This is a study of eighteenth-century operatic representations of slavery in America, focusing primarily on two Italian comic works: Ranieri de’ Calzabigi’s libretto for Amiti e Ontario (1772) and its adaptation, Le gare generose, or ‘The Contests in Generosity’ (1786), set by Giovanni Paisiello. Significant changes between the two are interpreted in relation to these works’ original cultural and political contexts, reconstructed through the examination of contemporary dramatic, journalistic and other non-fictional literature. As an operatic theme, in the late eighteenth century, slavery challenges the long established assumption of the westward migration of progress and civilization.