[Back to the Main Page]


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     fugitive slave clause (Article IV, Section 2) [superseded by 13th Amendment]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)

[Back to the Main Page]