Colonial+America

media type="custom" key="6999181"Colonial America

I think that the students got mostly everything right. They said everything about England wanting more power and money over the colonies and how the lumber business increased. I think that they should have said how the Navigation Acts were made because the colonies were getting too rich for the England. They included that the Acts limited the colonies trading abilities.

Do Now Farming was mainly what the colonists did to make money, but the climate and land textures weren't good for planting crops, so they had to find other ways of making money. The colonies started trading with Europe and Africa and was called the Triangular Trade. America was a good trading place because lumber and other materials for ship building were cheaper there than in England. They traded slaves, lumber, tobacco, rum and many other useful things.

CCQs- Was England aware of the colony's trading with the other countries? They didn't want them to trade because then they would have been richer and more powerful. Did they try to stop them from trading with anyone but England? Also how would the Americans have been able to trade by ships if there were British people on every ship?

Main Idea-Since the land in America was not suitable for farming, the colonists had to resort to trading with other countries for a living.

Southern Colonies

__**Homework**__

[|Bcong14] I disagree because the Navigation ACts were only made because britain wanted to make more money. They felt that the colonies, who were making tons of money through salutary neglect, were getting too rich and powerful so they decided to take it away from them. That's when they started the navigation Acts and putting the British in charge of all the Colonist's trading.
 * re: CCQ's on Colonial America**

[|Bcong14] I think that the white colonists used slaves because first, it was obviously cheaper. If they had a paid worker to work in the fields all day, they probably wouldn't make that much money. A slave is cheaper. You just pay for it once, and then it is considered yours and you are free to do whatever you want with them. Because back then, slaves weren't considered people, they were like objects that you sold, bargained for, and bought. Also, a paid worker could just decide to quit anytime they felt like it and there would be nothing you could do about it. But a slave is yours for life and if they have kids or something, then you also get more free slaves to work later on. SO it is the better deal to have slaves working instead of paid workers, all because they make more money that way.
 * re: Responses - Why didn't they pay them?**

Be the Critic on Video I think that the students got mostly everything right. They said everything about England wanting more power and money over the colonies and how the lumber business increased. I think that they should have said how the Navigation Acts were made because the colonies were getting too rich for the England. They included that the Acts limited the colonies trading abilities.

Slide Show on Slavery I think that people thought they needed slaves because they wouldn't be able to have a business without them. They were the only workers they had. Slave owners might be convinced to not use slaves if they were aware of how much money they spent on keeping slaves. They could save so much money and start a slave-free business. Since everything was about the money back then, I think it might convince them to get rid of slaves. For the people who had slaves but did not like them, I think that they should have just set the slaves free then. Maybe they were under a bit of peeer pressure from their fellow colonists, but if thats what they believed in then they should have not used slaves. They too could have saved lots of money on not using slaves. Because you don't NEED to have slaves, you can get other types of work done fine without them.

** Olaudah Equiano Describes the Horrors of a Slave Ship ** ** ABOUT THE SOURCE ** The Spanish began using African slaves as a   workforce in their American colonies in the early 1500s. English colonists in North America followed in the early 1600s. A profitable transatlantic slave trade developed. By 1860 Europeans had enslaved more than eleven million Africans. The journey across the ocean was horrifying for the captives. Many did not survive the voyage. Slave traders captured Olaudah Equiano when he was eleven years old. He later wrote about his experiences as a captive. Some scholars doubt that Equiano actually made the Middle Passage himself. Still his account provides an important description of the journey.

**// As you read //**// note how the crew members treated the Africans. The following // // words may be new to you: //** countenances **, ** windlass ** , ** pestilent **

The first object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast, was the  sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its   cargo. These filled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into  terror, when I was carried on board. I was immediately handled, and tossed  up to see if I were sound, by some of the crew; and I was now persuaded   that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill   me. . . When I looked round the ship too, and saw a large furnace of  copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description    chained together, every one of their ** countenances ** expressing dejection    and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate. . .  I now saw myself deprived of all chance of returning to my native   country, or even the least glimpse of hope of gaining the shore, which I   now considered as friendly Q-Why was Equiano sure he would not return? Did he return in the end? . . . I was soon put down under the decks, and  there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as I had never experienced   in my life: so that, with the loathsomeness of the stench, and crying   together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the   least desire to taste any thing. I now wished for the last friend, death, to  relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me   eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands,    and laid me across, I think the ** windlass **, and tied my feet, while the other    flogged [whipped] me severely. I had never experienced any thing of this  kind before, and although not being used to the water, I naturally feared   that element the first time I saw it, yet, nevertheless, could I have got over   the nettings, I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and   besides, the crew used to watch us very closely who were not chained   down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water; and I have seen some   of these poor African prisoners most severely cut, for attempting to do so,   and hourly whipped for not eating. Q-Why would the white people whip the slaves for not eating? This indeed was often the case with  myself. . .  The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably   loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of   us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the   whole ship’s cargo were confined together, it became absolutely   ** pestilential **. This closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added   to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely    room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced ** copious **  perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, from a   variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves,    of which many died— Q-Shouldn’t the whites take better care of the slaves, because a lot of them were getting sick and dying. If they died, then there would be no slaves to make money off of, and no one wants to buy sick slaves. thus falling victims to the improvident ** avarice **, as I   may call it, of their purchasers. This wretched situation was again  aggravated by the galling of the chains, now became insupportable; and the   filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were   almost suffocated. C-That is so nasty, I would not want to be on that ship. I don’t know how all those women and little babies managed to survive in those conditions for a month. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying,  rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. . . Every  circumstance I met with. . . heightened my apprehensions, and my opinion  of the cruelty of the whites. . .  One day, when we had a smooth sea and moderate wind, two of my   wearied countrymen who were chained together. . . preferring death to  such a life of misery, somehow made though the nettings and jumped into   the sea: immediately, another quite dejected fellow, who, on account of his illness, was suffered to be out of irons, also followed their example; and I believe many more would very soon have done the same, if they had not been prevented by the ship’s crew, who were instantly alarmed.

Source: // The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the //

African, Written by Himself

** WHAT DID YOU LEARN? **  1. What did crew members do to Africans who refused to eat? Why do you think they did this? __I think that they beat the slaves who didn’t eat because they wanted them to be strong and healthy so they could do the work on the ships. Also, when they reach the slave trade place, they would want to sell only the strongest and healthiest looking slaves to get more money.__ 2. Why did so many Africans on the ship die? __They died from many sicknesses because the ship that they were on was extremely dirty and also many people commited suicide by drowning themselves because they didn’t want to live__. 3. How were the Africans treated? Why do you think they were treated this way? __ The Africans were treated very poorly probably because there were a lot of them and they were all slaves. The whites didn’t want them to rebel on the ship or kill themselves either because slaves meant money. __

CCQs on Slavery Other person Comment- It is horrible how they treated the slaves. Its inhumane. Quiestion-Why did they abuse the slaves when they didn't eat?

I think that it doesn't matter that the story might be a lie because he still wrote a book which means he learned how to read and write. it means that he is still capable of doing things that white folk do and it means he is still a human and a person because only a person could read or write a book. It proves that slaves are people too, not objects or property of other people. He was a very smart slave too, and if this was true, it means he was smarter then his master, if it isn't true, it means he is a creative and smart person. I can't really blame the man because he just wanted to be free. i still think that the story doesn't matter if it was a lie. The slave did value his life and freedom more then the other slaves' life, but he must have just been really desperate. After he bought his freedom, did he continue to buy and sell slaves, or was that just when he was a slave? Olaudah Equiano Wordle

Homework 9/26/10

I have mixed feelings about Olaudah Equiano. I think that he was a really brave and clever person for learning how to read and write as a slave. But I think it was really despicable of him to make a living out of slave trading to gain his freedom. however, I can kind of understand where Equiano was coming from, taking part in the slave business for his freedom. I mean, if I were him, I would obviously want to be free too. From the book that he wrote, we can tell that being a slave was a hard and tiring life. I would not want to live a life as a slave, so Equiano was probably just really desperate for freedom. Maybe he worked on abolishing slavery after he was free to make up for all the slaves he traded and sold as a slave. Overall though, I don't hate or respect Olaudah Equiano. It was wrong to trade off the slaves when he was a slave, and then work on abolishing slavery, but at least he ended his life working to stop slavery, not taking part in it.

Research on Olaudah Equiano He and his sister were taken together by slave traders. He was later sold to Michael Pascal, an officer in the Royal Navy who renamed Olaudah, Gustavus Vassa. He learned to read and write when he was sent to a school in London by Pascal. After he fought in the Seven Years War against France, he was sold to Robert King, who let Equiano work in his stores instead of in the plantations because he was an educate slave. Equiano witnessed many slaves beng tortured and killed, which made him want to earn his freedom even more. After he earned forty pounds, he bought his freedom from King. IN 1775, he went out ot the Caribbean where he became involved in setting up a plantation and bought slaves to work on it. He also appointed himself as a Christian Missionary trying to convert the Native Americans there to Christianity. Later on, he wrote his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African. The story is one of the earliest books published by an African writer and the first influential slave autobiography. He died ten years before slave trade was abolished from British ships.

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