Question

Do you believe racial prejudice among british settlers in the chesapeake led them to enslave africans? or did the unfree condition of the first africans to arrive at jamestown lead to racial prejudice among the settlers?

Answer 1

The racial prejudice was not as high at first. African unfree slavery was mostly the result of the colonies realizing that it was not at all efficient to have indentured servants. At first the white indentured servants had the same treatment as unfree African slaves but they would be able to leave after their debt was payed and they would often rebel since they considered themselves to be better than what they were given. This is why the industry completely switched to African slavery since indentured servants were pointless in the long run.