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Early Colonial Period
Blacks and whites were suffering equally in this time against the goring power and influence of the large plantation enterprise. Indentured servitude was a means of cheap work labor. As plantations started to kick off a large demand of labor was created. -
Land
Plantations also in need of land started to take it from the native Americans after defaming them and depicting them as savages in hopes to dehumanize them to the general public. -
Slavery Begins
The labor force was met through the transatlantic slave trade. Africans were taken hostage and were sold as slaves for income. These slaves were then sent to America where the conditions for travel were horrible causing a lot to die before arriving stateside. Africans were chosen because the Native Americans would fight back and the European imigrants were in short supply. -
Bacon's Rebellion Lead up
The planter elite was purchasing uncultivated land in bulk to keep the free men from being able to have land causing elongation of indentured servitude. Indentured servants were not treated much better than the slaves were. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Starting in 1675 Nathaniel Bacon started to plan an armed rebellion against the planter elite. He wanted to acquire some land for planting and protection and the planter elite specifically Virginia Governor William Berkeley would not give militia backing making it unfeasible. Mr. Bacon retaliated in an aggressive armed rebellion uniting all classes together against a common enemy in 1676 -
Control and Self-Preservation
After the rebelion in an act of self-preservation and control the planter elite decided that they would rely on slaves rather than endentured servants and decided to import driectly from aftrica via the transatalntic slave trade becase the would be far less likely to speak the language and would be far easier to control. -
The Creation of the Racial Wedge
To further guarantee their own safety the planter elite decided to give special privilege to the poor whites while withholding them from the blacks and black slaves. The poor whites were allowed to police the black slaves and held a racial superiority under the new system. This caused the white to become invested in the system the way it was because it caused a grass is alway greener standpoint of WE will always be better off than THEM. -
Full Effect
By this time the racial wedge had been driven in so deep and the social norm had dehumanized the slaves that we were completely racial caste. The black were now looked at a lower and inferior species to the point that life, liberty, property, and persuit of happiness was completely excluded from them because they were not even seen as the same species.
