Editing Caswell County, North Carolina (section)

====Slavery and labor====
[[Slavery in the United States|Enslaved Africans]] were brought to the area by enslavers and slave-trading agents as early as the 1750s, primarily through the [[domestic slave trade]] from Virginia and other colonies.<ref name="auto5">{{cite web|title=Settlement of the Piedmont, 1730–1775 |url=https://www.ncpedia.org/history/colonial/piedmont|access-date=August 16, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Patterns in the intercolonial slave trade across the Americas before the nineteenth century|url=https://www.scielo.br/j/tem/a/cZmRvYM8FzJxBHvmPfWcfTw/?lang=en&format=pdf |access-date=August 25, 2021}}</ref>

Before the late 18th century, enslaved labor was generally concentrated on smaller farms rather than large plantations, with most white enslavers owning fewer than five enslaved individuals. The system of slavery developed through:

*Debt-based transactions, where enslaved individuals were pledged as collateral for loans or debts, a common practice among landowners seeking to expand their farms or acquire supplies.<ref name="auto6"/>
*Local auctions at trading posts along the [[Dan River (Virginia)|Dan River]], which facilitated the exchange of goods and enslaved individuals and served as a regional hub for the trade of enslaved people.<ref name="auto5"/>
*Intergenerational enslavement, wherein children born to enslaved mothers were automatically enslaved under colonial laws.<ref>{{cite book|title=Born in Bondage: Growing Up Enslaved in the Antebellum South|year=2001|publisher=Harvard University Press}}</ref>
This early period also saw the establishment of legal frameworks designed to reinforce the institution of slavery:

*The [[Slave codes|1741 North Carolina slave codes]] restricted the movement and autonomy of enslaved people.
*1774 laws prohibited enslaved individuals from learning to write, aiming to suppress rebellion and maintain control.<ref>{{cite web|title=Slave Codes in Colonial North Carolina|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/slave-codes|access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref>
The number of enslaved persons in the county grew significantly throughout the second half of the 18th century, driven by the expansion of agriculture, especially [[tobacco]] farming. The cultivation of tobacco, a staple crop in the Piedmont region, required intensive labor and drove the demand for enslaved workers.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Growth of Slavery in North Carolina|url=https://www.ncpedia.org/anchor/growth-slavery-north|access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref> By 1800, enslaved persons accounted for nearly one-third (32%) of Caswell County's population.<ref name="auto6"/>