados planters beat their servants in order to get the work Ollt of them. 7 Moreover, \vhen a servant turned free, he found land much scarcer than in Virginia or lVlaryland. And even
a plot, at high rents, sugar production (unlike to hacco) a larger outlay of capital for equipment than he could hands on. K For these reasons, when Barbados ser vams fre(]uently headed for Virginia or other
No /'(,,)1'(' Ilt'.\'filld ,I./{' Lillt', n, 'i,I ('0, (q ('H, HI Kt; Rich:1r" S. DlJn11, ,,,'lIg,//" ,W" SI.1,(,('.I: The Ni.ll' 0/ ,/.1(' I'I,wl,'r C/,u\" ill !I),'
II ,'I' Illdin, 161" 171 i (Ch:!I'''' lIill, N.C., "17!), ill.
TOWARD SLAYERY 299 !
colonies. The sugar planters may thus have bought slaves because they could not buy servants unless the servanrs were
shanghaied, or "barbadosed" as the word was at the time, or I hey were sent as prisoners, like the captured Scottish and diers whom Cromwell shipped oveL l ' A dwindling servants may have forced a switch to slaves.
It is possible that the conversion to slavery in Virginia was he! ped, as it was 111 Barbados, by a decline in the number of servants coming to the colony. The conditions that produced Bacon's Rebel lion and the continuing discontent thereafter did not enhance the
reputaticm. lVI~reover, by the third quarter of the century was less pressure on Englishmen to leave home. Complaints of
overpopulation in England had ceased, as statesmen and I hinkers sought ways of putting the poor to work.
of white immigrants to Virginia does seem to have JII But if this was a factor in the conversion process, another,
probably of greater consequence, \\'as the decline of heavy loward midcentury, for as life expectancy rose, the slave became a better buy than the servant.
point at which it beca11le more advantageous for Virginians (0 buy slaves was probably reached by r660. In that year the assem hly offered exemption from local dllties to Dutch ships Ncgroes. l1 Bur in the same year Parliament passed the Navigation ,\ct5, interdicting both the export of tobacco frolll the colonies to ! he Netherlands and any trade by Dutch ships in the colonies.1~ The
was to delay Virginia'S conversion to slavery. The country attelJ1pted to cOlllpensate for the se\'ering of the Dutch slave (r:Hlc through a royally sponsored English trading company, the I{oyal Adventurers, which was reorganized and rechartered in I 2 :IS the Royal African C011lpany. These companies III y of stIppl ying all the colonies with African I he Illen who raIl them never gained sufficient familiarity
slave trade to conduct the husiness successfully. even
their cspeci,lIly :w:linst Imo\\'ledg(';Jhlc nriv;!te
, ' .. ' r
:/ '
,\,o /','<1,'(, IJ'·I'OIl.l ,/.1,. I.ill€', Iii, 2 "!: DIII1I1, Sligar ,lIId SI,Ii'!", (Hi.
n Dll11l1, SlIt:.!F d"d SI,/I"'I, Il7 ",. Sll,il h, COIUlli'/l III 1111/1,/,1,1:,·. POf); (:(). I \ I (', I \ \. 'I l.i/'."I1, Frll,' ,lIId 1':,I<li'! f ill'on'. 'I I \" \; 11:11'1.,11, 1I,/il'o/dlJl, \to! i; ,. Ikllill!'"I,\I'
111 id"III..III,:h. tv" /"'",,' I,,· 1'011.111,,' 1111", f()! , '" 1111' ",1'0 ('"l,ld .. d :tli 1,,1 'I""!'. ;lIt.! Inl'lind 1.. 1>,1f"" ..' 1.,,:1111, /'1//1' ,lIId f..rd, I 1IIIIri/I', 'O'} '/' IIlid,·"II;'"):h. No /','0/,." 1..1""1 ""iI I .. I ,,!:LI".! ,,' .111,,1 I, "I;I".!. ,,,1"'11 1,," \I II .1'. lilt' 1),,1, h II h ..
/"'1'11",11/',' 1111,·. ){'" d,/, 11""11, SIlI:,f/ ,/11'/ ."1,11"'1. '}',IIIII, I. IIri. II ,.". PI 111' '1':.111 ,11f1H'd;l1.l
300 AMERICAN SLAVERY-AMERiCAN FREEDOMI
ers complained that it prevented them from getting the number workers they needed. I:! Virginia thus began to change to slave labor at a time when she had to compete with the sugar planters for a
supply of slaves than would have been available had the freer conditions of trade still existed under which Barbados had made til(' conversIOn.
In the competition for slaves after 1660 the sugar planters enjoyed some advantages. Although sugar and tobacco were both "enumerated" commodities that must be shipped only to England or to another English colony, England did not collect nearly Sll heavy an import tax on sugar as on tobaccoY Consequently, a larger percentage of the price paid by the consumer went to the grower. :'\1oreover, the price of slaves in the \\1est Indies was less than ill Virginia, because the islands were closer to Africa, so that costs transportation and risk of loss on the "Middle Passage" were then' fore less. 1 :; The figures for slave imports into Barbados, Jamaica, alld the Leeward Islands in the last quarter of the century are all above those for Virginia. III That Virginia was able to get any at <111 was owing to the fact that "vhile slaves had become a profitable ill vestment for tobacco growers, the profitability of growing sugar had declined.
It is impossible to reconstruct from surviving data the returns could be expected on capital invested in growing tobacco in
Virginia in comparison with the same amount invested in growitlg sugar in the West Indies at different periods in the seventeenth cell tury.17 It 15 clear, hov.'ever, that by the end of the seventeenth cell
1~ K G. Davies, Tbe Royal Africa'll Company (London, 1957), ,,., 133,145, [49,3 00-3 15,
14 In 166R-69 tobacco imports in England valued at £50,000 paid custo'll~ duties of £75,000, while sugar imports valued at £ 180,000 paid customs dutil'~ of £ 18,000. Dunn, Sup;ar and Slaves, 206-7,
15 The Royal African Company's proposed prices in 1<)72 were £ '.I ill Barbados and £18 in Virginia. c.o, 1/62, f.133.
H; Dunn, Sup;ar cmd Slaves, 363; Bridenbaugh, No Peace beyond 11.,(· Liue, Philip D. Curtill, Tbe Atla1ltic Sla'ue Trade: A CClIS1IS (Madison, \Vis., ,(1)9), 53, )5,61.
17 Various cOlltemporarv calculation'; sllrviv(' of the posslhle return (Ill investment ill sug:1r; for ('\ampk, l,igoll, TrilL' alld 1':.1'110 IIiJlory, W() '7. and CO. li'ili, ILl 'is (,0. Bul IIltT .I .. 1I0r rest Oil ;ICll1:l1 !'lTol'ds of prodll(, lion, Sillcl' rill'\' W\'r(' Illade in Slipport (If ;lrgllllll'IIt.S !ltH lill' planll'l's \V ('1'"
TOWARD SLAVERY I 301 I tury and probably by the third quarter of it the tobacco growers
one strong advantage in the longevity of their laborers. A smaller proportion of their profits had to go into labor replacement and was availablc to meet the higher initial cost of a slave. Life ex pectancy in Barbados, especially for the black population, continued to be low throughout the seventeenth and most of the eighteenth century. The slaves on Barbados plantations had to be replaced at rate of about 6 percent a ycar. 1H It is estimated that between 1640 and 1700 264,000 slaves were imported into the British \\1est Indies. The total black population in 1700 was about 100,000. 19 In the next century, between 17 I 2 and 1762 the importation of I ~o,ooo slaves increased the Barbados black population by only 28,000.zo By con trast, while Virginia imported roughly 45,000 slaves between 1700 and 1750 (figures from the seventeenth century are sporadic), the black population increased from perhaps 8,000 or 10,000 to over 1 00,000. ~l In Virginia not only had the rate of mortality from disease gone down, but the less strenuous work of cultivating tobacco, ;IS opposed to sugar, cnabled slaves to retain their health and I1lllltiply. To make a profit, sugar planters worked their slaves to de:nh; tobacco planters did not have to. A slave consc(]uenrly h:ld a longer pcriod of usefulness in Virginia than in the \\1est Indi('s. The return on the investment might be less in the short rtlll, but Illore ill
long run. The gap between the ability of Virginia and \Vest Indies
planters to pay for slaves was also narrowed in the course of the nil by changes in the market price of their respective crops. Tht'
selling price of 1l1uscovado sugar in the islands during rhe 16..j.()s, when the planters were converting to slavery, was perhaps (,0 ., lings the hundredweight (it brought Ho shillings at wholesale in 1.011 don). In the 16505 and 1660s it dropped to ahout ,lO shillings. ill thl'
11; The sex ratio among Barbados ~Iaves W',l~ about ,'ITIL Ahhough more men were impofted than WOlllCIl, thel' dicd Llstef, and lOla 1 d('alhs olltllumbered births. Dunn, Sugar I1l1d SIIl7.'es, 2~ I, 309, P4-17. In; Bri.lclI haugh, No Peace bC,Yond tbe Lillc, .H4~S.'i, Cf. Richard Par!'s, A 1I',·.il 'II./i" Fort/me (London, 191''')' 122-'2\.
I~l Currin. Atlalltic Slm.'£' Trade,'i'>, 1 "). ~o David I,owenthal, "The PopuLltion of Barbados," SOI'i,,1 ,111,1 I':I'fJ
IIlililic SllIdies, VI ( ")\7), 44'i .1'01. ~I Appendix, p. 4Il. and "iI/Oril',11 ,)'I,lIisli(s oj Ilx lIlIil,·'/ .)'/111,·\, '1("" ~~ It is possihle al.so Ihal di.s('ases in the \\'(,SI Indies ('Olllfihll"'" 10 III!'
-..,
doing \\'ell or Ihal tI\(',I' \\('IT doillg IHlOrh', 111".1' an' eilher Illll('h too oJlli higher dealh rate thn('. 1\101'Lllil.\' frolll di,,'a,,' IliaI' h;l\'(' COlllilllll'.I I" I... llIi.\li .. or 11IIId, 100 ll('"illiisli ... ;IS hi,.h IIH'l'e ;1\ il 11;1\ in \'in·illia ill lilt' e;nk pall "I tlu' ('('lIlliI'\'..t
I 302 AMERICAN SLAVERY-AMlmICAN FREEDOM
1670S to about 15, and in the 1680s to as low as 10, wIth some recov, ery in the 1 69os.23 Tobacco reached 10 shillings the hundredweight in the 16605 and 1670S and stayed there with occasional UDS allt! downs for half a century.2+
\Vhat these prices meant in profits for the planters depended large measure on the comparative productivity of sugar and ro~
bacco workers; and, in the absence of actual records of production, that is less easy to determine. No significant innovations in technol ogy occurred in the growth or processing of either crop before tht, nineteenth century, and by 1660 both sugar and tobacco planters were thoroughly familiar with their respective crops and with ways of maximizing production. Contemporary estimates of productivity per hand on sugar plantations vary widely, but a fair medium might be 1,500 pounds a year. Because of Virginia's fickle weather the to bacco harvest probably varied more from year to year than till' sugar harvest, and a man might grow a smaller but better and higher priced crop by reducing the nnmber of leaves left on each plant. Any estimates of productivity are therefore even more tenuous those for sugar. It is likely, however, that by the 1 660s a man would make less than 1,000 pounds of tobacco in a lean year, but more thall 2,000, perhaps much more, in a good year. In the long run a 1lI:1I\'s
for a year would probably make about the same weight tobacco ill Virginia as of sugar in the islands. But the tobacco worker could at the same time grow enough corn to snstain himself. And in the most fanlrable locations, especially on the Yorl, and, 10 :1 lesser degree, the Rappahannock, he could grow a variety of TO bacco (known as sweet-scented) which brought a higher price weighed more in relation to bulk (reducing freight costs) than I ordinary Orinoco. 2G
addition, tobacco continued to enjoy the advantage, which
23 Harlow, HarlJaaOJ, 170, 188, 259-60; Dunn, Sugar <1lld Slaves, H)f., 205, 2 I I; C. S. S. Higham, Tbe DC'1.'clopmellt of tbe J,ceward Islallds 1I1Id.., tbe Restoratioll, ;660- ;688 19 21 ), 158, 191-92, 194, These are oncs for London show a similar though nOl ,\0
The History of Sligar (London, 1950), II, ~IH, CO!ll/MllY, 111 Virginia in the I(,_,OS a pOlilld
of Sl1g;lr was valucd at fmlll .l to 7 pounds of roh:ICco. r-.:orthalllptoll 1\', lOp; Y, (ll:l, !lIP; Norfolk II, Jl-io; I\', I q.
~l Chap, 7. !lotl' 7; chap. 10, notes ". and !t), ~r, Oil slIg:lr ,'!'Otila-lioll ,n' \\',,1'.1 Barrell, "( :arihh('all SlIg:lr I'rotill"
li'Ul St.lIl""""" ill til .. SnTllt(Tlllil :Ill" Vighl(Tlllil (:('lllllri('s," ill -'ohn
":ltI"'I, I'd" ,\(.-"/'.111/1 .11/./ ,"',·/,,,/,/11. 1--'1I.t1'1 ill 1/',' 1Ill/n/v of 1':.I'/'/OI',I1/IJ/l
TOWARD SLAVERY I 30 3
it had always had, of requiring a smaller outlay of capital for duction equipment. And land, if scarcer than it had been, was still much cheaper in Virginia than in the islands. The far greater nurn bel' of slaves delivered to the sugar islanders indicates that sugar re mained the more attractive risk to English capital investment. Nevertheless, tobacco was so close a competitor that before 16805 slaves were being shipped from Barbados for sale in Virginia. 26
In financing the extra cost of slaves, Virginians were not wholly dependent on upswings in the tobacco market, They could draw on capital accumulated during the first half century. Their earnings from tobacco (apart from any they returned to England) had invested, as we saw earlier, in cattle and hogs and servants. 'Vhen they wanted to buy slaves in Barbados, they could send cattle and hO!,TS in exchange. Land in the vVest Indies was too valuable to be devoted to food products, and sugar planters were eager to buy live cattle as well as barreled beef and pork They needed live cattle not only to turn their mills but also to dung their land as the canes ex
Virginia joined with New England in supplying the need; no figures exist to show the volume of the trade, there
is a good deal of evidence in county court records of contact be tween Virginia and Barbados in the seventeenth cel1tury.~7 But extra capital to buy slaves came not only from livestock. In spite of the low profits of tobacco growing after 166o, there were the en trepreneurial profits of the merchant planters and the substantial amounts accumulated by thejlldicious use of government office.
More important perhaps than the capital generated locally was that attracted from England by the new competitive position of tobacco. Substantial men who might earlier have headed for Bar bados now came to Virginia, supplied with funds to purchase or rent land and labor. And men with small amollnts of capital, insuffi cient for the initial outlay of a sligar plantation, could make a good start in Virginia. Though the colony had ceased to be, if it ever was, a land of opportunity for the servant who came with nothing, it of fered much to the man with l300 or l400 sterling. \Vith half of it
,wd Trade. ColI'Y/,'.! ill Mell/ory flf /,1111<'1' Ford Hell (;'\'1illlll':lpoiis, 1<)6;;), I.p 7n, Oil loha('('o ,S(T chap. 7, lIolt' i"
~,: Flizah"l h Do II 1I:1Il, /lU('JI/II,'1I11 IIIIII/rdll'l't' of 1/',' lIillllrv 0/ JI.." S/II'I'" 'i'r.!d,· 10 "IIII,'/Hol (\\';I',hill!~I"'I, I H :., H)I" ,),1\', fit),
S"', .. ILII'_ 7.1101" I,
AMERICAN SLAVERY-AMERICAN FREEDOM! 30 4
put mto buying a well-located plantation, he would have enough left over for eight or ten slaves, and "a handsom, gentile and sun' subsistence," as 'Villiam Fitzhugh said, ,."ho had done it. Ten slaves might make 20,000 pounds of tobacco in a good year, which at till' time Fitzhugh ,vrote would be worth from £ lOO to £ 200 sterling. The cost of feeding them would he nothing and of clothing thelll little. The return on the investment would be accordingly a good deal more than could be expected from any agricultural enterprise ill Englam1.2H
Englishmen with spare cash came to Virginia also because lI\e prestige and power that a man ,,"ith any capital could expect in Vir ginia was comparatively much greater than he was likely to attain
England, where men of landed wealth and gentle birth abounded. \Vell-to-do immigrants and their sons, who came to Virginia :Ifll.'!' midcentury, dominated the colony's politics, probably in default of male survivors of earlier successful immigrants.:!!) But the fortlllU'S gathered by those early immigrants during the deadly first half n'll tury were not necessarily lost or dispersed. Capital still accumulall'll in the hands of widows and joined in profitable V\redlock the Stllll~ that well-heeled immigrants brought with them. The Ludwt'lls, Byrds, Carters, Spencers, Wormeleys, Corbins, and a host of otlH'r~ not only shared the spoils of office among themselves, but also well-planned marriages shared the savings gathered by their predc cessors. In Lancaster County, of the twelve persons who were list for more than twenty tithables between 1653 and 1679, one was ;1 widow and nine of the remaining eleven married widows.:w
These were the men who hrought slavery to Virginia, silllpl\· by buying slaves instead of servants. Since a slave cost more than :1
~8 Davis, Fitzhugb, 279-80. 2H Bailyn, "Politics and Social Strucmfe"; Quitt, "Virginia lIous\' .. I
Burgesses. " 30 The twelve (derived from Lnl1Castef 1, nr, and IV) were RIlIH'1I
Beckingham (marricd widow of Raleigh Travers), John Cartcr 1 (1lI:1lTi,'" widow of \Villiam Brocas), John Carter II (did not marry a widow), Su Henry Chichdy (married widow of Ralph'vVonllcly), HCllry COI'I.\'1I (married widow of Roland Burnham). Antholl\, Fllyotr (lll;lrricd widow "I Justinian Aylmer), David Fox (married ,vitiow of Richard Wright), RolH'!! Griggs (wife unlmown), Ladv Lunsford (widow of Silo Tholllas LUlIs!ord), Richard Parrott (married widow of Nicholas Dak), Rohert SllIith (lIl:ll'Iit'tl
Lunsford), :lIlt! Thomas \ViltH's (lll:1rricd widow of Rohert Ikel'illl'. halll ).
,0,\TOWARD SLAVERY
servant, the man with only a small Slim to invest was likely 10 btl\' a servant. In 1699 the House of Burgesses noted that the servallt ~ who worked for "the poorer sort" of planters were still "for 1 most part Christian." :n But the man who could afford to operate 011 a larger scale, looking to the long run, bought slaves as they beclIlll' more profitable and as they became available.
Flow rapidly they became available and how rapidly, therefore, Virginia made the switch to slave labor is difficult to determine, partly because the Royal African Company monopoly made it nec essary to conceal purchases from illicit traders. During the period of the monopoly (1663-98), slaves could presumably still be pur chased legally from Barbados, but fe,v records of trade between the two colonies have survived.:l2 Nevertheless, from stray bits of evi.. dence we do know that Virginians were getting slaves from other sources than the company and what prices they were willing to pay for them. The ship Society, of Bristol, carried about 100 slaves to Virginia in 16 87. She ,vas an interloper and was seized by \Villialll Cole, the collector for the lower James River, who later accoullted for the sale of the cargo. The prices he obtained varied according to the age, sex, and condition of the slaves. For "5 Sick Negroes not able to goe or Stand" he got L1.0 sterling, for a man L2 3, a YOIlI h £ 20, another 1: 21, another £ 2 2, and so on. All told, for yo Ne groes, including 13 sick (two "almost dead") and a Humber of slllall children who were probably under twelve (but not counting seven slaves who died on his hands), he got £1,5°1.13. 6, an average of L 16.6.0,:1:1 \Villiam Fitzhugh in 1683 apparently thought he could get better prices than these, for he offered to buy slaves worth lip to 50,000 pounds of tobacco from a Ne,v Englander, at prices ra1lg ing from 3,000 pounds (for children aged seven to cleven) to 5,OO() pounds (for men and women aged fifteen to twenty-four). To bacco at this time was generally valued at JO shillings per hUlldred pounds, so Fitzhugh's top price was equal to L 25·:11
There is no way of telling how llI~lIly slaves were hrollg-hl 10 Virginia by interlopers ;lI1d how llIany t':ltlle legally frolll B;lrlw\os. Fdmund Jennings, inlJuiring into the suhject in 17oH, \\;IS lold hy
::1 II. R. 1\1cllwaillc, cd., IOl/rlill/.' of ,/),. flowt' of !llIt.':,·SS'·," 0/
/69'1 ... I7IU (itielllllollll, 1<)1 \). 17,· :I'~ Scc ell;I}>. 7,1101(' d., :11 1):1\'i" f;ir:}lfI,I:!.', I q.
:n (:,(). ) 'I loH, No. ').
i
:;06 AMERICAN SLAVERY-AMERICAN FREEDOM
year 1680 what \vere generally from Barbados." :l!j It may be that by that route. Although the Royal African Company had at its founding in 1672 to supply Virginia and Maryland as well ;IS the islands, it sent only a few shiploads before the end of the cell· tury. During the 1670S somewhat more than, ,000 may have been landed, and in the r680s perhaps another 1,000 or 1,500-if tilt,
instructed to go to Virginia actually wellt I however. ,. r
tween October 25, ,693, and J<et)ruarv 1\. [60/)/0. Shows onlv Olll' consigned to Virginia.:w
The company's figures for slaves sent to Virginia do not COlli· port with hints in the colony records of the rate of importation. Up
1699 slaves, like other immigrants, carried a headright worl h land, and a cOllnt of slaves mentioned in patents for
1070S (42 I) and 1680s (629) than till' the
ber for the I 690S, any, was 1,847.;17 It is impossible to say mean that the company records arc unreliable or that many Vir ginians waited until the I690S to claim land 'with the headrights of sbves they had imported in the r670s and 1680s.
The extent to which slaves were replacing servants during 1III' decades of the century can be estimated \vith more assur:1I1l'1'
Ihl'
of per hOl1se/wld), Of Surry tithables who belonged to :111
other ll1an's household, slaves amounted to 20 percent in I (i74, II percent in ,(iij6, 48 percent in 1694, and 48 percent in 17°3.:;" Surry', as we have seen, was one of the poorer regions of Virginia. 111 I hI' rich counties 011 the York the proportiol1 lllllst have beell largn, 'I II
I )011 Il:l 11. /)O(l/7I1CIIIJ, IV, H<). ;;,; C.O, Ill, Lp; <:.0. I '\..I, f.1O'); DOllllan, J)orl/I!ICIIIJ, I\', \ \,
1'.7" (lI, I'P' ~ -t. 6 , l",.n, Xl, 1("; 70, ;:7 (:1':1\'('11, !I'hil,., u..d, ,1II.! II/.rd·, W•. 11 is Ij(ls\iblc Ilial l';lrI of IIII'
"~hI'!"~ hl'ollghl hI' fill' ("01111':1111' 111 Ih(' 1('70S :ll1d IMios \\'o\lIld "1' III i\LII\ hlld,
:;., SIIIT\ II, (,I (',I; Sliin III, ('i (H); SIIIT\' \', ! I I;, !S7 <)n, Sillc\' ',01111' "I fh" flll",j.I,', 1l',f,'d III "flll'l' IIWII'., h""",It"ld,, \\1'1'1' 1)I>;Ird('I'\, tI",\" 11('1 't'III;II~I'" ",Ill Ill' '"II',lIkl!'d 10\\,
TOW Aim SLA VF.RY
achieve such a large slave labor force by the end of the seventeenrh century Virginians mllst have been buying at least as many slaves
Barbados as they got from the Roya I end of the company monopoly in
force \vas seventeenth century, much more than halt must position by I 708, f~lr official records shmN that in the preceding ten years 5,9 28 slaves were brought by priv<ne traders and 679 by the company.:1H And the company's papers testify to a great demand for
that raised the Virginia price far enough above the 'Vest the costs of the longer n)yage. The COI11
them to head for
or Jill Y when the \Tirginians were paying J...: 30 to 'J .111 amalca. 41
But the planters in Virginia, as in the \ Vest Indies, were more (,;Iger to buy slaves than to p<ly for thelll. During the first five years of the new century, thev overextended their credit, and the com
\vas faced wi;h a Il1~dtitllde of protested hills of exchange.l~ By was so disturbed hy the rising indebt
traffic, on
:l:l Donnan, DOClIIJ)ClltI, 17 2 -73, 40 T. ,5H, Puhlic Record Office. H To Charles Chaplin et aI., Dec, 7, 17°4- Ibid. ~~To Gavin Corbin (the company's agent in Virginia), April 26,
'Lly 15, 1705; Feb, 20, 1705/6; March 27, May 27, Sept, 30, NOI', IR, 17°7; 1'('11. "-t' April 9, June 4, 1709; March 23, April IH, 17 10 ; Aug, 23, f711. r, 70! ,H, "VitI! their letters the cOI1lpan y retumed the protested bills of
('\
"Id goal of rctlueing toh~cc(l proouc, II\(' (.!;rowth of the l:Jbol- force, And some JI(IIIILers of SI:l\TS Ill;}I' haH' f;l\'ored it in or~ler to increase the ',h \t'\ t hl'I' It;HI acquired, Sl'C .JOI1CS, I'n'\'('/It State of Virgillia, 13 2 ; Donnan, /lorl/lllt'JI/I', 1\', q" 1,\1')2, 'I'll(' histor,l' of il1lport duties Oll slaves in
(,(,IlIi1n'llllII'r \'iqo;il1ia i, cOllll'lc\, Sec ('SPCCi:1Jh' Thad \\" Tate, Jr., 1'1,." N('Izro ill 1':i,l;I'I('III/' (,'<'IIII/ry '" iJli,l//ls/i/lrg (Cltarioltl'wilk, I<)('~),
"\'irgll\i:l ,Ill.! IIIl' 1'"gli,1t CllllllIIl'rci;lI S\~tl'llI, H'I11!"" .Ii''''11:lIi(lll, PriliCeitlll Illli\cl',jll, 1,)1>.,),
I) \\,,1\, "~q~rtl 11I1I,,,n Duli,", ill (:..1,,"1,11
" ,',IIlIH,1 \\1\ (<I)" L "I I
308 I AMERICAN SLAVERY-AMERICA]',; FREEDOM I
conversion to slave labor had already been made. According to Edmund Jennings, writing in 1708, virtually no white servants had been imported in the preceding six years.4~ This was not the end of white servitude in Virginia, but henceforth white servants were a~ much the exception in the tobacco fields as slaves had been earlier. Between 1708 and 1750 Virginia recorded the entry of 38,4l8 slaves into the colony.4;;
Virginia had developed her plantation system 'without slaves, and slavery introduced no novelties to methods of productioll. Though no seventeenth-century plantation had a work force ;IS large as that owned by some eighteenth-century planters, the mode of operation was the same. The seventeenth-century plantation ready had its separate qllartering house or hOllses for the servants. Their labor was already supervised in groups of eight or ten by :In overseer. They were already subject to "correction" by the \vhip. They were already often underfed and underclothed. Their masters already lived in fear of their rebelling. But no servant rebellion in Virginia ever got off the ground.
The plantation system operated by servants worked. It madt, many Virginians rich and England's merchants and kings richer. But it had one insuperable disadvantage. Every year it poured a host of new freemen into a society where the opportunities for advance 111ent were limited. The freedmen were Virginia'S dangerous men, They erupted in 1676 in the largest rebellion known in any Allier ican colony before the Revolution, and in 1682 they carried evell the plant-cutting rebellion further than any servant rebellioll had ever gone. The substitution of slaves for servants gradually e;lsed and eventually ended the threat that the freedmen posed: as tilt' annual number of imported servants dropped, so did the number of men turning free. . ' The planters who bought slaves instead of servants did not do so with any apparent consciousness of the social stability to I>l' gained thereby, Indeed, insofar as Virginians expressed thelllselVl'S on the subject of slavery, they feared that it would magnify t h(' danger of msurrection in the colony. They often blamed and pit ied themselves for taking into their families men and \VOIllen who had every reasoll to hate them. \ VilJiam Byrd told the Earl of Fgllloill
-II (:.0.,,/ 1111l, L" 1" "1:'//i,loyic,d ,'il,1fiJlin" of Ibe lilJited ')I,II('S, 7("); 1)ollilall, / lon/III"IJII,
IV, 17, 110.
10\\"/lIUl SI.,\\"Vlty I jill) I III .lilly, 1736, that "in case I here shout! arise;1 Mall of desperate cour ;Ige ;llIlollgst liS, exasperated hy a desperale fortlille, he Illight with 1I101"C advantage thall Catalil1e kindle a Servile \ Val'," allt! llIal,l' Virginia's broad rivers rUll with blood.1Il But the danger nenr ilia
- L
(nialized. From time to time the planters Wl're ;darllled hy Ihe dis ('O\'('ry of a conspiracy among the slaves; bur, as had happcncd car
when servants plotted rebellion, some conspirator always leaked 1hl' plan in time to spoil it. No white person was killed in a slave Ichellioll in colonial Virginia.1i Slaves proved, in fact, less dangcrolls IlwI free or semi-free laborers. They had none of the rising expCl' 1;lIiollS that have so often prompted rebellion ill hUlllafl history. They were not armed and did not have to be a rllled. ~I:!ley wcn' / "ilhollt hope and did not have to be given hope. \Villiam Byrd him" ',d f probably did not take the danger from them seriollsl y. Otlly ',('YCIl months before his letter to Egmont, he assured Peln Ike!( I flrd of Jamaica that, "our negroes arc not so IHlIllCrOllS or so ell (nprizeing as to give t'i:... any apprehention or lIIH:asillcss." Ix
\Vith slavery Virginians could cxceed all their pre\'iolls di"mls (0 Il1aximize productivity. In the first half of the l'l'IlII11")', ;1, Ih!".\" ',ollght to bring stability to their volatile society, they had idl'lIllIl('\1 \\ork as wealth, time as money, but there \Vcre limits 10 IIlI" ;l1I101111t of both work and time that could he extr:lClcd fl"OII1 a sen'alll" I"here was no limit to the \-\'ork or time that a mastn cOlild ("0111
11I:ll1d from his slaves, beyond his need to allow tllclIl l'Il0llgh 1m 1'.11 illg and sleeping to enable them to keep workillg. F"l'n Oil Ihal /1(' Illight skimp. Robert Carter of Nomini Iiall, accollilted ;1 hlllll;Jll(' 111,111, made it a policy to give his slaves less food thall Ihe), Ill'('dl'd :llId required thenl to fill out their diet by keepillg cilichns a1\d hv \\orklllg Sundays in small gardells attached to t hcir l':lbills. Thcir 1",lhiIIS. too, he made thelll build and repair Oil Sundays.'~' (::Irtcr's,.
HI '/Jid., Ill-P. / I, "I';l[(\ Negro ill 1Ii il/iaIllJIJllrg, 100 wHo FOI' of t'oll'ipiracic\
"T II',\/Q, lSI scr., X (1<)012), 17H; /·:.r<'Cllth'<' I, Hr, Ii 7, ,I" I I, H1r.. (;nald iV. i'Vlllllill, nigbl ,I/Id J<('h"J/irm: ,)'/m'<' UniSl,III'",' ill
(Ne\\" York, It)?l), Ihe fOrlll'i of ""',i<;l;1I1('l' olft'rt'd h," sl;1\TS alld cOlldlldl'~; thai it wa'i IItt' Illost "a('("\lI\IILI1('d" .. !;"TS who prnvnl IIloq rebt'lliolis. ()II(' Illight 'i;I,", ill ollwr words, tlllll III<" ""'/"(' s\:tn"s (';11111' to J"('SI'llIhlc thl" indigl"11I fn'l'IlIl'll WhOl1l thn" di'il'lacnl, ill!" 1I10lT dangerous Ihe,' IH'CIIIIl'.
IH I' "II /I /I, \::\ \: \' I (It) I Ii), Ii I. '" 1111111<"1" I). 1'";lri'ih, I"d., /1111111.11 dll,/ /.<"Ilcr.1 "/ 1'I,ili/1 I'id'/'n I'I11'i.1I1
1')\ ; (:I(;llIolil""III(", ItI(,H), ,Ii, '1(', !o! '"
I *"
J 10 J\I\II',I!II>\N .'ili\\"'U\' A,\lHIICAN H!FI'1l0!\1
uncle, Landoll (:arter of Sabllll' 11;111, Illilde his SLIIT.'i htl}, pall 01 their own clothes out of the procceds of what they grcw ill dll'II gardens.:iO
Demographically, too, the conversion to sla very ellhalln.:d \'11 ginia's capacity for maximum productivity. Earlier the he:lv)' ('Oil centration in the population of men of workillg :lge had 1.1"'" achieved by the small number of women and children :llliollg I II., immigrants and by the heavy mortality. But with wOlllen 011111\'1111{ men, the segment of women and their children grew; and as 1111111.11 ity declined the segment of men beyond working age grew. 111I'1t' was, in other words, an increase in the non-productive proport iOIl 01 the population. Slavery made possible the restoration :md 1l1:lillll' nance of a highly productive population. Masters had no hesil:1I iOll about putting slave women to work in the tobacco fields, :1It1IOIIKh servant women were not normally so employed. And they prohahlv made slave children start work earlier than free children did. ol Thl'II' was no need to keep them from work for purposes of ellucal iOIl Nor was it necessary to divert productive energy to the SllPP01'I III ministers for spiritual guidance to them and their parents. The ~b\',' .population could thus be more productive than a free popular iOIl with the same age and sex structure would have been. It could abo be more reproductive than a free population that grew mainly from the importation of servants, because slav,e,,,raders generally carril'd about two women for every three 111e[1,,,2 a larger proportiol1 01 women by far than had been the case with servants. Slave WOIIU'II while employed in tobacco could still raise children and thlls COli tribute to the growth of the productive proportion of the popuLI tion. Moreover, the children became the property of the lll:ISII'r,
" Thus slaves offered the planter a way of disposing his profits Iha' combined the advantages of cattle and of servants, and these had :II ways been the most attractive investments in Virginia.
The only obvious disadvantage that slavery presented to \' il ginia masters was a simple one: slaves had no incentive to work '1 'lit' difference, however, between the incentive of a slave and that of a servant bound for a term of years was not great. The servant had
50 Landon Carter, Diary, Jack P. Greene, cd., (CIl<Ir\ottcsvillc, I t)(" ), I,
48+ ,,1 From u'iHo to 1705 imported Negro children were tithahl(~ al II!!'
age of twelve and illlported "Christian servants" at the age of fourteell. III 1705 the age was changed to sixteen for both. Helling, 11,47<) ,Il,,; III, I'ill \'),
r,~ Davies, f(oyal Africall C01J1/JilJlY, HJ').
I , , II !\ ,,,, , , .. I ". ~ , .~ •
ill(,I'1,\ I(,!(,llnlill', 1(,\1,11,1111 lil(, 1(>1111 ,,111)(' ,,,'(';111 p,I'.',ill'Y \\ilwil h, , IlIJiil,(' I he ~LIIT, had 1)('('11 so e;II',l'r 10 IILlld' IIlill he I\;I~ \l'dII1l1~ I" l'llid hi~ Lillo! for :l /(TIII of \T.lr~ to! it. I LIIIII!', l'c('('ilnl his pilY 111(111 ill ;)(h';l11(,C, ht' ('ould lIot he cOlllpclkd b\' lilreillS of \I'itldudd 1I11~ II. \'irgillia IIlasters had :Iccnrdillgly beT!1 obliged to Illak(' 1'1'('('1 11',(' 01 the lash thall had been COlll1l101l ill Fllgland. Before Ihey oil 1,IIIInl sl:!vcs, Ih(~v had alre:Hly had pranicl' it! eXlrilctil11!, I\ork
Yet there was a difference. If a SCI'vanl failed '0 I,nlortll COllslstently or 1":111 :1\\,<1Y, if he d<lllJ:1gcd his Ill:lstcr\ prop 'I!.' either hy omission or coml1lission, the master could gel !II(' "lIrts to e\tcnd the term of his servitude. Thai recourse lias 111)1
"11('11 to the s];l\·cowner. If the serV:l1lt had n.:cei I'ed his rewa I'd ill Id\ilIlCe, the slave had received the uitilllate pllnisltillcill ill :ldl':IIHT'
111',1('1'111 had already heen extended. j\lasters therefore needed some substitute for the ntended Inlll,
',Ollie sanction to protect themselves agaillst the Sluhhol'llll('SS "I illose whom conventional "correction" did not rl':ldL TheIl lir~,' ,lllell1))t in this direction was an act, passed in I 00 I, t hal IS SOIlI('IIIIII", ,il ed as the firs~ official recognition of sbver{lIi Virgillia, III il I hI'
tried to handle the most COllllllon fortll of scn'ilc lilt 1';1('1 making a servant who ran away with a slave rcspoll'.t1'/('
lor the loss incurred to the master by the absence of the SI:!IT, III!' 1:1\1 read, "That in case any English servallt shall rull ;l1I;lY ill ('0111 jl;IIlY with any negroes who are incapable of makeing sat israel iOIl hv il(lditiol1 of time, Bce it cllClctcd th,lt the English so running :1\\;1.\ ill cOlllpany with them shall serve for the time of the said ncgroes ill I scnce as they arc to do for their owne by a former act ItIl(' ;1('1 IT <!lIiring extra service for double the length of the absence I," :,:t
Though this measure tells LIS something about the reLlilollSllil' between servants and slaves in these early years, it was a dCI(,IT('lll more to servants than to slaves. And it did nothing for Ihe Illa~t ('I' who could not get what he considered an adequate :llllOIlIlt of 11'011, out of his slave by the methods that had sufficed for servallls, (hH' way might have been to offer rewards, to hold out the C;IITOI ralll!'!' 1han the stick. A few masters tried this in the early years, :15 \\(' h:l \ (' seen, offering slaves freedom in return for working hard for :1 {('II years, or assigning them plots of land and allowing thelll lilllt, 10 grow tobacco or corn crops for themselves."· But to offcr rC\\;lIlh of this kind was to lose the \vhole ad\'anrage of slavery. In Ihe ('lid,
~ .
ri:, Hening, II, 20. 54 See above, chap. 7, pp, I S4~ 57.
3 12 AMERICAN SLAVERY-A:\lERICA~ FREEDOMI I
Virginians had to face the fact that masters of slaves nUlst inflict paill at a higher level than masters of servants. Slaves could not be llIade to work for fear of losing liberty, so they had to be made to fear for their lives. Not that any master wanted to lose his slave by kill ing him, btl! in order to get an equal or greater amollnt of work, it was necessary to beat slaves harder than servams, so hard, in f:Icl,
there was a Illllch larger chance of killing them than had hel'll case with servams. Unless a master could correct his slaves ill
of the law if he misjudged the weighl legally hazardous. So in I Mil)
passed an act that dealt with thelll
Au act about tbe caSltillt sla'L'es. of\Vhereas the onlv law in force for the
servants f]icted was
other than vioklll
cannot be ill cxtension of
meanes slIpprest, Be it eUilcted declaTed by this if any slave resist his master (or other bv his masters order cornTI ing l~il1l) and by the extrelllity of the ~()rrectioll should chance 10 die, that his death shall not be accompted FelollY, hut thc 1II;ISln (Of that other person appointed by the master to punish him) II(' aC(luit from molestation, since it cannot he presllmed that penscd malice (which alonc makcs l11urrhcr Feloll.") should any I11Jl1 to destJ'(J\' his own cstJtcY;. . \Vith this act already on the books in 1669, Virginia was pre
pared to make the most of slavery when slaves began to arrive ill qual1lity. Later legislation only extended the principles here recog llized, that correction of slaves might legally be carried to the poinl of killing them. The most important extensions had to do with 1'1111 aways. the numbers of slaves increased and the plantation qllal'l\'I'~
from the house of the master, runaway sla\'\', hide om in the woods, visiting the (1uarters ltv
or families would shelter and share food the assembly provided 111;11
be proclaillled at the dool I hell if I hI'
slldl
!'!'I II, .'7",
TOWARD SLAVERY 3'1
or 1lI1pCacnment 01 any compensate the master for captured alive, the o\\'ner might slich punishment to the said
other 'vay, not tonching his life, as they in their discretioll shall I hink fit, for the reclaiming any such incorrigible slave, and terrify illg others from the like practices." ['r
This was no idle threat. Though the words of the Ja w---rl' I ·· ""d' b'" "J' '" f I I It' ;1I1ll1l1g, ISlllell1 erlng, CilscretlOl1 -seem to so ten t 1e SlOt' \,
I he law allthorizes not merely an open season on outlying slaves,; hur also the deliberate maiming of capmred slaves, by judicial order. ( )Ile gets a glimpse of the law in action in the records of the I ,all clster County court for March 10, 17 0 7/ 8:
Robert Carter Esq. Complaining to this Coun against two 111_ of his named Balllbarra Harry and Dillah alld
the said
thc order of this Court for punishing the said Negroes hy them It is therefore ordered That for the het Icr I'C
and deterring others fron! ill PI';]("1 in', 5aid Robcrt Carter Esq. have full power according 10 1,:111"
the said or Either of thcm by Clillillg ofl I) their toes." ~"
1:1 lll,lsters \\'lTe
10
111
:,,; I Jelling, III, .jJ')() (170~). This ~UptTSt"ll'd a /;1\\' passcd III IMlo elll 1"'\\(Tillg "persons thin shall hy b\\'ful authoril\' he illlplo:'cd 10 III ""I king Negro to I,ill hilll if he IT~isled. r ICllillg. II, {Ill.
!" Ill'lling, III, {on ('I. III 171; Ihl' 1;1\\' II':IS l'\p:lIlded 10 alloll' tile di, II "'IIIIl("rllI("llt of :111\' sl:I\T "uotorioll,l, guilt I' of going :Ihro:ld in Ih .. .. I 1II11I1illg :JlI'a\' ;111.1 Iring 0111, alld (,;!IIIIOI Ill' I'lTlaillll'd 1..0111 sliell ,ho; .. ,,/"1 h- (,OIiI'S",O;," ;\1 Ihe ,0;;1111(' lilil" il W:" "p(",'ili .. d Ihal 110 olle 11':10; 10 I... 1""'.lTIII .. d for 11t(" d,':1I1t of :I "I:I\'(' "',(,IIITIII/: :1\ a !'l'slih "f di\III<'IIII)("III1("11I .. I, orreniolL 11("llill!~, IV. I If ;"
["ll,;III1:1\I("I' \'111, II', 1111'. I{"I"'II (:"1'''"1' 11':1\ Ih .. gl'alldl;!lh ... 01 1<"1",,, (:,11'1,"1' 01 NOlllllJi 11.1l1, II It'll I "",,'.I ,.r".""
AMERICAN SLAVERY-AMERICAN FREEDO!\1I 314 I
Virginia, the individual purchase of slaves instead of servants, alld the protection of masters in their cocrcion of unwilling labor,
with race. Virginians did not enslavl' Royal Afric;lIl Company or hy
had to mah
As one reads the authorizing Robert Carter to chop off the toes beg-ins to wonder. \ Vould the court, could the court, could
Co
eral assembly have authorized such a punishment for an incorrigibll' English servant? It seems unlikely that the Fnglish gO\'erl1lllcnt would have allowed it. But Virginians could be confident that Fllg land would condone their slave laws, even though those );nvs werl' contrary to the laws of England.
The English government had considered the problem in I07(), with the laws of Barbados, in which masters wert'
punishment that would not have b('('11 reviewing the b \\'s
because, .N'egros 111 and more severe manner like nature; yet I hUlllbly conceive that Negros are reasonable Lnvs, for by reason of come dangerous, and being a brutish sort of People and goods and chattels in that Island, it is of necessity or at least COli venient to have Laws for thc Govcrnlllent of thcm diffcrcnt fro II I the Laws of England, to prevent the great mischief that otherwisl' may happen to the Planters and Inhabitants in that Island." "n
It was not necessary to extend the rights of Englishmen t() A f ricans, Africans were "a brutish sort of pcople." And hl' cause t Iley werc )rutls 1 It was necessary or at cast con VeIlll'llt"1' I " . "I . " to kill or maim them in order to make thcm work.
Virginia. ,\\ () d\{'
:". C:oOo I oil, I.Il Ho
TOWARD SLA \'FRY ]1)
llart of masters that they were dealing \'lith "a hrutlsh sort f ,~
pic." 'fhomas Jones, of \ Villiamsburg, was almost affectionate it in writing his wife, away on a visit, about her household Ihphne and Nancy were doing well, "But Juliet is thc same I do assure you she has not wanted correction very often. T chear'd
with thirty lashes a Saturday last and as many more a Tuesday ;,gain and today Thear she's sick." (;0
Possibly a master could have written thus about a white maid ~ervant. Certainly there arc many instances of servants being severely heaten, even to death. But whether or not race was a necessary in-- .
, it ru:as an ingredicnt. If sLlYery might have come it did not. The only slaves in Virginia , ~
And the new social order was dc-
Hli Oct, 22, 17yi, VJl.1HB, XXVI (J()IR), 2115.
~ , TOWARD RACISM
16 3'7 1
kept the most complete record we have day-to-day operations of a Virginia plantation, and wilo
strove always to show a profit, repeatedly bemoaned the idlencss
I
TOWARD RACISM
"V,RGINIA slaves into a system of production that was already in substitution of slaves for scrvants tivity and almost
it played in the in American history-wc must probe not OI'ly
rcscmblanccs between servants and slavcs in the plantation systclll and in the consciousness of those who ran it,
Idcally, fr0111 the point of view of the master, slavery should have made it possible to turn the slave's every waking hour to thc master's profit. In an indust rial society, wherc it is possible to cngagc in productive tasks at any timc, it is tempting to think of mastcrs thus directing their slaves, But absolute pO\ver did not in for continuous employment in a pre-industrial socicty. \Ve have rcady scen that sixteenth-century Englishmcn were often idle. if because there were times plantation probably
just as it did 011 ;IllY ,rround 1I1i.,.111 be 100 b 0
soil or til<: cr()p. Frt'l'l,illg weallH'!' silllihriv clo\nl dO\\11 Illost ;I('t t\'it It'S, SUllit-tillil'S \\Clt her
111:11 precilided fil'ld \\011, 1llll~ht 1)(,l"IlIit l'\lllilll~ \\ood, hllddillg 1('1)('('\.01 ",'01111111' dllelin, Bill ,lil('11 II\(· \\oil,n', \lTII' kll \\ illlllill
imposed by the weather. "No working yesterday nor today," he \vrites, or "Not one day as yet from the 23 January to this day that the earth could be touchcd with hoe, spade or plow, that is I I days together:" or "The Skyc very heavy and the air very Cold ... We can do no kind of work to any advantage." 1
Landon Carter was probably not a typical The very fact that he kept so voluminons a record suggests that he was not. were not as egotistical. lion that everyone
He great variety of crops tobacco. But all Vir
some diversity. Nearly all planted corn, sometimes sheep. Carter's idiosyncrasies
wonld have magnified the amount of work he expected from his slaves, He used his systematic record keeping, as Robert Loder had done in the preceding century ill Fng land, to step lip the prodllctivity of his laborers, He had each sla n' tend twice as many plants as other masters required.:! And he stlld, :IS far as possible to the hoe when other Virginians were turllillg 10 I he plow, because, he said, "Carts and plows only Serve 10 111:1 ()verseers and people lazy and it is a certain trUI h I h:1l wherever they are work done there ~. (1('
\\-ork will be Carts alld (If parts of tile hllsi
it was not ill demalldil1g less ()f Ius da ys at a tillie, probahly (II ill'!'
too. Neither the slan:'s nor the servant's was one endless rOlllld
/)iary, I, I\,H, zoo, 1.1'3. Cf Ilartw('lI, Blair, ;tlld ChiII<HI, ['/,,'\('/I{ S{o1{i' "/ "ifgilli,), 9; .I01ll·S, ["('.It'1I1 .)/,lli' oJ "irgilli,l, 7(', ,;1\', " .. , ill W<'I "J' ('"Id 11(';11111'1' Ihut' i, lillie Il('clsi"ll 1'''1' their \1 (Irking- ill thl' jid"" in which !I'\\ 11111 Il't lil('111 II(' abroad, 1('\1 J,\' Ihi, 111('.111' Ihn g"1 .,jet or di .. , \Ihidl \IOllld 1"<>1'" ,1 gl'l',n 1",0; 1(1 ilwi, O\\'lll'I'" " Johll I "'111111<>11.1 Iud \\rill"11 11,\(, Ih:ll ill \'irgillj'l '('1'1 'IIIi'. did lit' ",,!'Ii ",III willIeI' ('\("'1'1 ,," II lil'llI"k ,lIld 1I1.1I;lIlg .. I rill ...... I ,',d, ,/11,( 1\,1'-/'1'1, 1"011'1', "".11'11, III, 1\:0, II, 1" I.',
C ,llln,l l l.lIl'. I, liS '/1./.1. ,HI,
jl8 I AMERICAN SLAVERY-AMERICAN FREEDOivl
of toil, because it could not be. And when he was not working, the slave enjoyed one advantage over the servant: since the planters bought slave \VOl1len as well as men, he could have some sort of fa\1l ily life. True, it could be broken any time at the whim of his master. But the slave, like the servant, in spite of his legal not entirely withOllt the means of magnifying a
could call his OWI1. Like the servant he could find ways of avoid work even on days \vhen the weather was fair. In fact, his
toward work and his success in evading it were so that of the serv,lnt that Landon Carter's complaints abour his lazy,
the world like Robert Loder's tirades against his lazy, unfaithful servants:!
A favorite ruse was to feign sickness, evell though this was a peculiarly hazardous one on Carter's plantation. fancied hiul
a physician and seems to have been obsessed with an urge to cleanse the tract of every person who came near him, purges, emetics, and enemas administered in heroic proportions. At the slightest complaint he would lay down a barrage of posed remedies that left the victim half dead for several which Carter would congratulate himself on his victory over tht' forces of bile. In spite of these ministrations-or possibly as a long. term resnlt of them-Carter's slaves were continually visited by sick ness, but never, he noted, on Sundays, when Virginia custom freed them fro111 field \vork anyhow.r.
Carter frecIllently f~und it necessary to entrust tasks to without the supervision of an overseer or foreman. Then he would
poorly the job had been done or how inordinately IOllg it took. Old men slept and boys played, when the master's eye W;lS not upon them. "\,Vhere the General IS absent," he observed, "ltllt ness is Preferred to all business." }7;very\vhere he went he saw e"i denee of "the same damned idleness." (i Like Robert Loder he track of how much his Deoole got done in a day, hmv many rows 01
tobacco plants they topped or could catch the shirkers and have them whipped. After
recording how he h~ld stepped up the output of his threshers, Ill' . in words that echoed I A)der, "This [ 1l1illllte dowil to shl'\\
things arc oftell iud!!ed in\llossible whell obstinacy alolle is the of ie" 7
For 1,1.17, ,),). ,//, .")'1,1 0 ", I"!, !"!, 11/, »1· 1'1 "1'1" .' 1\ •. 1' j', )Mi. i 1'. liS.
,. TOWARD RAcrS:\I 3 19
But there was a limit to the speedup he could achieve even un der close supervision. He observed that "negroes tyre with the Con tinuance of the same work," and he resolved to vary their tasks by
larger numbers to work on lengthy jobs so that they done faster and 011 to something fresh.' In a hot spell in admitted, "I can't make my people work or do anything."
1757, \vhen he began to reap his first corn crop, he had "but few reapers, so many Complaining of last year's reaping." W
Such observations suggest that work could not always be got fr0111 men simply by use of the lash. Sometimes "correction" was
a cane
counterproductive. \Vhen gardener disobeyed IllS repeatedly and he struck the man across the shoulders ("which did not raise the least swelling"), the man re
to get up the next morning and would do nothing. Two weeks when Carter gave him "one small rap" across the shoulder, he
feigned total paralysis of his arm and could scarcely stand up. This tilile Carter discovered that the reason he could not stand was that he \vas drunk.1t Indeed, drunkenness was a not nncommon problelll 011 Carter's plantation. Since slaves \vere not furnished with liquor
at Christmas, this fact in itself suggests that they enjoyed :l degree of mdependence than the bws allowed or their master
have liked. \Vhat all these instances add up to is that
of a servant less drastically Slaves were the labor force of a plantation I1lUCll as
servants had been, and what is more important for an understanding ()f the role of race, masters, initially at least, perceived in much t he same way they had always perceived servants. Both displayed thl' ~,lIllC attitudes and habits: they were shiftless, irresponsible, unfaith illl, ungrateful, dishonest; they got drunk \vhenever possible;
not work hard enollgh or regularly These were the complaints that masters ill every age have made
.tg;lillst sen'ants. And they \\'ere precisely the compLllllts that Lng fish economists and stateslllCIl were 1I1<1i.;ing against the htglish jlllor during the years when slavery was becoll1illg the prnaililtg 101111 of lahor in Virpilli;l. As wc have c;lrlier oi>scnnl, FlIglish ;\1. 1IIIIdcs to\\':lnl the
~
supposedly surplus poplilation of lite island cli;t1Wl'd Iltarkl'dl, dllrirw the cOllrse of I he Sl'\t'I\t('('I\! h n'llI 111\'.
\,."1 # .. " •
ill(' 1I11rd <l1I:lrtn il \\as f'lTOltlilw ;1 COltlI1l0Ilni:HT tiLl! I h(' riehl'S 01
.; I'. " 1'. .' ;.1. I" 1'. If) 1'1" II,,}, I 'H. I
I ]20 ! AMERICAN SLAYERY-AMERICAN FREEDOM
people, because labor was source of wealth. England, with a seeming abundance, of people, es pecially in and around London, should have been rich. But English men could not help seeing how much richer the Dutch had become with fewer people. \Vhat was the reason for England's failure to profit by her !1lasses~ The answer, offered in a chorus, w'as the "ex acting humour and evil disposition," the perversity, the stubborn, immoral idleness of England's pom. 1:!
'-' conversion to slave labor and the use of slaves in other American colonies must be viewed in the context of contel11
English attitudes toward the poor and schemes for putting them to \vork. According to the men who wrestled with the Iem of England's poor, half the English population consisted of wage earners, and all of them would rather drink than cat and rather starve than work. \Vorse than the wage earners were those never learned any trade but begging and stealing. Tn 17 I 7 Lav.Tenct
estimated that there were a million and a half of them, IlO more than a fifth of whom were incapable of laborY \Vith so needlessly idle hands England must be the laughingstock of Europe because of "the multitudes of People which in England Cheat, Roar, Rob, I Tang, Beg, Cant, Pine, and Perish; which otherwise might to en crease and maintain the \ V ealth and strength of these King domes." 1,1
Almost everything Englishmen said about unemployed poor we have already seen in the Virginians'
\ complaints about their servants, slaves, and indigent freedmen. 'I 'he English poor were "vicious, idle, dissolute." They were addicted to "Laziness, Drunkenness, Debauches, and almost every Kind Vice," to "mutinous and indecent Discourses." They were able, Diseased, Ignorant, I dIe, Seditious and (otherwise) viciolls." II,
12 Thomas Manley, Usury at Six per Cellt Examilled (London, IMH», 19. For similar expressions see below and also references in 9, note ! X, The best secondary studies are Dorothy Marshall, Tbc I'o(rr ill the Eighteenth Ceutury (London, H)Z6), :1I1d I'mitioN or Ibl' Laborer.
1:1 An Abstract of tbe f)r<71lgbt of a [WI I\clic~·j]Jg, .111.[
the Poor [Londol1, 17171, ix. 14 Col(e, DiscollrJe of Trade, H". I" Furl/iss, /'osilioll of Ib,' f-a/Jorcr. I!X 10; All I,;//.!"i"y ill/o Ib,
eal/H'S of the [';I/('TC,/J" .md ;\Ii,wri,'\' or /b,' /'oor or [';lIgl.llld (I,ondoll, l'/IX). !); \{, 1 ),' /lr,',ld for Ib,' /'oor (1:.\I'HT, ,()!)X). ,j; '1'1,,' Nt',!.'./lI.lr (im','!'IIII1,'1/I ,111.1 ,lIdi,)olll /';lI!ld".)'III"1I1 0/ ii,,' /'oo/' (I ,(lildoll, '71'), ill( 1'".111('( iOll,
., TOW ARD RACISM 1:12 I
Virginia had originally been thimght or' as a receptacle for wretches; but as the idea came to prevail that people are or ought to be a source of wealth, the problem in England, as in Virginia, was to hold them down and extract the maximum labor from them.
F or Englishmen, as for Virginians, some kind of involuntary servitude seemed a possible solution to the problem. England had
a step in this direction under Elizabeth when Parliament in 1576 provided for the buildIng of "houses of correction" in which beggars could be put to work. 1U The motives at that time had been to place the beggars where they could not steal and also to lower the danger of insurrection. During the seventeenth century
a similar course but on a larger scale. In a movement that Foucault has called "the great confinement," they every
founded institutions in which the sick, the criminal, and poor were indlscriminately taken in charge. The purpose was not merely to get them out of the way but to make them contribute
they could to the national wealth. Imprisonment, instead being a temporary matter, preliminary to trial, became the mode of extracting work from the criminal, the insane, and the poor alike. Indeed, crime ana insanity seemed only extreme forms of the vice and ignorance that distinguished the poor from their betters. ,"York was the proper cure for all, and it could best be administered by in ca rceration. 11
After 1660 the English too were caught up in these larger as pects of getting work from the poor and revived their interest in houses of correction. \Vorkhouses (as they were now called) were
desirable for the old reasons, but the e~1phasis now was 011 ing the poor add to the nation's wealth by producing m:ll1ufactllres
If private employers could not keep the population at the government should do it. Proposals sprang up on all sides
government-sponsored workhouses, where the poor could
Hl IX Elizabeth I, (".1, Tawney and Powel·, Tudor J.:CO'llO!ll;C nO"I1 melliS, II, 3\'-','4,
17 Michel Foucault, M.ldlless ,m" Chrilj.:;',llioJJ; A lliSlory 0/ IlIs.IJ/lly III of Nc.1.I'OIl (Nt'w York, «/,~), IX 61'; (;l'orgl' Roscn, ,\tadll!' 1 I' ill
(Nt'w Yorl(, I<)()(), Torchhool; I'd.), [I'I 7'; I':lcd \Vall,er. Crillle ,111.1 11IS.1IIi1Y iJ/ J.:J/gl'lI/d, \'01. I. 'I'l,,' //IIIOl'j,..rI ,,)(,i'll, -il ·H; (;I'OI'W' RII'clH' :lIld ()lIo l'II'ClthI'IIIHT, "llIIi,l'/'IIJ"1I1 .111'/ ,)'o('i.rI S/lIli'1lll'e (1':1'\1 York, "Ii'), (q '/ [; I' l Ilu[ldn[, "lli,(ol'\. I'w('lIolog.l'. :llId till' SlIld,l oj 1kllallt Ilt-II:I\ ior," /olllnri 0/ /111"1.1111'11'/111.11)' Ili'/fIIl'. II ( (1)/1), 'II I /i. 1 :1111 indd,(,," [" I"nt",<,<", 1 1 (II It I ...
Al\IERICAN SLAVERY-AMERICAN FREEDOMI 32 2
supplied at public expense with flax, hemp, and wool for spinning and where they could be kept forcibly at the job. 1s
The proponents of workhouses generally saw them as educa tional institutions in which the poor, and especially the children of the poor, would learn habits of work. And like all advocates of edu cation they expected great things. Sir Mathew Hale thought that workhouses would bring the poor "and their children after them into a Regular, Orderly and Industrious course of life, which will be as natural to them as now Idleness, and Begging, and Theeving is." Hl But the kind of education envisaged seems to have had little to with the work ethic that we associate with the rise of modern capi talism and little to do \vith learning anything except work. The idea was to "inure" children to work, get them so llsed to it at an early age that when they grew older they \vould be unable to think of anythillg else. Sir \Yilliam Temple would have set them to work at four years, John Locke at three.~11 Thomas Firmin, who established a scheme for employing the poor in their o\vn homes as well as in workhouses, had a more liberal proposal than 1110st. He was in favor of teaching poor children to read hut no more than that. They should be set to work at seven years, for there was no point, after they reached that age, in having them "poring upon a Book." :21
The English economists tended to agree 'with Governor Berke ley of Virginia that learning \vas a dangerous thing. It bred nor only sedition but laziness if aCtluired by the children of the poor, "for few that have once learnt to \Vrite and Read, but either their Parents, or themselves, are apt to think, that they are fit for some Preferment,
lR Furniss, Positioll of thc LaboTc'r, H4-9S; Marshall, Ruglisb Poor, I2 7" 31; Sir Matthew Hale, A Discoursc Toucbi/lg Provision for tbc 1'oo'r (Lon don, 1(83), 2 \,-],0; Hemv Pollex fen, A niscoursc of Trade 111ld COY71 (London; 1(97),' 49; Charies Davenant, All Rssay 01l Ibe Rast fudia Tradc (London, 1(96), 27; Josiah Child. A New Discourse of Trade ( 16(3), )5'79.
,11' Hale, Discourse, 32 -33. 20 Furniss, 1'ositio'll of tbe Laborer, 114'15; C. R. i\1acPhcrsoll, Tbe
Political Tbeory of POJsessh.}e /ndh'id'llaiislll (Oxford, )(lil), 22124; H. R. Fox BOllrne, The Life of lob/l /,ockc (London, IH76), II, 377-<)0; cf. E . .J. Hundert, "The Making of l/oll1() Faher: John l.ocke hetween and History," IOllrua/ or the History of [de.IS, XXXIII (1<)72), .l lL
~I Thomas Fifll1in, SOIliC [)rll/WJd/.' lor hll[)[oyillg of Ibe [)(lor (I ,OlldOll, 1(,7l), ,~ 10. Polll';.:fcn aLo ProIH)\('d ,('\('11 :IS tlw :l~(' for \I:lning work, /)isOJII/',I'(' of Tr.,d,' ,1/iel CO,l'II, ,+
TOWARD RACIS1\f 1: j
and in order to it, despise all Labouring Imploymems and live Idle, rather than disparage themselves by \York.":!:! By the next l'eIHIII',V Bernard Mandeville maintained that regular schooling was only :111 other form of idleness for the poor. ~3
\Vhether from regular schooling or from lack of it, the children of the poor continued to distress their keepers. The failure of the cf forts to inure them to work is evident in the repetition throughout the next celltury of the same contemptuous complaints about the fecklessness of laborers and the need to overcome "their obstinate 'Nills, and their encroaching sluggish intemperate Bents." 21 .It oc curred to a few people that it might be possible to entice the poor into greater zeal for work by making them less poor, by paying them higher wages or by lowering the price of food. But most of the self-appoimed economists were convinced that laborers would work only when hungry. Higher w,lges or cheaper food would only mean lllore time lost ill drunkenl1css.:w "Everyone bur an idiot knows,"
~!! Pollcxfell, Discollrse Tr'lde 'lIId COYI!. 4Hj see also John Bcllcrs,
for R"risillg 11 or Illduslry, 16; Rllqltiry illto tbc G71lH'S tbe EllNcasc ami iHiseries
tbe "oor, (,1; Furniss, l'o.l'itioll of Ibc 14H-5(),
~:l Marshall, f,'1Iglis/,' Poor, 24. Thc l(ind of education favon~d by the lahor rcforIlJers of the late sevcntcenth and early eightcenth centuries is lllost \'il'idly described h~' olle of them, Andrew Yarranton, who had yisited Saxony and therc discO\'cred the idcal form of school for the poor. Hc described it for the elllulation of Englishnlen: "First, There is a large Roolll, and in the middle thcreof a little Box like a Pulpit. Secondly, Therc are Benches built round about the Room as thcy arc in our P1a~'houses; upon thc Benchcs sit ahout I\\'o hundrcd Childrcn spinning, and in the Box in thc Illiddle of thc Room sits thc Grand Mistress with a long white \ Vand ill her hand. If she obsclTes any of thcm idle, she reaches them a tap; but if that will not do, she rings a Bell which by a little Cord is fixt to the Box, and Ollt comes a \VOIll:l n ; she thell POilllS to the Offendcr, and shc is taken away illto anothcr Roolll and Ch<lstised, And all this is done 'without olle word \(lcaking, And I bclicvc this way of ordering thc young \\'olllcn ill is Olle great C:luse tll:lt the Cerlllan \ Vo 111 ('11 ha\'(~ so Iirrl(' of the twit twat. \Ild it is clear, that th" less there is of spl'aking, the lIlore there lila\, he of
\\ol'killg." Y:l I'nliH 011 , !';II,!!;/,wd'r /J1I/))'O','ClIIL'1I1 by ,(';(',1 ,1IId Lilld, 45 4(i, :!.j '/'bt' ,1/'-11111( IJI
Oil Coni ,II
:::) Cold" /)jy<,!!//i',I, ' of '/'/'",/,', I.J l~; 1\
.II Si.r I)·'/' ("'III, ! 1 ,'('j ./O\/IIJ;I (;('(', 1'/1,' 1'/,.1.1,' ,111.1 ,\"/"il;.rlil/ll of
( ;'.\/1 flril.,il/ COI/'/.Io,'.1 (I "11.1011,
",'(1), ii'>, 1'1I1'111"", 1'(11/11(111 "I iI,.' 1''''0).'1. II'; )('i I'\!, (;, 1':1111,,1>' "IIJI' "
'\ 1!l!'111 PI"loI"111 III p", (11'.'''' ,II " "
324 I " AMERICAN SI,AVERYAMEIUCAX I'REEDOM said Arthur'r'oung, "that the lower classes must be kept poor, or
will never be industrious." 2(; The object, then, was not the elimination of poverty but the
discipline of the poor. In spite of the contempt in which they were held, "vas no suggestion that their numbers should be reduced. Just as the Virginia planter who deplored the laziness of his slaves continued to buy more and encouraged the multiplication of
had, so the English authors advocated acts to facilitate the nattl ~,
ralizeltion of immigrants, especially poor immi!:!Tams. as well as acts to nrOl11ote early marriage among the
practice the discipline of the poor in England stopped short actllal enslavement. Parliament did not even discuss a motion
one of its members in I "that as an expedient to make servants more tractable \ve might bring inro this kingdom the use of Negro slaves." ~K And neither the workhouse nor its successor, the hcmry,
its occupants, at least in any legal sense, But they can seen as a step in that direction, and there were plenty of voices out side Parliament crying for the next step. Bishop Berkeley, who car ried John Locke's epistemology a stcp furthcr, also made an advance
and made slaves to the public for a term of years." 2D of
disorderly
in his social philosophy by proposing that "srnrdy beggars . . . be .James
plained of before a magistrate, and to sct them to worl\: dUrIng a cer tain timc, for the benefit of great trading, or manufacturing COlll panies.":w Francis Hutcheson, I he moral philosopher, thought perpetual slavcry should be "the ordinary punishment of such vagrants as, after proper admonitions and tryals of temporary servi-
TOWARD RACIS1\t 32 5
tude, cannot be cngaged to SUlmort themselves thcir families any useful labours." :11
The most comprehensive proposal came from Andrcw Fletcher a Scottish prophet of the Enlightenment. Fletcher at
of slavery in ancient times but also for having perpetuated idleness of the frcedmen thus tllrned loose on society. The by setting up hospitals and almshouses had enabled men
was burdened country, drinking, cursmg,
a remedy he proposed that thcy To the argument that
\cniences do sometimes fall out, it procecds, for the most
the Christian church not only for having promoted the aboli
without
t hem, he answered in words which ;t half later frol11 a George Fitzhugh: lIot use his beast ill only out of a humour; and
(he perverscncss of thc Servant." ;i~ of these proposals for cnslavement came to fruition; bm
suggest that the English poor of this time seemed to many of betters to be fit for slavery. Thc contempt that lay behind these
proposals and behind many of the workhouse schemes is not distinguish from the l,ind of contempt that today we call racism. ,(creotypes of the poor cxpressed so often in England durin!:!' thc late \nenteenth and eighteenth centuries were often identical lescriptions of blacks expressed in colonies dependent 011 slave
nCIl to the extent of intimating the sllbhllmanity of both: the poor \1 ere "the vile and brutish part of mankind"; the black were "a brut I'>il sort of people." 3:J In the eyes of unpoor Englishmen the poor
:11 Hutcheson, A System of Moral l'bilosopby (London, 1755), II, 202; ),1\ id B. Davis, The Problcm of Simler), i71 lVestern Culture (Ithaca, N.Y.,
1 'JI,(,), l7-+-7~. I alii indebted to Professor Davis for several valuable sugges IIiHh.
/\ Ildrew l'\etcher, 'l"q,/:o Discourses ("01/(:1'1'1111'" tbe AfJairs of Scot lI'ritlcll ill the Year 169S 169H), second discourse (paged
1',11';11"1,1'), 1~3i, esp. ,(,. ,,:; Sir \Villialll PCI!Y, 'I'bc ";COIIOlllil' Writill)!;s of Sir IVillimll J'etty,
I' II. I !;tll, cd. ( :'"lIbridg-e, IH'N). I, l7S. PilTIT I'all .let! Il<:l'ghc, ill "an' ,111,1 "'/I'ism: ,'I COIII/J,I/',lIh',. /"T(/),'O;"'" ("'1'\1 Yor\;, 11/'7), \ 1 \ \, has 0111'" ("",d 11\0 1\'Ill'S or !'ace !'('bliolls, 1':lII'rILilislic ;tlld I'OIIlI)("lill\'(', dilkrillg ill
',ll'I('ol\I"'S :llIrillllle.l IIIH!'-r (,:1,,11 10 III!' "illl''I'io!'" l:lt(' 01 1':1"", '1'111' """"1,11)(" "I Iii .. 1,ltgli·.1i IH'''' ,111.1 .. 1 .·il'lIl .... ,111I (1'111111 !.Ltd,·,.I" 11<1' Iii
" 326 A;\lERICAN SLA,'ERY-AMERICAN FREEDO;\I
bore many of the marks of an alien race. To be sure, poverty ~was not genetically hereditary, but work
houses and their schools were designed to make it culturally heredi tary, The poor were not born of another color than the rest of the population, but legislation could offer a substitute for color; and to this kind of legislation ParliaIllent was not averse. by the poor might not sufficiently designate their dltterenrness, an act of 1697 required them (as recipients of poor relief) to wear a
red or blue "P" 011 the right-hand shoulder.31 And since they were not only troublesome, but also "nauseous to the Behold ers," :1" they could be segregated, along with other viciolls, insane, diseased, or impotent persons within the walls of the workhouses,
. prisons, and asylums constructed to enclose them-the ghettos of the poor-or else they could be shipped to the
and contribute their share to the lIational income there. English poor seem to have borne it all without violent pro
test. During the period when they were the object of so many plans projects, they offered no resistance beyond the laziness,
enness, licentiousness, and insubordination expected of thcm. Namre busines~ of imitating art, and it was only natural that
to the image imposed on them. For the subject race to accept the role assigned it is a C01111110n enough phenomenon.
The members of this inferior breed of Englishmen who were shipped to Virginia could scarcely have been surprised to find the men in charge of their lives in the New \Vorld viewed them with the contempt to which they were accustomed. In 1668 the Vir ginia burgesses had even called for the erection in every county
perfectly into either but more nearly into the competitive tvpe, in which the lower caste is seen as "Aggres;,ive, uppity, insolent, oversexed, dirty, in-
despicable, and dangerous." All these attributes except "oversexed" were applied to the poor and to blacks. The characteristics attributed under the paternalistic type of race rclations, according to van den Berghe. are "Childish, immature, exuberant, uninhibited, lazy, impulsive, fun-loving,
inferior but lovable." Of these only laziness and inferiority were ascribed either to the English poor or to Virginia blacks in the eighteenth centurr·
:14 N1arshall, KII.I!,lis/.J [,oor, I02-·~i, Snch a llIeasure had bcen recoJ1l mcnded by Thoillas Firmin in 1{j71. S01lle' I'rojilisa/s for IlIIployill,!!, of l/.1e I'oor, 1.1 15,
a[, .I011l1 (;:lIT, ,./ I Jj,o)l/n,' Oil '1'1',/,/" (I ,olldoll, I l-H), 12 I; cL (;'T, '/'1""",' ,/11'/ N,l'i'it:,l/iuli II/ (ir,',1/ IIril<lill, I' ., \.
TOWARD RAClS;\l 327 i
on the English model. And they had empO\:vered the county courts "to take poore children from indigent parents to place
to worh:e in those houses," a move that lIIay have been vated Jess by the spread of poverty than by the perennial shortage of labor.:w For indigent, debt-ridden parents, when freed of respon
for their children, were also free to be pressed back into servant ranks. Thus Virginians shared not only for the poor but also English ideas of what to do about
Although a degree of racial prcjudice was doubtless also present 111 virginia fro III the beginning, there IS no evidence that English ser vants or freedmen resented the substitution of African slaves for more of their o\vn kind, \ Vhen their masters began to place
color in the fields beside them, the unfamiliar appearance of the newcomers may well have struck them as only skin deep. There arc hints that the two despised groups initially saw each ~lS sharing the same predicament. It was COlllIllon, servants and slaves to nm away together, steal hogs togetl1er, get
together. It \'las not uncommon for them to make love to In Bacon's Rebellion olle of the last groups to surrender was
:1 mixed band of eighty Negroes and twenty English servants.:!' The first slaves who reached Virginia came mainly from
where they could h,ne learned some English, so that COI11 Ill\ll1ication between servants and slaves was less of a problem than it \vould have been later when slaves came directly from Africa.
shared experiences in field and quartering house must soon have :,djusted their initial strangeness to each other. Today the racism of
whites is so notorious t hat Vie But in Brazil, as Carl Degler has shown,
to be confounded. \Vhile pres attaches to whiteness, it also attaches to wealth: weII-to-do
may rank aboye whites, and many poor blacks arc themselves 1I11ccrt<lin whether prejudice agaillst them is the n:sult of their color
(heir poverty,::'
Virginia too, before 1660, it to dis- III nice prejudice fro11l class 1"l'lllCd all insigni ticJm force, the COI1\
II, :(,(, ('7. ::7 (:ol(,llin
. ,N"il/I"I /n/ll, IWI lI'''il(': ,/lId ",fl-" /«('/,oj()l/\ /l'.r-:iI ,rid 1/
' ,' (11111",/.\/.11"1 I NI'\\ '(II I,. "17 I}.
328 ~
AMERICAN SLAVERY-MvlERlCAl-\ FHEEDOl'vl
munity of interest between blacks and lower-class whites posed no social problem. But Virginians had always felt threatened by the danger of a servile insurrection, and their fears increased as the labor force gre'\v larger and the proportion of blacks in it rose. i\ Ithough the replacement of servants by slaves reduced the annual increment of poor freemen, the numbers already on hand were still sufficient to keep the threat of another Bacon in everyone's mind. If freemen with disappointed hopes should make common cause with slaves of desperate hope, the rcsults might be worse than anything Bacon had
done. The answer to the problem, obvious if unspoken and only grad- recognized, was racism, to separate dangerous free whites from
dangerolls slave blacks by a screen of racial contel1lpt. Bacon him self had given the first lessons in the social usefulness of racism. He had had no special bias against blacks. Once committed to rehellion,
, he had welcomed servants and slaves alike to his forces. Bacon's racism was directed against Indians, and lower-class Virginians needed no instruction in hating Indians. Though by 1676 they were doubtless prejudiced against blacks as weU and perhaps prejudiced in a somewhat greater degree than they ,\vere against Irishmen, Span iards, Frenchmen, and other foreigners, the Englishmen who came to Virginia, of vvhatever class, learned their first lessons in racial
hatred by putting dO"v'n the Indians. They had begun with the murdcr of \Vingina at Roanoke in
15 86 . They had continued at Jamestown in the guerrilla raids of early years, the wars of extermination in the 1620S, and the final re duction of the Virginia Indians in thc I 640s. After the invasion of the Susql1ehannahs in the 1670S they had been ready and eager to follow Bacon in another war of extermination. That Bacon was not more successful in exterminating Indians or in keeping the anger of Virginia's freemen directed toward race war rather than class con flict was largely owing, as we have seen, to Berkeley's refusal to
cooperate. Bm if Bacon failed in his instinctive attempt to subdue class
conflict by racism, his was the wave of the future that would swcep Virginians into thcir paradoxical union of slavery and freedom in the eighteenth ccntury. And the rebellion did make Virginians COll
, nee! their most powerful racial hostilities, publicly and ofFicially, with slavery. Although Bacoll W:lS Ollt to kill Indians, he W;IS also out to t'llsbv{' IIll·lI1. The .I II Ill' ;lssl'lllhly in if>7() had givell hilll :I his IU{'II, ill elkl'!, ;) "bIT IIII III illg lin'lIst' !ly providing I hal :III\,
TOWARD RACISM 32Y I
encmy Indians they caught were to be their slaves for life;:m and the first assembly aftcr the rebellion specifically ordered that soldiers who had captured Indians should "reteyne and keepe all such Indian slaves or other Indian goods as they either have taken or hereafter
take." The order was reenacted in April, 1679.40 If it re<]uires a greater degree of hatred or contempt to enslave a man rather than simply to keep him a slave, the Virginians c1carly had it by 1676. They had madc a deliberate public decision to enslave Indians.
Only six years earlier they had made a delibcrate public deci sion not to enslave Indians. In 1670 the <]uestion had been raised whether Indians sold in Virginia by other Indians (who had cap tured them in tribal ,vars) should bc slaves for life or for a term years. At that time it was decided that servants who were not Chris tians and who were brought into the colony by land (Indians from other regions) should serve for twelve years or (if children) until thirty years of age. The same act stated that non-Christian servants brought "by shipping" (Negroes) werc to be slaves for lifeY Thus Africans purchased from traders were assumed to be slaves but In dians were not. In 1682 the assembly eliminated the difference, mak ing slaves of all imported non-Christian servants. I:! Since only diems and Africans fitted this description and since the assembly had already decided in 1667 J:l that conversion to Christianity after ar rival did not alter the status of a slave, the act of 1682 set the fur ther development of slavery on a squarely racial foundation. Indians and Negroes were henceforth lumped together in Virginia legisla tion, and white Virginians treated black, red, and intermediate shades of brown as interchangeable. Even the offspring of a mixed Indian and white couple were defined as mulattoes. H It had been I he original intention of the foundcrs to exploit native labor. And :15 Virginians began to expand their slave holdings, they seem to luvc h,ld JI1dians as much in view as Africans. If the natives of Vir
were insufficient in number, substitute natives from other re gions could be brought in, whether from other parts of America or from Africa. They were both, after all, basically uncivil, unchristian, :!ltd, above all. 1Illwhite.
111:11 ill!!, II ,qt.. !O Ihid., 4"4, 'H". Fillphasis added. (:f. ihid., IV, 10. II Ihid., II, 2H1. I~ 11,;,1., 4')" ')!. n '/lid., It)(). "/hid., III, 2)2. Bill Il1diall 1.100.1 was ('lid"lul\, cOllsider"d It-S\ pOlell!
Ihall that of I.I:H'I", silln' 1I0t ollk :r '''"eI, 1""('111 hili "\('11 :1 1""eI, 11'111 \1:1'. "111>11101,10 III.rI,(' " !'I'r-.oll '1":r1ih' "" IlIlIbuo.
w 33 0 AMERICAN SLAVERY-AMERICAN FREEDOMI
Indians, whether captured within the colony or brought froIll withom, never became available in sufficient numbers to form a nificant part of Virginia's labor force. But the act of 1682 did result in the importation of many more Indian slaves than has usually becn recognized. A law passed t\vo years earlier had made slaves tithable at the of twelve ;111d required the owner of slave children to bring them to the county court to have their ages judgcd three months of passage of the act or three months after their ar rival).15 In Henrico County, as a result, in the year froIll April, 1683, to April, 1684, thirty-three Indian children, ranging in age from to eighteen, wcre registered. In the sallle period no Negro children were rcgistered. Henrico, located at the head of navigation on the
River, seems to ha\'c had more access to Indian slavcs most other counties. In Norrlmmberland County in thc two years after passage of the act, the court judged the ages of two Indians and thrce Negro children. In York County the figures were four In dian and twelve Negro; in Accomack four Indian and nine Negro.
It seems dear that at the time when Virginians were beginning to buy Negro slaves in large nUIlIbers, they were also buying In dians. Indians were thus seen \vithin the settlements more commonly
they ever had been before, <Ind they were seen as slaves. Under these circumstances it was easy for Virginians to extelld to blacks some of the bad feelings they harbored toward Indians. The new blacks were also at a disad\'antage in coming for the most part di rectly from Africa and being therefore unable to communicate read ily with English servants. The Indians too \vere outlanders, probably mostly from Carolina. Both were slaves and only they were slaves. It would have been natural not only for their ovvners but also
feHow servants to lump them together in a lowest common de nominator of racist hatred and contempt.
Obviously it was to the advantage of the men who ran Virginia to encouragc such contempt in the colony's \vhite servants and poor frecmen. How clearly the advantage was perceivcd is impossible to saYi but if Negro slavery came to Virginia without anyone h;lving to decide upon it as a matter of public policy, the samc is not true
I;) 11, -t 7<;· IH Figures dr;l\\11 fmlll l!enrico II, :\orthulllbcrlall'\ III. York VI,
t\CCOlll;lCk IX, In the IH"\t 'TIltur~' Virginians t'lllplolTd th .. fri(,lldh T[hC:I rora to captllr.. slal (CO, frolll ('!H'I[I\' Iriifes, otrcl'illg "liH' !lsllal uric" of sbl'''s for ('\ ''1'1' 11011l:ln ;111.1 dlild .1,,11\'('1"1'.1 ;[', cal'l ill"'" (lcl. q,
/(jIlIIl.r/I, III, "HI, :'il
TOW ARD RACISM 33 1
racism. By a series of acts, the assembly deliberately did what it to foster the contcmpt of whites for blacks and Indians.
it forbade frec Negroes and Indians, "though baptised," to own Christian servants." III 1680 it prescribed thirty lashes on the bare back "if any negroe or other sla I'e shall presllme to lift up hand in opposition against any christian."!R This was a particularly ctfective provision in th,lt it allowed servants to bully slaves without
of retaliation, thus placing them psychologically on a par masters. And ill 1705, when the assembly ordered the dismember ment of unruly slaves, it specifically fo~bade masters to "whip ;\ christian white servant naked, without an order from a justice of rhc peace."Jl) ~akedness, after all, \vas appropriate only to a brutish sort of people, who had not achieved civility or Christianity.
Bur the term "Christian white servant" points to one of the complications Virginians had to overcome in emphasizing racial dif fcrences. There had always been in Virginia a rough congruity of (:hristianity, whiteness, and freedom and of heathenism, non-white IICSS, and slavery. The early acts defining the servitude of Negroes
Indians had assumed that they \\'(HIld both normally be non Yet neither Indians nor Ncg-roes were immunc to Chris
! 1;ll1lty, and one ostensible aim of the founders of Virginia had been () convert the Indians. Although there had been little effort to carry
out the aim, missionary zeal might someday effect it. And Africans, proored from their OWI1 environment, could be highly susceptible
o thc religion of their masters. By becoming Chrisrian would they IIO! become free~
Before the 1660s it seems to have been assumed that Christianity .lIld slavery were incompatiblc. Negroes and Indians held in slavery 1\110 could pro\'e that they had been baptized sometimes sued tll\'ir freedom and WOIl it. 1\'egroes who can be identified in the rcc ')1 do., ;IS free generally had both a forename and a surname, I';IP! iSI11, instcad of being designared simply as Mingo, Frank, ,111d so 011. The assenlbly III 1662 ordered the release of a Powhatan IIHII:1I1 who h;ld becn \\Tongly sold II1tO servitude for life, "he speak-
I!~ pnfccrly rhe Fnglish tOl1glle and desiring haptislIl." r,o \s SLII'(T\ bccallle lIlore profit;J!)!c, the :lo.,sl'lllbly I11O\'Cd to pro ..
Int IILISlers Ily huilding ;J \\';111 liCI\\CCII l'ol1\'lTsioll and CIlia 11)11. ,'\s \Ie lun' SlTII, il sl'l'l'ifil'.tlly prOl'idnl thaI haptislll
"II"lling, II, !HI), I" /1".1. III, -I-,H. I" II",{" .1).\', "II'ldLI·.I<..• .td)',1 ',,, I/".{, II, '"
333 •
332 AMERICAN SLAVERY-i\,\IERICAN FREEDOM
not attect the bondage of either Negroes or Indians. 51 The avowed was to encourage masters in Christianizing their slaves
eliminating the danger of losing a slave through his conversion. But the effect, whether intended or not, was to remove the most pO\ver ful motive for a slave to wish for baptism. And masters, perhaps
a lingering uneasiness abollt holding Christians in slavery, were content to be served by pagans. \Vhen the act was passed in I slaves were probably still expected to attend chnrch like everyone else, and the expectation lllay have continued for some years longer. But after slaves began to arrive in large numbers, it seems to have been abandoned.52 J\1asters were reluctant to have their slaves be come Christians, one minister noted, "because they say it often makes them proud, and 110t so good servants." Virginia slaves for
most part went unbaptized, despite hints from the mother coun try that they should be.";; The prestige that \vent with being tian instead of heathen could thtlS be reserved normally for the free and the white. But since the congruity could never be perfect, slaves were contrasted in the enact ments not simply with Christian servants
\vith "Christian white seryants." The assembly's efforts to distinguish snch servants
\vent well beyond exempting them from being an act that created perhaps the l1Iost invidious distinction bet'vveen them, the assembly specifically protected the property of servants while confiscating what belonged to During the seventeent h century it had been com1l1on for masters to give a cow or a pig to a favored slave or to allow slaves to acquire sllch property by extra efforts of their own. But in 1705, in the samc act that authorized the
~l Ibid., 260. r.2 The change may be reflected in the different steps taken
assembly to make its acts about slaves kllowll. In 16H2 it provided twice yearly reading of the acts in chureh in the midst of services the second lesson). But in 1705 the acts \yere to he read after the service, at the door of the church. The change l1la\~ imply that slaves were no allowed inside the church hut might gather outside, or it masters tended to spend more time in the churchyard than in may mean that COlllmissarv Tallies Blair had obiected to thl'
~ ~
di\'ine service. r.:\ l(mn,,)/.\' or tbe 11011.\'1' 01 UlIrg1',uc,\', 169)17(12, 17-+; Journal of
FI~;]ncis 1,lm!" Michel (17m), VMIIU, XXIV (1<)16), 11('; JOIIl'S, I'rl',\'('1/1 5,(.1(' or V irgilli,(, 7"; 1':lrgl,lIis, ";\("('011111 "f ,11(' Indialls ill \'irgillia," l.j.!; 1\1. \\'. Jerm'g:lIl, [dhoUlIg ,11/,/ /)"/'<'1"/"111 (;/,1111'\ jJi ( 10117 '"IN; (( '1Ii':'gll, lI)i I), i,l II'
TOWARD RACISM
dismemberment of unruly slaves, the assembly provided that servants were to have the sole use, benefit, and propriety of any property they owned or that came into their possession by gift or any other lawful means, but that "all horses, cattle, and hogs, now belonging, or that hereafter shall belong to any slave, or of any slaves mark . . . shall be seised and sold by the church-wardens of the parish, wherein such horses, cattle, or hogs shall be, and the profit thereof applied to the use of the poor of the said parish." ,")4 Thus even the
property previously allowed to slaves who had the excess en ergy and industry to work for it was to be handed over to whites-a highly effective device for dissociating the two.
Ir was in the area sexual rclations that the authorities were most assiduous to separate the races. Up to and perhaps through the 1660s it is difficult to document any indisputably racist feeling miscegenation. A famons instance, often cited, is the case of Flugh Davis in 1630, ordered to be whipped "before an assembly of Ne-
and others for abusing himself to the dishonor of God and shame of Christi;lI1s, by defiling his body in lying with a negro." 5" But this could reflect religious rather than racial feeling: that a Christian should not lie with a heathen. Or it could be a case of
rather than fornication. The specific order for "an assembly Negroes" may signify only the court's intention to impress
mores of a Christian community upon the heathen in its midst. vVe ha ve seen that in 1649 a pair of interracial fornicators were required to do penance like any other couple. And court records show the
fines or whipping for fornication, regardless of the color, up to 1662. 5 <; In that year an act to determine the status of the dlildren of a Negro woman by an English father declared that chil dren should be slave or free according to the condition of the Illother.
ii7 Even this cannot be seen unelluivocally as dictated by rac
ISIll. English ideas of property rights and the prudential consi 1 jc >11 of keeping a child with its mother and reimbursing the mother's Ill;Ister for its support could have been involved. The act could even h;l\e offered an illcentive to miscegenation by relieving the £"0"'" :lll1er of a III U latto bastard from paying fo r irs sn pport as he would
ILl\'(' to do in the case of a child borne by an Fllglish woman. Prob men frolll scizillg this OpCI!
t'\ PCI1S\\T Stll, Ille an included a
III, '1,<) (u" :,H S('(' 1101 (' '/'/, :,i I II, c/o.
J AMERICA]\'" SLAVERY-AMERICA]\'" FIn:EDOMI 334 I TOWARD RAC1S)'I 33) Christians for fornication with !\egroes. This again could be seen
concern and perhaps also by religious scruples betwcen Christian and heathen. In allY case, the act
intcrracialmarriages.
Greel1sted, Greenstcd married
Francis Payne, a free Negro, was. Aymcy, who remarricd
~
with a willte man, Payne's death. Aymcy's sccond marriage was endently less success ful than the first, for she was soon complaining to the conrt ne\\" husband was beating her and wasting the estate she brought him. liH
Another case of mixed marriage appears in the Norfolk County 'Nhcrc a qllcstion was raised in 167 I as to whethcr Francis
was tithable. The court decided that since she wa~ a was indeed tithable. SJ.::iper, who appears in the records at
was never identified as a t'\cgro and v.:as almost cer in 1679, but Ann was still
1,110 A morc remarkable case was \ V estcoll1b in \ V cst
moreland County, \\'ho was slave of Patrick Spence. In 1691 the couple dren, three of whom werc in that year the other to \Vcstcol11b.'i1 In that samc ycar the
:i~ \Varren M. Billings, "The Cases of Fernando and Elizabeth Key: A ~ote on the Status of Blacks in Se\"c11teel1lh-Ccllturl' Virginia," lV.HQ, SCL, XXX (1973),467-74
~II Northampton X, 220-21; XII, 5"9, 69. Francis Payne is identified as in thc records. That Aymcl' was white is eyident froll1 the fact that
she \vas ncvcr included in the tithc lists. That \VilJiam Grav was white is eddcnt from the fact that in 1666, whcn hc was a sen-ant to '.John Michaels, hc was listed \vith Michaels' other white sen'ants, Michaels' Negroes hcing listed
'were Illarried ;1f le:lsr as a~ Ft'hruary 1, 1(,(,7' H, when sold 100 ;HT('S of land, Nod"l\; V, 2H, Til\: <,ollrt's rulin)! that sht' \\as
rith:lblt, is ill Norfolk \'1, 7\, "Iher rd(TCIl<"C<; /,:1. ltj:l. H,). 'i", I ua, liP, Illa; Norfolk IX, "l'; \'11, ('7, 7+ F\id('!ll'l' of Skip\'!'\ ('\(,['lIlioll ill li"i') j, ill N"rl"lI; \'11, 'h, :!lld IX, I,n.
hi \\'''',1111111('1.111.1 \' I, I". ,II
.111,
"for prevention of that hercafter lllay cncrease in this toes, and Indians intcrmarrying with English, or other \,yhite womcn, as by their lllllawfull accompanying \virh one another." 02
The act provided extcllsi\'e punishments for misccgcnation in or out of wedlock. :\ white man or woman who married a Negro, mulatto, or Indian was to be banished from the colony. That the act ran COUl1ter to the wishcs of somc inhabitants is suggested by a pcti
to the council in 1699, by "Gcorge h'ic and others, for the Rc Act of Assembly, Against English people's Marrying
sess10n Surry County That the justices thought mixed marriages were too
') H:; Gcorge Ivy was a resident S;l111e name, from whom he
in 1689.(;4 The council referred In the samc
the'
!\orfolk was a poor man's county. Though the t he proposal, six ycars later it did alter the
,
1 '''. /II/II//;/!' ul II.,' I (IJI/\(' 01 /1111'::"11.'1. lijl)\ 1":0:, ",H, ,;.: 11"11111):,111,11 \ H
I drastic but morc effective deterrent to racial intermarriagc among ordinary people. Instead of banishment, \vhieh would dcprive colony of a potential laborer (or two), the assembly imposcd six ll1onths' imprisonment and a fine of £ ro. At the same time it levied
of 10,000 pounds of tobacco on the minister who presided at
thc 1705 revision gavc less at relations of white womcn
woman who had an illcgiti 'was to bc fined 1: 15. 1f
Thc child,
years \\'hitc poor would profit). rf rhe woman was a servant, servc her master all extra two years, as the servants
<:~ II('!lillg, III, H("H7, .;:; II. R. I\kllll:lilll', l"I., I.cp,isf.llin· IOllrtl,ils of l1.w COIIIII'if of Cofolli.li
,'jr.r,illj,/ (l{icillll(lIlll, ")IH), I, ,(", 'il j',;"r/"II; IX, 1'(1". X, ')1, "'\, IHI, d'H.I
~ , 3)6 i Ai\TERICAX SLA\"ImY-AMERICA~ FREEDOM
having bastards, and then she was to be sold for another five years. sale would be divided equally among the king,
All these provisions were repeated in
century there "lNere probably women.O T The laws against miscegenation were aUlled at the affections of these rare white women to white men. seems to ha ve been good reason for concern. In vVestmoreland 1690 to 1698 fourteen white women were punished for having a total of nineteen illegitimate children, of which at least four were
In Norfolk in the sallie period thirteen women were pun the same number of children, of ""hom at least three were In I,ancaster County from 1702 to 17 I 2 twenty-six white
illegitimate children, black men were
competmg all too tor whne women. even in the of the severe penalties. HB
The result of such ul1lons could be a \ between slave and free, black and mately become free and might constitute an . ther black nor white. By providing severe punishments for women who gave themselves to blacks, the authorities not only dis couraged the fraterl1Ization of slaves and poor whites but also as sisted 'white freemen to find wives.
women who had illegitimate because few black W0111en were
masters over women slaves, It IS women bore mulatto children. But since child, in spite of his intermediate color, toes would therefore not constitute an . be seen as black And the assembly took pains in tify them with blacks and to deny them
." This was Ihe rat in ill M:lrvl:Jlld ill '7"+ Arf'hi"l'('J or ,11,ltV/,llId, "" V, 1 'if,.
"" \ \' (",I \' I, '0,1 .. 11, I" :111.1 ", 1.:111(";1,1.'1" \' II L
TOWARD RACISi\l
The class of free Negroes and mlliattoes already in existence could not be eliminated wit hout more draconian measures assembly was willing to undertake. But the class conld be prevented, or at least hindered, frot1l grO\ving. In 169 I the assembly forbade masters to free slaves unless they paid for the transportation of them OHt of the colony,m, Later the assembly flatly forbade emancipation except by approval of the g()\'ernor and council for some signal pub
conspiracy) and authorized the Negro, mulatto, or Indian
to t hem and to dOlll imppropriate for them. In spite of being free, were the right to vote or hold office or to testify in COllrt proceedings.1l
And their women, unlike white women, \vere subject to taxation, whether they worked in the fields or not. These handicaps, together with the penalties for miscegenation, successfllily dissociated them from \Vhites, however poor. Consolidated in a single pariah group,
of ancestry, language, religion, or native genius, they re factor in Virginia's free societ y.
This in the council. Legislative I, 149-51.
IV, 132 (1723). The act of manu ,ined slaves was omitted from the comprehensive revision of laws in 1705.
1,1 17 r 3 the council, prompted bv the manumission of sixteen slaves in the \1 ill of John Fulcher of Norfolk County, proposed that the \ idc h:' a law against such manumission of slaves, which may in time by their IIIITease and correspondence with other slaves may the peace ,./ this Colony." Exctllti'C'c ]ouruals, IIT, 332. Bm the did not enact the provision until 1723.
71 TIcning, Ill, 250-51, 298. Cf. Emory G. Evans, cd., "A Question of : Doctllllcnts concerning the Franchise in Eighteenth-Century
\ irginia," ViI4HB, LXXI (1961), 4II-15. John H. Russell, The Free Negro III J /6/')/J!6) (Baltill1ore, 1913), is based on original sources and <"Iliains all excellellt trcatment of thc
How to Get the Most Out of Studying
Stephen L. Chew
Samford University
The resources include:
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2) Video Guide
3) How to Use These Videos
4) Outlines of the Videos
5) For Further Reading
6) Sample Concept Map of Levels of Processing
Purpose of the Videos
The purpose of these videos is to teach students the basic cognitive principles they need to understand in order to become effective learners. The lack of adequate preparation of high school graduates for college level work is of tremendous concern. In 2011, only 25% of high school seniors met all four ACT College Readiness Benchmarks in math, science, English, and reading. That means a large percentage of high school graduates are capable of college level work, but ill equipped to handle it. The success of these students depends on their ability to transform themselves into effective college learners. The video series is intended to help students accomplish that. The videos present a comprehensive, empirically validated framework of principles on how people learn that enables students to develop their own learning strategies and skills. There is really no other resource like it. The videos translate cognitive theory and research into simple, accessible, and practical practices that students can use in their study. The videos are broken down into brief modules, so that students can choose the ones that are most relevant to their needs, and each module is designed to be clear and engaging.
Video Guide: How to Study Long and Hard and Still Fail…or How to Get the Most Out of Studying
The overall theme of the videos is if students use ineffective or inefficient ways of studying, they can study long and hard and still fail; but if they use effective strategies, they will get the most learning out of your study time and be more likely to succeed. Each video lasts 7-8 minutes.
Video 1: Beliefs That Make You Fail…Or Succeed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH95h36NChI&feature=related
I. We made these videos to help students to make the transition, but the information will be helpful to people in most any learning situation. a. I’m not peddling any quick fixes or magic products that will make you an “A” student overnight and with little effort. Such things don’t exist
b. The bottom line is this: there are many ineffective and inefficient ways of studying. If you use these kinds of strategies, you can study long and hard and still fail. But, if you use effective strategies, you will get the most learning out of your study time and you will be more likely to succeed.
II. In this first video, we examine your beliefs to see how accurate an understanding you have about how people learn.
a. All students base their study behavior on their beliefs about how they best learn. Do I need to go to class? Do I need to read the textbook? How much do I have to study material before I’ve mastered it?
b. The more accurate your beliefs, the more effectively you will learn (and make better grades). The more flawed your beliefs, the less effective your study (and the worse your grades). Your beliefs can make you fail, or succeed.
III. Common misconceptions about learning that I call, “Beliefs That Make You Stupid”. These beliefs undermine your learning. a. Learning is fast i. Most first year college students grossly underestimate the time required to complete assignments or study materially effectively.
ii. Always plan in extra time for assignments and plan to finish reading material enough in advance to allow for review
b. Knowledge is composed of isolated facts
i. Students often write out the definitions on note cards and memorize them as isolated facts.
ii. The problem is that good teachers test for comprehension, the meaningful relationships between the concept and other concepts.
c. Being good at a subject is a matter of inborn talent rather than hard work
i. Many students believe that people naturally good or bad at a subject, such as writing, or math, or science, and there is nothing that can be done to change that.
ii. But, academic success is much more a matter of hard work than inborn talent
d. I’m really good at multi-tasking, especially during class or studying
i. The research evidence is overwhelming that we are bad at multi-tasking, especially if one of the tasks takes a lot of effort and concentration, like studying.
ii. If you want to be successful, reduce or eliminate distractions while studying.
IV. Metacognition refers to your awareness of how well you truly understand a concept.
a. Weaker students are grossly overconfident in how well they understand the material. As a result, they don’t study as much as they really need to, they take the exam and they believe they have done really well, and then they are stunned when they find out they’ve done poorly.
b. The problem for college freshmen is that they spent years honing their sense of metacognition for high school. Now they come to college and their metacognitive sense is all wrong.
c. Having bad metacognition may indicate that you have poor study skills, and if that is the case, then just studying more won’t help.
d. A key aspect of poor study skills is they increase confidence without increasing actual understanding. They make you overconfident
Video 2: What Students Should Understand About How People Learn
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O7y7XEC66M&feature=related I. How accurate is your understanding is of how people learn? Pick the one that represents the most important factor in successful learning. Only one is correct. Keep in mind that if you picked wrong, chances are your study strategies and behaviors are less than optimal, ineffective, or maybe even self-defeating.
1. The intention and desire to learn
2. Paying close attention to the material as you study
3. Learning in a way that matches your personal Learning Style
4. The time you spend studying
5. What you think about while studying
II. In order to find out the correct one, I want you to imagine you are in a classic psychology experiment by Thomas Hyde and James Jenkins from 1969.
a. Hyde and Jenkins looked at the impact of two variables on learning. The first one is whether or not you knew you are going have to recall the words after all of them were presented. If you were in one of the two groups in the Intentional condition, you were forewarned that you would have to recall the words after they were all presented. If you were in one of the two groups in the Incidental condition, you weren’t forewarned about the recall test
b. The other variable Hyde and Jenkins looked at was how participants rehearsed or encoded words, what became known as level of processing. Two groups had to listen to the words and check whether or not it had the letter “e” in the spelling. The other two groups had to rate whether they found the word pleasant or not. i. If you are checking for “E”s, then you are focusing on the spelling of the word, which is called shallow level of processing.
ii. If you are rating its pleasantness, you are thinking about the meaning of the words related to your own experience. That is called deep level processing.
iii. The two variables combine to give you four different groups. There was a fifth group just told to memorize the words as best they could. So participants were presented with 24 words, and each group carried out its instructions. Then they were all asked to recall as many of the words from the list as possible.
c. Results
i. First, did the intent to learn matter? It did not. Knowing about the recall test had no effect at all.
ii. You see the deep processing groups recalled a lot more than the shallow processing groups. 1. Deep processing led to better recall whether a person intended to learn or not. People who wanted to learn but used a shallow strategy, didn’t learn. People, who processed words at a deep level, even if they weren’t trying to learn, remembered them just as well as the control group who were doing their best to learn. So, you can have every intention to learn, but if you use a shallow strategy, you won’t learn.
III. Levels of processing says that memory is composed of a continuum of levels from shallow to deep.
a. Shallow levels involve studying meaningless, superficial properties of what you are trying to learn, like mindless re-reading or memorization.
b. The deepest levels of processing involve thinking about material meaningfully, interpreting the information and relating it to your prior knowledge or experience, or creating a mental image of the information.
c. Deeper processing leads to better recall.
d. O rienting tasks make people process information at a certain depth. In this case, checking for E’s is a shallow orienting task, making people process words at a shallow level. Rating a word’s pleasantness is a deep orienting task, causing people to process deeply and thus learn the words.
IV. Now let’s return to the question of the single most important factor in successful learning.
a. We can rule out number 1, because we just saw that intention and desire to learn are not important.
b. Number 2 is also not correct. In the study, both groups paid close attention to the words to do their orienting task.
c. You hear a lot about learning styles. There is simply no good research evidence that supports the validity of learning styles, so forget about them. Besides, if you plan to be successful, you should become good at learning in multiple ways.
d. I did make a big deal about committing enough time to be successful. But time alone is not sufficient for successful learning.
e. Number 5 is correct because it relates to depth of processing. i. If you read a text without comprehension, or if you memorize definitions without really understanding them, you are using shallow processing and you will not learn.
ii. If you think about meaningful connections, you are using deep processing, and you will learn whether you intend to or not.
V. Let’s summarize what we have learned in the first two videos.
a. Here are the factors that don’t help or hurt your academic success:
• Motivation to learn
• Amount of time studied with shallow processing
• Memorization of isolated facts
• Learning styles
• Multi-tasking
Now I’m not saying that desire to learn, attention, or engagement are bad things, but deep processing is the critical element.
b. Here are the factors that do contribute to your academic success: • Minimizing distractions; Maximizing focus • Developing accurate metacognition • Deep, appropriate processing of critical concepts
Video 3: Cognitive Principles for Optimizing Learning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xeHh5DnCIw&feature=related
I. Review
a. Effective studying is more than just a matter of having a desire to learn and devoting sufficient time and effort. Students have to use effective learning strategies.
b. If they use ineffective strategies, they can study long and hard and still fail.
c. Developing effective study skills is not easy.
II. In this video, I explain the basic principles of how people learn best, and how you can apply these principles to your study.
a. Levels of Processing framework, which views memory as a series of levels that vary in depth.
i. At shallow levels, information is processed superficially, without meaning or association.
ii. At deep levels, information is represented by its meaning or by visual imagery.
iii. The deeper you process information; the better you will recall it.
b. Basic principles of achieving deep processing, and questions you can use to satisfy each principle as you study.
i. Elaboration: How does this concept relate to other concepts? Elaboration means making meaningful associations between the concept you are studying and related concepts.
ii. Distinctiveness: How is this concept different from other concepts? Distinctiveness means that you have to make clear contrasts between the concept you are studying and other concepts.
iii. Personal: How can I relate this concept to my own personal experience? Relating concepts to your personal experience helps increase meaningfulness, elaboration and distinctiveness.
iv. Appropriate Retrieval and Application: How am I expected to use or apply this concept? Practice recalling the information and using the information in the way that your teacher expects you to be able to do.
1. Many textbooks have review questions in each chapter.
2. Textbook websites that offer review tests.
c. Effective study hits some or all of these elements.
i. Good students have multiple ways of studying depending on the teacher and the subject, but all their study strategies are based on these elements.
ii. Effective and ineffective study strategies can look superficially similar, but lead to very different results. If you just re-copy your notes to make them neater without thinking about them, that is shallow processing and it is not an effective strategy. If, however, you reorganize your notes to help you see connections and relationships among concepts, then that is deep processing and it is an effective strategy.
III. Automaticity
a. An automatic process is one that is so highly practiced that you can do it without any conscious thought or effort.
b. Any task that is practiced enough can become automatic, including study skills.
c. When you get to college, your old study habits are automatic, which makes them very hard to change.
i. Successful learning isn’t just a matter of developing more effective study skills; it involves overcoming ineffective or counterproductive skills that are highly practiced and automatic.
ii. Overcoming these bad study skills is an effortful, conscious process that usually takes weeks if not months and it involves some experimentation, trial and error, and some setbacks along the way.
d. Once you develop good study habits, they will become automatic and should serve you well in any learning situation.
IV. Overlearning
a. when you study a subject beyond the point where you can recall it successfully; you study it until you can recall it quickly and easily.
b. Overlearning information helps prevent forgetting and it makes recall fast and easy.
Video 4: Putting the Principles for Optimizing Learning into Practice
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9GrOxhYZdQ&feature=related
I. Some learning strategies that are based on these cognitive principles.
a. Think of study strategies as orienting tasks that make you to process information at a certain level of processing. i. Good study strategy makes you process information deeply.
ii. Bad study strategies make you process information at a shallow level.
II. Three research based strategies for achieving deep processing while reading.
a. Question generation . After you have read a chapter or reviewed a section of notes, generate some questions over the material.
i. Try to make the questions as meaningful as possible. Here are some questions you might generate based on the videos up to now.
ii. Some example questions based on these videos:
1. What is metacognition?
2. In the video, how did the teacher test for metacognition?
3. How does poor metacognition hurt academic success?
4. Why would metacognition that was good in high school be bad in college?
5. What are the critical differences between deep and shallow processing?
6. Name a task you already do where you automatically use deep processing.
iii. At first, generating questions will seem a bit awkward, especially the deeper questions, but like anything, it will become more automatic with practice.
b. The second method is creating a concept map of the ideas you are studying. (A sample concept map is included in the Teaching Resources) i. A concept map is a diagram of nodes and l inks.
ii. The nodes are concepts or facts that are linked together.
iii. AT the end of this document is a concept map I constructed for levels of processing, I drew this out by hand first, but you can do them by directly on a computer.
iv. Concept maps take time and effort to do, but they don’t have to be neat and perfect of creating them helps you process information deeply.
c. The third method is to practice retrieving and using the information in ways your teacher expects you to be able to do. i. Practice recalling the critical information without referring to your notes or book.
ii. Practice using the information in ways that the teacher is going to test you.
iii. After you have practiced recalling, you can check yourself to see how accurate your recall was. This will allow you to identify the weaknesses in your understanding.
III. Note taking
a. Three functions.
i. First, it provides a summary of key points from the lecture that you will need to understand and recall later.
ii. Second, you are creating a set of reminders for the information that you didn’t record.
iii. The third function is that note taking is an orienting task.
b. Taking notes engages you in the class, and how you take notes determines if you process the information in a deep, meaningful way or in a superficial way.
i. if you think of note taking as simply recording as much of the lecture as possible without thinking about meaning, then you are processing the lecture at a shallow level and undermining your learning.
ii. It is tempting to look at note taking as simply writing down what the teachers says without thinking about it, and that is especially true if you take notes on a laptop
iii. The real danger of using a computer to take notes is the temptation to check e-mail or browse the internet during class.
c. A few of other things i. If you missed information during the lecture, get the information right away from the teacher or classmates.
ii. Taking good notes is very effortful and usually requires your full concentration. If you have trouble writing fast enough, then consider asking the professor if you can record the lecture.
iii. Borrowing notes from another student is a poor substitute for missing a class.
iv. Notes are most helpful if you actively organize them, review them, and think about them.
IV. Using deep processing when reading a textbook.
a. Highlighting can be seen as an orienting task.
i. Highlighting in a shallow way can actually hurt your learning.
ii. Highlighting for meaning can help your learning
Consider the following paragraph, which was modified from an old psychology textbook.
How would you highlight it? It is tempting to go right to the bolded terms and highlight them, as shown below. You’ve skimmed over important information and you’ve set yourself up to memorize isolated facts, a terrible study strategy.
Freud found that his patients were often unable to remember the disturbing events he believed must have occurred; he therefore concluded that their memory for those events must be hidden from their conscious awareness. Freud therefore developed the picture of the mind [as an iceberg]. [T]he conscious contents of the mind–what we are readily aware of – are symbolized by the tip of an iceberg jutting out of the water. Hidden “below” consciousness are the unconscious contents of the mind–what we are not aware of at any given moment–symbolized by the bulk of the iceberg, submerged below water. The unconscious is further divided into the preconscious, containing material that we can easily retrieve from our memory, and the unconscious, containing material that is locked away and therefore not easy to retrieve.
To highlight for deep processing, read all the text, then be selective about what you highlight based on its importance and how it relates to other information.
1. Highlight connections, key distinctions, and applications.
2. Don’t highlight complete passages;
3. Good highlighting requires multiple readings of the text and meaningful decisions.
4. It is slow and effortful and, to be effective, you must review your highlighting later.
Here is how I would highlight the Freud passage.
Freud found that his patients were often unable to remember the disturbing events he believed must have occurred; he therefore concluded that their memory for those events must be hidden from their conscious awareness. Freud therefore developed the picture of the mind [as an iceberg]. [T]he conscious contents of the mind–what we are readily aware of – are symbolized by the tip of an iceberg jutting out of the water. Hidden “below” consciousness are the unconscious contents of the mind–what we are not aware of at any given moment–symbolized by the bulk of the iceberg, submerged below water. The unconscious is further divided into the preconscious, containing material that we can easily retrieve from our memory, and the unconscious, containing material that is locked away and therefore not easy to retrieve. ...Freud believed that the greater part of the mind–including most of the powerful forces that determine behavior and therefore personality–is beyond consciousness.
The first line of highlighting contains the main theme of Freud’s theory. I highlighted the key parts of the definitions of conscious and unconscious, and the breakdown of the unconscious into preconscious and unconscious. I have the definitions and the distinction between them. Finally, I have another theme of Freud’s theory. Different students will highlight a passage different because they have different perspectives. The important thing is that however you highlight should follow the principles of deep processing for you.
V. Studying in Groups.
a. Studying in a group can be effective, but it is also one of the easiest ways of fooling yourself into believing you are prepared when you really aren’t. i. If the group norm is that everyone studies hard and uses good study strategies, then the group will succeed.
ii. If the norm is that group uses bad study strategies and has many distractions, then you won’t learn.
b. Guidelines for effective group study.
i. Group study is a business meeting. There should be a goal for the meeting and an agenda.
ii. Everyone should come prepared and ready to contribute.
1. Set conditions for participation. For example, everyone should have read the chapter and have three questions ready to ask about it.
2. If you aren’t prepared and can’t contribute, then don’t come.
iii. Everyone keeps the ultimate goal of learning in mind.
iv. Everyone has a chance to ask and answer questions from other group members.
v. Any member can express the understanding of the whole group.
Video 5: I Blew the Exam, Now What?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QVRiMkdRsU&feature=related
I. You want to do things that will help you improve and avoid doing things that will make the situation worse. Here are things to avoid: a. The two worst things you can do is panic or go into denial. b. Students who panic stop coming to class or procrastinate on making changes. i. Stay calm and take positive steps right away. c. Denial is not one of those positive steps. I have students who fail three exams before coming to see me and asking what they can do to raise their grade. By then, there are few if any options. II. Positive steps to take a. Identify what went wrong with your preparation on the exam. i. First, be honest with yourself. 1. How thorough was your preparation? 2. Did you commit sufficient time for both study and adequate review? 3. Did you go to class and pay attention? 4. Did you do all the assigned work? If you haven’t done a big part of the assigned work, a poor grade may have been the best you could have hoped for. There are courses where you don’t have to all the work to pass the course, but you are far better off over-preparing for the first exam and then streamlining your study than you are blowing an exam and starting out in a hole. ii. Review your exam to see what you missed. 1. Diagnose what went wrong and how to change for the next exam 2. If your mistakes were spread out, it means you need to make comprehensive changes to your study strategies. If they are focused on particular topics, you need to figure out why that topic gave you trouble. 3. See if you misinterpreted a question or you didn’t follow instructions. 4. See if you had recorded the information needed to answer the question correctly. If you did not have the key information in your notes, then you need to improve your note taking. If you didn’t have the information highlighted in your text, you need to improve your reading. 5. The key point is that you have to read, take notes, and study at the depth of detail and analysis your teacher expects. If your level of understanding is too shallow, you will fail no matter how much you study. 6. Discuss how you prepared and what you discovered from reviewing your exam with your teacher. a. Most faculty want to see their students learn and succeed, and faculty are most willing to help students who are taking steps to help themselves b. It’s the struggling students who don’t come to see us who are most likely to fail the course. b. Examine your study strategies to see if they are effective or not. i. Poor study strategies are often appealing because they are easy and mindless to do, like re-reading your notes without really thinking about them, skimming text without really trying to understand it, highlighting only bolded terms, or studying in groups where you aren’t really studying. ii. Bad study habits can also be hard to do, but they don’t require deep thinking, like memorizing definitions or re-reading notes without thinking about them. iii. Bad study habits allow for a lot of distractions. iv. Good study habits are effortful and force you into deep processing. Think about what your study strategies are making you do and use the principles of deep processing to see If they are effective. v. Effective and ineffective study habits can look similar on the surface. Mindlessly recopying notes is not effective but re-organizing notes to be more coherent is effective. Mindless highlighting is ineffective but highlighting key meanings is. Scanning over notes or text is ineffective but reading while generating questions is effective c. Finally, come up with a plan for better preparation and study to improve your scores. III. Some basic strategies you can use to help raise your grade. a. Commit the time and effort required to develop and use effective study strategies b. Minimize distractions; maximize focus on studying c. Attend class, read all assigned materials thoroughly and plan to finish with plenty of time for review d. Set realistic study goals. Space out study time; avoid cramming; and maximize review time. e. Don’t start letting some classes or assignments slide to try to catch up with others. You can easily end up in trouble in both classes. Figure out a way to do the best you can in all your classes. f. Don’t give away points. A lot of times I will see struggling students give away points by failing to follow directions or skipping certain assignments because they are only worth a few points. Giving away easy points makes it that much harder to make a good grade. IV. A list of things NOT to do. a. Don’t be the student that… i. Keeps studying the same way and hoping for improvement ii. Waits until the end of the semester to seek help iii. Starts skipping some classes or assignments to focus on other classes or assignments iv. Falls farther and farther behind waiting to find time to catch up v. Crams at the last minute to read the material vi. Doesn’t do assignments because they are late or only worth a few points. vii. Panics and gives up. V. Diagnose your problems, develop a workable plan for improvement, and set realistic goals. a. Put yourself in the best position to improve and do better. b. If you have poor study habits, it will take a sustained effort to improve them because you have to both overcome entrenched, over learned bad study habits and develop new, more effective ones. c. You may have to try multiple different study strategies before you find the ones that work best for you. There will be setbacks, and success probably won’t happen as quickly as you like, d. Once those good study habits are established and automatic, they will give you an edge in any learning situation.