Drawing on ancient Greek and Roman history, pro-slavery defenders noted that enslaving prisoners of war was an acceptable alternative to execution-once an enemy had surrendered, it was believed to be the victor’s right to claim the life of their enemy through death or enslavement. Slavery, as a theory, had been a commonly accepted European practice long before the exploration of the New World. African slavery provided whites in the colonies with a shared racial bond and identity. English liberty gained greater meaning and coherence for whites when they contrasted their status to that of the unfree class of black slaves in British America.
The uneven relationship it engendered gave white colonists an exaggerated sense of their own status. Slavery was more than a labor system it also influenced every aspect of colonial thought and culture.
Every colony had slaves, from the southern rice plantations in Charles Town, South Carolina, to the northern wharves of Boston. Slavery formed a cornerstone of the British Empire in the 18th century. slave trade: An exchange of persons held in bondage for example the exchange that occurred across the Atlantic ocean from Africa to the Americas from the 16th through the 19th centuries.
Only a small fraction of the enslaved Africans brought to the New World ended up in British North America, with the vast majority of slaves sent to the Caribbean sugar colonies.The increasing demand for imported labor in the American colonies turned the slave trade into a large-scale and highly lucrative business.The idea that military victors had the right to enslave defeated opponents was commonly held in ancient Greece and Rome.
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