The Preservation of Slavery in a Free World How is it possible that the New World, founded by people dedicated to freedom and human dignity, was preserved an institute as inhuman as slavery? Some might argue that the founding fathers were only prejudiced against the African people and believed that they were an inferior race. But according to Edmund Morgan, there were deeper reasons for maintaining slavery in the colonies that would become the United States. He said major figures such as Thomas Jefferson, who believed in human equality, understood that slavery was necessary to maintain social and economic order in the young world. Morgan also said that slavery compensated for the rebellion of other white workers and at the same time brought a sense of unity to the white inhabitants of the southern colonies. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay At the beginning of the year, Virginia was experiencing a very high death rate. In 1625 the population was 1,300 or 1,400; in 1640 there were about 8,000. In the fifteen years between these dates, at least 15,000 people must have come to the colony. If so, 15,000 immigrants increased the population by 7,000. As soon as this disease that had killed so many died, the population exploded. The growing economy could not support all the immigrants coming into the country. This shortage of jobs reduced many of these white newcomers to poverty. As poverty increased in Virginia, revolt became imminent. Around 1680, rebellion took hold of Virginia. In order to combat this rebellion, Virginia legislators began crafting strict laws that stripped the English of their rights. Needless to say, these laws increased discontent among residents and other problems arose. What was the solution to these growing problems? Free slave labor. But the solution ended the process of transforming Africans into Englishmen. English rights were preserved by destroying African rights. The slave trade soon broke out, bringing in boatloads of Africans who provided free labor, greatly reducing the number of indentured servants. This system of forced labor was easily controlled because legislators enforced different laws for blacks and whites. They viewed Africans as a brutal and numerous people who needed to be controlled. As history shows, they were heavily controlled. They had been raised in pagan societies where they had lost their freedom; their children would be raised in a Christian society and would never know freedom. These new slaves had also brought a sense of peace and nationalism among the whites who inhabited the colonies. Thomas Jefferson, the spokesman for slave freedom, was a man who stood for equality, yet he owned slaves for most of his life and believed slavery was necessary. How was this justified? The freedom that Jefferson refers to is a freedom that is achieved by the individual, not a freedom that is granted to oneself. The freedom Jefferson spoke of was not a gift bestowed by governments, which he distrusted at best. It was a freedom that flowed from the independence of the individual. Jefferson believed that if a man had to rely on another man to survive, that man could never be truly free. A man had to own land to support himself, and if the.