The British Slave Trade and its abolition 1770-1807
Transcript of 'Why African slaves?' clip
Dr Douglas Hamilton:
The Spanish tried to use native Americans, but they died out very quickly through a mixture of overwork and European disease. European countries then tried to use Europeans.
Reporter, Mara Menzies:
The Scots and the Irish crossed the Atlantic to work in the fields. Despair drove them to sign five year contracts to work for food, clothing and shelter. They would not be paid money during this time, this was called indentured servitude. The government was glad to see the back of the poor, they got rid of criminals by selling them to the plantation owners. The poor, the needy and the unwanted became the workforce.
Dr Douglas Hamilton:
But they too tended to die out very quickly in the heat of the Caribbean.
Dr Lizanne Henderson:
They needed another and a cheaper form of labour. There were simply not enough indentured servants to meet the demands.
Professor Geoff Palmer:
So somebody had the bright idea ‘let’s get black Africans’. Because they’re infidels and therefore, in fact, it would be quite acceptable to enslave them. And the important aspect of that as well, the labour would be free.
Dr Douglas Hamilton:
And Europeans didn’t care so much that Africans died out in the same sorts of ways because they could easily be replaced.
Reporter, Mara Menzies:
Africans were not offered a five year work contract, they were given no choice and were fiercely forced into chattel slavery. The word chattel means moveable property. We consider livestock as moveable property.
Professor Geoff Palmer:
If we look at the management of chattel slavery, we’ve got to remember that chattel slavery was sanctioned by the church, by the politicians, by the merchants, by academics, and by the general public who were in general ignorant, did not know about it, but all that was within the law.
Reporter, Mara Menzies:
British governed Caribbean islands drew up a slave code to provide a legal framework for slavery. The code denied captives sold into slavery all human rights. Slave owners had the right to do anything they wanted to their captives, even kill them.
transcript of Why did Britain get involved?