- america was never a penal colony
- britain never failed to sell convicts into slavery in any of its colonies
it says right in the definition on the same page why that is
"A penal colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general populace by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory."
subjects of the king went to america voluntarily to pay off their debts faster by nature of the resource-rich environment here (australia is a barren wasteland)
these people worked for the crown's defense industrial base; mining, logging, ship-building, textiles, etc. through companies (we call them corporations now) with names you might recognize headed up by nobles with names you might recognize
like massachusetts bay company, william penn, lord baltimore, or the london company which named jamestown, and virgina, after james the first (australia is sectioned into mere territories)
there is a whole rich history of british convicts being transported to self-sustaining colonies detailed right here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convicts_in_Australia
"The last convicts to be transported to Australia arrived in Western Australia in 1868." (lol america was already in reconstruction the year before)
there is no "convicts in america" article because convicts were sentenced to transportation (no papers, total freedom, they could just hop on a boat and leave any time) or sold into slavery (could be bought anywhere) rather than being shipped with a warden to a new plantation or other facility
there is no "list of american penal colonies" article and googling it returns http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...penal_colonies
go take a look at one of those, or try russian history, if you want to see what a legitimate penal colony is like
one where it would not exist whatsoever were it not for the fact that someone decided the lifers would go there and only there, and put up a fence, built it on an island, or brought dogs and guards
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