There were a lot of obvious labor and economic benefits to creating a race based slave system; however,
the transition to race based slavery was more complex than what might be obvious to a 21st century
student.
Read Edmund Morgan's paper, "Slavery and Freedom: the American Paradox" and as a class
evaluate his argument that wealthy English anxieties about English poorer people living in the colonies
encouraged the development of a race based slave system.
What evidence does Morgan provide that
proves his point?
Around 1500 the population of England was around three million and within 150 years the population
had increases to roughly 4.5 Million. This increase of Englishmen did not show a reflect on the economy
to support its people. Madison stated to Jefferson “a high degree of populousness.” (Morgan,14) England
was beginning to see the same kind of poverty and unemployment that France had faced in the 17
th
century. England resorted to sending the poverty-stricken population to the New World to help uphold
their dignity and not be classified as a low-income country. With that, Morgan then realized that there
