Indian slavery in colonial times within the present limits of the United States

In Short

This scholarly study reconstructs the largely forgotten history of Indian slavery within the borders of the modern United States during the colonial period. It methodically examines how the practice was adopted by Indigenous tribes themselves, as well as by Spanish, French, and English settlers. By mining colonial records, statutes, and missionary journals, the book demonstrates that Indian slavery was not a marginal curiosity but a pervasive, institutionalized reality. It remains a vital reference for understanding the complexities of labor, legal status, and social hierarchy in early American society.

The Story

The narrative begins with an essential clarification: the enslavement of Indigenous people was not an invention of European colonizers. Long before the arrival of outsiders, various tribes held captives taken in war. However, the nature of this pre-colonial servitude differed significantly from the European model. Among the Iroquois and other groups, slavery was often fluid; captives might be adopted into a tribe to replace members lost to war or disease, sometimes attaining a degree of social integration or even manumission through marriage. The book contrasts this with the rigid, chattel-based system introduced by Europeans, where the objective was fundamentally economic and the status of the slave was designed to be permanent.

As the text transitions to the European experience, it examines the distinct approaches of the Spanish, French, and English. The Spanish and French often conflated enslavement with trade and exploration, purchasing captives from Indigenous intermediaries to serve as guides, laborers, or merchandise to be shipped to settlements. The English colonies, however, institutionalized the practice more broadly, fueled by the aftermath of conflicts like the Pequot War in New England and the ongoing tensions in the Carolinas. The book details how colonial governments frequently authorized military commanders to seize captives and sell them into perpetual slavery, effectively turning war into a profitable state enterprise.

A significant portion of the arc focuses on the legal and social mechanisms that sustained this system. The text highlights how colonial courts used the forced labor of Indigenous people as a punitive measure for crimes ranging from theft and drunkenness to debt. In many cases, the boundary between an indentured servant and an enslaved person was blurred, with authorities manipulating these categories to suit the labor needs of the colony. The book also explores the intersection of Indian slavery with the growing African slave trade. In many jurisdictions, laws were written with ambiguous language—using terms like “slaves” or “other slaves”—which allowed authorities to subsume Indigenous people into the broader, increasingly racialized system of bondage.

The latter part of the narrative tracks the decline of the practice, driven by economic rather than humanitarian shifts. As the transatlantic slave trade accelerated, the introduction of enslaved Africans—who were considered more "fit" for the grueling labor of the plantations—rendered Indian slavery less commercially viable. Furthermore, the rise of indentured servitude among white populations provided a labor source that appeared more reliable and socially compatible to colonial leaders. The book concludes by showing that as the numbers of Indigenous people dwindled, were pushed westward, or intermarried, they largely disappeared from the specific legal registers of slavery, often becoming legally indistinguishable from the growing population of African and mixed-race enslaved people.

How It Unfolds

The Indigenous Precedent The study opens by establishing that slavery existed among native groups prior to European contact, defined by adoption and the replenishment of tribe populations. This section contrasts the flexibility of these social structures with the static, commodity-based systems later imposed by colonial powers.

The Commercial Impulse The focus shifts to the French and Spanish, who viewed the acquisition of human beings as a byproduct of the fur trade and exploration. Here, the book documents how explorers frequently purchased captives to serve as guides or to be sent back to colonial hubs like New Orleans.

The English Institutionalization The narrative progresses to the English colonies, where war served as a primary engine for enslavement. The text details how specific conflicts, such as the Pequot War, led to the systematic capture and sale of Indigenous populations by colonial authorities.

Legal and Punitive Servitude The book examines how colonial courts used bondage as a standard punishment for minor offenses. This shift reveals how the state turned the judicial system into a tool for securing labor, often treating "Praying Indians" with the same harshness as combatants.

The Intersection of Labor Systems The final chapters address the gradual fading of Indian slavery as African slavery became the dominant economic model. It explains how colonial legislatures, fearing the volatile mixture of populations, used tax laws and import duties to regulate, and eventually discourage, the practice.

The People

The individuals in this history are often seen not as singular figures, but as participants in a broader apparatus of power. Colonial governors, such as those in Massachusetts and the Carolinas, are portrayed as pragmatic, often cynical, architects of policy who prioritized colonial security and wealth over any consistent moral framework. Figures like Captain Benjamin Church represent the intersection of military authority and slave-trading, acting as the state’s instrument to convert wartime violence into legal property.

The Indigenous people themselves appear in the records primarily as victims of these policies or as complex actors within their own tribal systems. The book notes figures like the "Praying Indians," who, despite their attempts to integrate into colonial society through religious conversion, remained vulnerable to accusations and enslavement. Missionaries, such as Samuel Thomas and Le Jau, occupy a difficult space; they represent the few voices attempting to introduce religious instruction to the enslaved, yet they are constantly thwarted by masters who fear that baptism might imply a path to freedom. These masters, driven by "irreligious and worldly" motives, view both Indian and African enslaved people as mere "beasts," a perspective that stands in stark contrast to the missionaries' struggle to define the slave as a human subject capable of salvation.

In Its Own Voice

Regarding the harsh reality of the practice:

"Many masters cannot be persuaded that negroes and Indians are otherwise than beasts and use them like such."

This quote from a missionary report highlights the dehumanizing ideology that often governed the relationship between masters and their enslaved population.

Regarding the legal flexibility of the institution:

"The colonial governments not only sold the Indian captives themselves, but sometimes authorized their military commanders so to do."

This sentence underscores how the state actively participated in and sanctioned the conversion of Indigenous captives into enslaved property.

What It's Really About

At its core, this study is a critique of the historical narrative that prioritizes African slavery to the exclusion of other foundational labor systems. The author argues that Indian slavery was an essential component of colonial expansion, serving as a vital mechanism for removing Indigenous people from the land and integrating them into the colonial economy. The text forces the reader to confront the question of how colonial legal frameworks—often presented as the precursors to modern justice—were specifically designed to facilitate the commodification of human life. By exposing the ambiguity of laws that conflated different ethnic groups into a single class of "slaves," the book reveals that the foundations of American bondage were far more varied and geographically widespread than is traditionally acknowledged.

Why Read It Today

Readers interested in the granular, often uncomfortable mechanics of early American history will find this work invaluable. It is a dense, academic exploration that eschews sentimentality, relying entirely on period records and primary source citations. Those familiar with the history of the 13 colonies will find it particularly striking to see familiar towns and figures—from Plymouth to the Carolina plantations—reframed through the lens of Indigenous enslavement.

The reading experience is much like examining an old, weathered ledger: it is methodical, precise, and occasionally repetitive, reflecting the fragmented nature of the colonial records the author spent years gathering. Because it was written in 1913, the prose maintains a formal, turn-of-the-century academic tone that requires patience but offers a deep, unvarnished look at the past. It will be most rewarding for those who want to understand the "forgotten" threads of the American story. It leaves the reader with a sober understanding of how deeply the institution of slavery was woven into the fabric of the nation from its earliest days, and how easily historical records can bury the humanity of those caught within them. If you seek to challenge the simplified versions of colonial history, this book serves as a necessary, if difficult, corrective.