Learning Objectives

  • Explain the two themes stated at the beginning of the chapter.
  • Explain the political, economic, and social forces that led to the creation of slavery in British America.
  • Explain the importance of the contact situation and the relevance of the Noel and Blauner hypotheses for the development of slavery in colonial America.
  • Apply the concepts of paternalism, power, inequality, discrimination, prejudice and racism, and assimilation to the American system of slavery.
  • Explain the dynamics of gender relations under American slavery.
  • Apply the Noel and Blauner hypotheses and other concepts to the creation of minority-group status for Native Americans and Mexican Americans.
  • Compare and contrast the three contact situations analyzed in this chapter. How do they differ? What are the implications of these different contact situations for relations in the present?