American Slavery to 1800 Timeline
1572 | Sir Francis Drake in Panama: British join runaway slaves, ìCimarrons,î
against Spanish
Richard Hakluyt proposes colony of English and Cimarrons at Straits of Magellan |
1584 | Sir Walter Raleigh sponsors Roanoke colony: Negroes, Colonists and Indians vs Spain (fails) |
1607 | Jamestown established by Virginia Company: attracts mostly young single men, indentured servants, poor, displaced from overcrowded English citiies and enclosed farms |
1619 | John Rolfe brings African slaves to Jamestown to harvest tobacco along with indentured whites |
1625 | Virginia colony population 1400; 1640 pop. 8000. 15,000 immigrants arrive, thus mortality is high |
1630s | African slaves in Maryland |
1649 | Virginia has 300 black bondsmen |
1650 | English population reaches four and a half million |
1654 | English take Portuguese slave trade from Dutch (Cromwellís Navigation
Act)
(Portuguese begin in 16 C; Dutch in early 17 C) |
1656 | Virginia prohibits Indian slavery |
1662 | Virginia colony pop. 25,000. Longevity increases and land becomes scarce |
1660s | MD and VA begin establishing legal distinctions between the races (lifetime slavery, inheritance of slaves, baptism irrelevant to status...) |
1669-80 | Barbadian connection in Carolina (Port Royal and Charleston): Slave codes established in 1679 establish legally sanctioned race-based chattel slavery |
1670s | Virginia Assembly limits voting to landholders
Virginia hemmed in by Native Americans pushed up against the Appalachians |
1676 | 25% of Virginiaís freemen are landless
Baconís Rebellion: Nathaniel Baconís gentry vs. VA Gov. William Berkeleyís planters (Morgan) Virginia laws extend the terms of service for, and restrict the movement of, indentured servants |
1680-1720 | Virginia expands white franchise. Elective House of Burgesses becomes dominant over landed Council. Yeoman increase their representation |
1750 | Georgia rescinds prohibition on slavery |
1776 | Passage denouncing slave trade omitted from Declaration of Independence |
1780s | Northern states gradually abolish slavery through the 1820s |
1787 | Northwest Ordinance prohibits slavery north of Ohio River (Northwest
Territories)
Constitution: 3/5ths rule for representation and taxation(Article I, Section 2) [changed by 14th Amendment] permits end of slave trade in 1808 (Article I, Section 9) fugitive slave clause (Article IV, Section 2) [superseded by 13th Amendment] congressional control of new territories (Article IV, Section 3) document does not mention slavery |
1776-98 | Most southern states end slave trade to protect plantersí investment and due to concern over growing slave population (Stampp) |
1793 | Eli Whitneyís cotton gin (Carolinas, Georgia) leads to the birth of ìking Cottonî |
1790s | Kentucky, Tennessee join Union (Mississippi, 1817; Alabama, 1819) |
1798 | VA and KY Resolutions (Jefferson and Madison) in opposition to Alien and Sedition Acts impicitly support concept of nullification |
1800 | Gabriel Slave Conspiracy (GA) |