Slavery survived in the southern colonies because of environmental, economic, and political factors that endorsed the keeping and using slaves. Environmental factors include the warm, humid climate was suited towards the planting of tobacco, rice, and indigo, which the Africans harvested in large quantities. Economical factors include the high prices plantation owners demanded for the tobacco and rice along with the cheapness of slave labor provided slave owners with large profits. Political factors include the slave codes limited the rights of the slave community and the slaves became the solution to their labor shortage.
The environment restricted the number of choices that settlers had in choosing their lifestyle. The soil was not suited to the growing of standard crops like wheat and corn (which the middle colonies planted) but rather tobacco, rice, and indigo. However, the English indentured servants were not as used to the weather conditions as the African Americans and were inexperienced in growing rice. The African slaves were a wiser choice labor for labor because they lived longer in the harsh conditions and grew rice back in their homeland. As page 93 of the textbook explained, the slaves in the woodland areas of Georgia hacked away at the vegetation to increase the amount of land for cultivation, which in turn called for more slaves—thus the cycle repeats itself.
The economical factors were by far the most influential and significant reasons for the survival of slavery. The most economically practical way to plant and harvest the tobacco was by maintaining large quantities of land and having the slaves work on them. By using slaves who had limited rights and by keeping them in subservient conditions, large plantations became the economic model of wealth and aristocracy for the southern colonies. The chart from Capitalism and Slavery from a period of 1714 to 1773 shows the economical advantage that slave-driven colonies had over other...