Lets supposed that, early on in the history of the British colonies in North America, slavery does not take root. My preferred POD is the Parker V. Johnson case, but lets not get too bogged down in the how.
I'm curious how the demographics might be altered in such a scenario.
For example, if we're looking at the situation from strictly economic terms, it might make sense for planters to continue to import indentured servants from West Africa, since it was widely understood that they were better suited to the climate in which most plantation agriculture was situated. Might we see a situation in which African indentured servants might command better treatment than their European counterparts? Its noteworthy that, historically, as the value of indentured servants went up, some competition emerged among potential clients to establish better conditions (shorter terms, stipends, and the like).
Might we also see a higher population of colonists of African decent, what with many more of them needed to maintain the same level of productivity as a slave based plantation would have? On the other hand, might such servants skew more towards men, thus mitigating such growth? On the third hand, might a Afro-British creole demographic emerge as free black laborers take wives? (one might hope that, with slavery stillborn, the prejudices against such unions would be mitigated, but I'll admit to knowing less than I want about race relations in 17th century British America prior to the introduction of chattel slavery) Or perhaps, as happened historically in many occasions, the black laborers will marry into local indian tribes.
I'm curious how the demographics might be altered in such a scenario.
For example, if we're looking at the situation from strictly economic terms, it might make sense for planters to continue to import indentured servants from West Africa, since it was widely understood that they were better suited to the climate in which most plantation agriculture was situated. Might we see a situation in which African indentured servants might command better treatment than their European counterparts? Its noteworthy that, historically, as the value of indentured servants went up, some competition emerged among potential clients to establish better conditions (shorter terms, stipends, and the like).
Might we also see a higher population of colonists of African decent, what with many more of them needed to maintain the same level of productivity as a slave based plantation would have? On the other hand, might such servants skew more towards men, thus mitigating such growth? On the third hand, might a Afro-British creole demographic emerge as free black laborers take wives? (one might hope that, with slavery stillborn, the prejudices against such unions would be mitigated, but I'll admit to knowing less than I want about race relations in 17th century British America prior to the introduction of chattel slavery) Or perhaps, as happened historically in many occasions, the black laborers will marry into local indian tribes.