In his book, American Slavery American Freedom Edmund S. Morgan argued that slavery was based on economics and that racism stemmed from that. His idea was that economics was the driving force in racism supporting slavery. Racism can also be seen as the reason for slavery if seen from the viewpoint of how both indentured servants and African slaves were treated and their ownership justified. The English settlers in this time had a very capitalist mindset. The landowners were part of the Tidewater Elite and justified having indentured servants and slaves because they were of a lower social class and culture.
Morgan's point of economics creating slavery is a very adequate one. The plantation owners of Virginia had very large estates that required many workers to produce a decent crop. This led to the use of indentured servants from England, which was not based on race but rather social status. These people needed a new way of life so they exchanged seven years of labor for a ticket to the New World. "Impoverished Englishmen were arriving every year in large numbers, engaged to serve the existing planters for a term of years, with the prospect of setting up their own households a few years later" (Katz 367). The servants, however, rarely moved on to their own lives. The settlers offered to pay the servants and give them food, shelter, and a small piece of land if they worked for them. They became wage laborers for the owner who did not want to lose their experience. .
The system of indentured servitude helped to create the basis for slavery. Since much of England's population was lower class, plantation owners thought it was only right to contract these people as workers. Except they were treated much like a slave. .
They received a minimal amount of the basic necessities of life and were forced to sleep in the barns with the animals or in the fields that they harvested. By giving less to his servants, the owner was able to have more profit for himself.
