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The Atlantic Slave Trade was huge part in American History

By: Jennifer Solano
Word count:1800

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The Atlantic Slave Trade began in the middle of the fifteen century when African
Americans were separated from their families, transported onto ships in order to do precise tasks.
They were being watched by supercargos so they wouldnt cause any violent actions or rebel
and if they did they would lose their lives. The Lawmakers from the Virginia Slave Codes
created many cruel laws affecting the slaves and servants. Some of those laws had to deal with
the religion they hard, could not intermarry with diffident race and were not allowed to own a
gun or any type of weapon. The African Americans were considered to be less and the White
people had the higher authority. Planters provided their slaves with certain needs in order for
them to accomplish their tasks given. Not all slaves are born into slavery, many of them are
abducted at a young age and forced to become slaves without any choice. Slave owners,
merchants and lawmakers prevented slave rebellions on both plantations and aboard ships ships
by having the Virginia Slave code, threating them with death and forcing them to become slaves
and selling them.
During the 1700s, the increase of slaves was increasing and they were revolting on their
first day at sea. Slaves were only used for their hard work and not given much freedom as well
being brutally murdered. James Barbot was a supercargo that was responsible for the slaves on
the ships. The problem that was happening was that many of the slaves were rebelling or either
committing suicide or being killed. James Barbot mentions that slaves had pieces of iron they
had torn off our forecastle door (Course Reader 19). The reason for this was because the slaves
were being mistreated on the cargo. This lead for the slaves to rebel and act on so much violence.
For example, they assaulted [] boatswain (Course Reader 19) but they were just defending
themselves. The slaves used violence in order to return the mistreatment they were given. This
behavior of the slaves caused for the supercargos in charge to take action by shooting at the

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revolted slaves. This action lead for the loss of many slaves because James Barbot mentions they
killd some, and wounded many, implying that they ended up losing many slaves. After the
accident were being watched because the slaves were vist[ed] daily (Course Reader 20). The
slaves must have gotten terrified after the fact that the supercargoes in charge shot many slaves
because they were rebelling.
The slaves slowly started to clam down but not mainly because of the incident but
because they were given a little more liberty, and usd them with more tenderness (Course
Reader 21). This is defining the word liberty towards the salves having more freedom and
defining the word tenderness towards the kindness of the slaves. The reason why the slaves
were slowly given more freedom is because James Barbot believed that the only way to have the
slaves under control is to treat them fairly with giving them freedom. With this belief the
outcome would be that in treating the slaves in a correct manner they would end up enjoying
themselves and not committed suicide by jumping over the ship. James Barbot starts showing
some change in heart in how to treat the slaves when he mentions that they should be treated
with care [] and humor them [..] (Course Reader 22). Even though that even with this
change in treatment towards the salves was to be better James Barbot still had here and there
some slaves that will still revolt no matter the circumstances.
The Virginia Slave Code is a set of laws that was brought together by the Colony of
Virginias House of Burgesses being involved and having interactions towards the slaves and the
citizens of Virginia. The Slaved code laws were created in order for the slaves to know their
status and their own rights as well as their owners rights. These laws informed both the slaves
and the owners on what actions they were able to do and not to do. The purpose of the slaves
codes was to give the slave owners all authority towards their slaves. Some of these laws were

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towards servants that were not indentured. Indentured servants are people who agreed to work
for a certain amount of years under a contract in order to receive transportation. Some of these
laws were based on what type of religion the servants not indentured were. Depending on the age
and religion of either the servant being a Christian or a Christian parentage, their serving time
would vary (Course Reader 23). This shows that religion was a huge issue towards the servants
because their religion would determine their served years. This is considered unfair because
religion should not be main idea to determine the served years of the servants. The served years
for servants should be determined by their hard work over the years. Since during this time
religion played a huge role and Christianity being the most adored; those who were not
Christians were forced into Christianity (Course Reader 23). This is considered ridiculous
because servants couldnt even have their religion and had no choice but to convert themselves
into Christianity. There doesnt seem to be a logical reason for this code in favoring the Christian
religion other than just because they liked it more than any other religion out there.
One good code was that all masters and owners of servants shall find and provide for
the servants they were in charge of (Course Reader 23-24). This is considered a beneficial law
for the servants because this means that they should be well taken care of. The code also implies
that the master and owners shall not, at any time immoderate correction towards the servants
(Course Reader 24). This means that the servants will not receive any type of unnecessary
punishment towards them but this meant that they had to also respect their owners and masters as
well. Even though the servants had to be treated with respect, other races such as the African
Americans and the Whites were not able to intermarry. Intermarry was not accepted between the
African Americans or the Whites even though if they were free because if they did they would be
punished with prison (Course Reader 24). This is implying that racism During this time the

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African Americans and the Whites were not to be together in any way. They were always
separated because the Whites were considered to be higher and the African Americans were
considered to be below.
Any slave who repels either the person in charge of them or someone else shall happen
to be killed because the slaves are not suppose to repel anyone above them (Course Reader 24).
This code is strongly harsh just because the slaves repel someone above them they automatically
lose their life. Slaves were also not allowed to own any type of gun without a signed letter from
their master allowing them to have in possession a weapon (Course Reader 25). This seems like
the lawmakers were probably scared that if a slave owned a gun they might use it against their
masters or owners, which is why they considered this aa a code. With this code the masters and
owners were given even more control over the slaves and causing the slaves to feel even more
less than they already felt.
During the eighteenth century slaves were treated a lot nicer by their slave owners or
their planters. On the plantations the slaves had precise tasks to accomplish such as raise hogs
and cattle, and plant Indian corn and tobacco (Course Reader 26). This is implying that the
slaves had a pretty good amount of tasks in the plantations and that they had to work hard. The
reason why the slaves had lots of work was so they can bring great profit to the planters
(Course Reader 26). Of course thats why the planters have their slaves working hard and are
given a decent amount of work but they also care about the health of their slaves. The slaves
were permitted to only work when there was decent weather compared to having them work
when the weather was terrible (Course Reader 26). This implies that the planters do care about
the slaves health because they wanted them to only work when it was beneficial. Not only was
the health of the slaves taken into consideration but also their language (Course Reader 26). The

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slaves were given the opportunity to learn English because that way it would be a better way to
commutate between the planters and other slaves. As time past the slaves were being treated
properly in order for them to not rebel against their planters.
Slave trading was very common during 1789 because many slaves were being sold to
different planters. Olaudah Equiano was an African American that as a child he was kidnapped
and forced to be slave. Olaudah wrote his experiences as a slave and the struggles he had to go
through alone. During this time many African Americans were being taken away from their
families and being forced to be slaves or being sold to other merchants. As growing up Olaudah
had to keep an eye out for any assailant, or kidnapper, that might come upon [him] (Course
Reader 51). It is heartbreaking that all the African Americans had to be constantly watching their
backs for anyone waiting for the perfect opportunity to abduct them. Once Olaudah was
abducted and was on the ship he felt like he had gotten into a world of bad spirts (Course
Reader 52). The reason why Olaudah felt this way was because everything he was experiencing
was new to him and the only people he would see were white people. He felt the bad vibe while
being on board and he did not feel safe. While on board Olaudah felt terrified of the white people
because he believed that they were going to eat him (Course Reader 53). Since Olaudah was not
use to seeing many white people and because he was abducted he did not know what to expect
from them. It is reasonable for Olaudah to think this way because he was scared and not know
what would become of him.
The Atlantic Slave Trade was a big part of History because it affected the African
Americans. The African American went through so much during this time because they lost
many family members and were not treated fairly. They also did not have any type of freedom

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and were prohibited to many things. The slave owners and lawmakers believed that punishing the
African Americans would be helpful towards them but in reality it did not help.