## Colonial America

### CHAPTER READING CHECK

Question:
What is the name for the voyage of enslaved Africans from Africa to the colonies?

### VOCABULARY STRATEGY

Question:
What does the word "status" mean in the underlined sentence? Look for context clues in the surrounding words, phrases, and sentences to learn the meaning of "status."

### READING SKILL

Question:
Identify Main Ideas: Why did the practice of slavery develop in the colonies?

## SECTION 1: IMMIGRATION AND SLAVERY

Section Summary:
As the English colonies developed, Europeans began to arrive in greater numbers. In the 1600s, about 90 percent of the migrants came from England. About half of the colonial immigrants were indentured servants. Too poor to afford the cost of passage, they paid by agreeing to work for a period of four to seven years. Instead of receiving a wage, they received food, clothing, and shelter.

After 1660, English emigration decreased, but Scottish emigration soared. Generally poorer than the English, the Scots had more reasons to seek their fortunes elsewhere. Germans were second only to the Scots-Irish as immigrants to British America. Most of the German immigrants were Protestant, seeking to escape war, taxes, and religious persecution.

Immigration made colonial society more diverse. Although the different groups often distrusted one another at first, they all gradually accepted that a diverse society was an economic boon and the best guarantee for their own faith.

As the number of indentured servants declined in the late 1600s, many colonists turned to another source of labor: enslaved Africans. By law, the position as a slave was passed from parent to child. This change in legal status promoted the racist idea that people of African origin were inferior to whites. Once firmly established in the colonies, slavery expanded rapidly. Enslaved Africans came to the Americas as part of a three-part voyage called the triangular trade. In the Middle Passage, shippers carried the enslaved Africans across the Atlantic to the American colonies. The brutality of the Middle Passage was extreme, and at least 10 percent of those making the trip in the 1700s did not survive.

Slavery varied considerably by region. In 1750, slaves made up small minorities in New England and the Middle Colonies. Many more slaves lived in the Southern Colonies, where they raised labor-intensive crops of tobacco, rice, indigo, or sugar. A lifetime of enslavement was the fate of most African Americans, but some did obtain their freedom. A rare few, such as Phillis Wheatley, managed to overcome enormous obstacles to distinguish themselves.

### Review Questions

1. How did European immigration to the colonies change in the late 1600s and 1700s?
2. How did slavery vary by region?