"Initially, English colonists relied on indentured white servants rather than on black slaves. Over half of all white immigrants to the English colonies during the seventeenth century consisted of convicts or indentured servants.
As late as 1640, there were probably only 150 blacks in Virginia (the colony with the highest black population), and in 1650, 300. But by 1680, the number had risen to 3,000 and by 1704, to 10,000. Faced by a shortage of white indentured servants and fearful of servant revolt, English settlers increasingly resorted to enslaved Africans. Between 1700 and 1775, more than 350,000 Africans slaves entered the American colonies." |
