Africans brought to the Americas the greatly varied cultures of their homelands, including folklore, language, music, and foodways.

Each one receives, as his weekly allowance, three and a half pounds of bacon, and corn enough to make a peck of meal. That is all- - no tea, coffee, sugar, and with the exception of a very scanty sprinkling now and then, no salt....

They do not dare to stop even at dinner time, nor return to the quarters, however late it be, until the order to halt is given by the driver.

Over the course of the 1830s, 40s, and 50s, slavery became so endemic to the “Cotton Belt” that travelers, writers, and statisticians began referring to the area as the “Black Belt,” not only to describe the color of the rich land, but also to describe the skin color of those forced to work its fields, line its docks, and move the products of others’ lands.

Although slavery arrived in the Americas long before cotton became a profitable commodity, the use and purchase of slaves, the moralistic and economic justifications for the continuation of slavery, even the urgency to protect the practice from extinction before the Civil War all received new life from the rise of cotton and the economic, social, and culture growth spurt that accompanied its success.

. Therefore we need not be uneasy that the English Settle upon our Lands as by that means they can more easily Supply our wants.

the contest between European imperial rivals for control of North America strengthened the natives’ hand.

they would be glad to see any Man, that dare exert a British Act of Parliament here.”

provincial soldiers under his command were challenging his authority.

For in the beginning the Indians regarded the Spaniards as angels from Heaven. Only after the Spaniards had used violence against them, killing, robbing, torturing, did the Indians ever rise up against them....

They are also poor people, for they not only possess little but have no desire to possess worldly goods. For this reason they are not arrogant, embittered, or greedy.

Spain had a one-hundred year head start on New World colonization and a jealous England eyed the enormous wealth that Spain gleaned from the new World.

Dutch women maintained separate legal identities from their husbands and could therefore hold property and inherit full estat

The French preference for trade over permanent settlement fostered more cooperative and mutually beneficial relationships with Native Americans than was typical among the Spanish and English.

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