There were a lot of obvious labor and economic benefits to creating a race based slave system, however, the

transition to race based slavery was more complex than what might be obvious to a 21st century student. Please read Edmund Morgan’s paper, “Slavery and Freedom: the American Paradox” and evaluate his argument that wealthy English anxieties about English poorer people living in the colonies encouraged the development of a race based slave system. What evidence does Morgan provide proves his point?

***NOTE: This article is from 1972 and contains the word “negroes”. DO NOT use this term in the discussion posts .***