The term slavery refers to the act of being owned and controlled by others without a person's consent. Slavery was a common practice that dates back to as early as 3500 BC in Mesopotamia, where slaves were mostly captives of war and conquest, those who surrendered to avoid death, and those being punished for a crime or indebtedness. However, since the ancient times, slavery has been reconstructed with help from the Spanish. In 1501, the Spanish adapted what is known as "modern" slavery when they imported Africans from the Iberian Peninsula to their newly found colonies of Hispaniola. Over time, the Spanish viceroyalty found that the Africans had the physical endurance to complete the labor all while being able to withstand the diseases that the Spanish carried, unlike the indigenous people. In 1619, the first Africans were imported into the Virginia colony of Jamestown by the Dutch company. The Europeans saw the Africans as a way to profit without actually having to do the labor themselves. Although the Europeans did not expect slavery to affect their everyday lives in Chesapeake society as much as it did, slavery in the Chesapeake was indeed a thinking decision.
To begin with, Africans were chosen as slaves for specific reasons. Their main purpose in North America would be to cultivate the labor-intensive crop, tobacco. Tobacco cultivation was one of the primary reasons that the Chesapeake colonies thrived. This labor-intensive crop was cultivated by indentured servants in the beginning but once the colonists realized that it was becoming more and more ineffective for them to use a method of service that lasted only between four to seven years, the plantation owners had to turn to alternative sources of labor, known as Africans. There were certain qualifications that had to have been meet when it came to choosing the enslaved, causing it to be a thinking decision. For example, Christians did not want to enslave other Christians so they had to find people who were not Christian but of other faiths such as Islam or minor religions that were formed among groups of people, the group of people had to have at least a minimal immunity to the European diseases, and they had to be from a heavily populated area so that there could be a steady flow into the New World. Subsequently, in George Best's document, he states "… Wee may therefore very well bee assertained, that under the Equinoctiall is the most plesant and delectable place of the worlde to dwell in…." Because they were readily available in large quantities, they were not Christian, and indentured servants were costly and only temporary, Africans were their best option when it came to enslaving a population. When comparing the two documents, "Servant Prices in Virginia, 1620-1690" and "Slave Prices in Virginia", it can be noted that yes, it was more cost effective to purchase a servant rather than a slave. For example, in 1660, prices reached an all-time low both servants and slaves of 8 Pounds Sterling for a servant and 21 Pounds Sterling for a slave. However, according to the "Term of Servants in Virginia, 1620-1690", from 1620-1690, the term of servants steadily declined from six years to four years while slaves had a term of service until death or until they were resold, proving that buying slaves was better in the long run for white-land owners especially in terms of the tobacco prices. In the document "Price of Tobacco in Virginia, 1620-1690" the price of tobacco fixedly decreases between 1620 where the price of tobacco was 4 Pence Sterling and 1690 where the price of tobacco was about .75 Pence Sterling. This shows that the colonies were able to economically thrive with the use of racial slave labor more so than with the use of indentured servants because of their ability to complete labor-intensive cultivation quicker which caused the production and distribution of tobacco to increase at a lower price.
With racial slavery came pictures depicting the slaves and their role in the Chesapeake colonies. In Debry's depicting, the "Negroes" in image 1 are equipped with war equipment including bows, arrows, and shields, all which are hinting that the slaves were expected to remain loyal to the colonies and fight for them whenever deemed necessary. This proves that slavery in the Chesapeake colonies was a thinking decision because the colonists assumed that altercations would occur with Native tribes who vastly outnumbered them at some point in time, so the European colonists needed a second line of defense if it ever became necessary. Also, the slaves appear to be malnourished and ungroomed. This inference comes from the fact that their stomachs appear to be shriveled up and hanging, signs often associated with malnourishment. On the other hand, Debry's depiction of Native Americans entails that Natives were healthier, more fit, and better equipped with survival gear than Barbot's depiction of African slaves. The comparison between the two images suggests that even though the Natives sound like the better option for being slaves because they are healthier and can handle more, they cannot do something as simple as withstand European diseases like the ungroomed and malnourished Africans. The colonists had to decide whether they should take the risk and attempt to enslave the well-equipped natives who had a declining population from the lack of immunity or if they should enslave the readily available population of unnourished Africans who could withstand their diseases and work until death, further proving that slavery was a thinking decision.
In addition, the European colonists created laws known as "Chesapeake Slave Laws" that acted as the foundation for slavery in the colonies. The first law was published in 1639 in the Virginia colony. The law, known as Act X states that "All persons except Negroes are to be provided with arms and ammunitions or be fined at the pleasure of the governor and council". While this law clearly depicts that "Negroes" are inferior to everyone else and they will be treated that way, the law is not of a harsh nature like the Virginia, October 1669 law is. The Virginia, October 1669 law states that "…if any slave resists his master (or other by his master's order correcting him) and by the extremity of the correction should chance to die, that his death shall not be accounted a felony, but the master (or that other person appointed by the master to punish him) be acquitted from molestation, since it cannot be presumed that premeditated malice (which alone makes murder a felony) should induce any man to destroy his own estate." The Virginia, October 1669 law is extremely severe in the sense that the slave can be murdered by the slave owner without the slave owner being acquitted for the crime because it is his "personal property" and one can do whatever they please with their property. Based on the Chesapeake Slave Laws", it can be concluded that the laws have increased in severity throughout the Virginia and Maryland colonies from 1639 to 1669. The "Chesapeake Slave Laws" are proof that slavery was a thinking decision because laws act as guidelines for the citizens. In order for society to maintain its unity and composure, specific, well thought out laws must be created or else the citizens would not know how to react to certain situations such as the murder of a slave by a slave owner. Additionally, in the Maryland, 1664 law, a free-born English woman that intermarried with a slave has to serve the same master that her slave husband must serve. Laws such as this one show that the colonists had to envision certain "what if" scenarios in their heads and create the counteraction to the scenario. On the contrary, through the analyzation of the Chesapeake Slave Laws, one could think that slavery was an unthinking decision because specific events must occur in order first in order for the event to be prevented or enacted into a law. For instance, with the same Maryland, 1664 law, one could argue that a woman had to have intermarried with an enslaved man first and the colonies did not anticipate a situation such as intermarriage so they created a law following the first incident. Nonetheless, it is very unlikely that the European colonists did not expect a situation so "unusual" to them to occur, rather, they created the worst-case scenarios as safety precautions so that mayhem would not overtake the colony. Furthermore, in John Smith's document, he suggests "… nor any of his people understand any letters, whereby to write or read, only the laws whereby he ruleth is custom. Yet when he listeth his will is a law and must be obeyed". This excerpt suggests that since the Native Indians and in this case, African slaves are literate, they must submit to the laws of those who are educated enough and have the ability to read, write, and comprehend greater things such as lawmaking.
In conclusion, slavery in the Chesapeake colonies was, in fact, a thinking decision. The wages and mortality rates in England were so low between 1600 to 1661 that it drove out much of England's population to the North American colonies where they would be better off economically. In 1600, the real wage was only 40 Pounds Sterling in a time where only about 16% of the population made it to age 36. These obvious push factors led to the English wanting to go to the New World as plantation owners or even indentured servants. While racial slavery was not being practiced heavily in Great Britain itself, it was proved to be extremely effective in the Chesapeake colonies. The colonists thoroughly thought through the risks and advantages of adopting racial slavery such as the population of a group, immunity, and terms of service. Ultimately, racial slavery proved to be a thinking decision because the colonists weighed out pros, cons, and even possible circumstances that could happen such as intermarriage between a free English woman and an enslaved African. The colonists knew that certain situations were bound to occur whether or not they wanted them to, which is why laws were put into place regarding slaves. All in all, the colonists needed a steady flow of easily exploitable labor in order for their colony to thrive. The African slaves did not come on their own to the New World and offer to work for free. The African slaves were forcibly shipped to the New World where they forcibly worked and obeyed for free or else they faced the consequences of their masters.