History: Slavery

Before the Civil War, slaves and indentured servants were considered personal property, and they or their descendants could be sold or inherited like any other personality. Like other property, human chattel was governed largely by laws of individual states. Generally, these laws concerning indentured servants and slaves did not differentiate between the sexes. Some, however, addressed only women. Regardless of their country of origin, many early immigrants were indentured servants, people who sold their labor in exchange for passage to the New World and housing on their arrival.

Initially, most laws passed concerned indentured servants, but around the middle of the seventeenth century, colonial laws began to reflect differences between indentured servants and slaves. Now that they actually started thinking twice between slaves and what they stand for. Soon the laws began to differentiate between races: the association of “servitude for natural life” with people of African descent became common. So now that there was a ground stand between slaves and servants actually a big difference.

Indentured Servants were temporarily and slaves were permanent . Servants could pay off their labor and slaves could not, they had no choice but to work their life off. Servants had rights, they Could sue in court, they Could own property, they Could appeal to court for mistreatment. Slaves still had right but not like the indentured servants they could get there education, they could get married, and raise kids as long as the work. If the servants kept breaking the law they could be enslaved and pay off a crime they did.

Basically after 1660 the lives of the poor African people changed. Obviously slaves were mess treated and harshly punished more than the servants. There was some punishments for the white servants like if they tried to run away with a black slave the white servants had to serve more double the amount of his labor. There was a case that lead to that law. There was Three servants working for a farmer they tried running away to Maryland. Two were white; one was black.

They were captured in Maryland and returned to Jamestown, where the court sentenced all three to thirty lashes — a severe punishment even by the standards of 17th-century Virginia. The two white men were sentenced to an additional four years of servitude and one more year working for the farmer followed by three more for the colony. But, in addition to the whipping, the black man, a man named John Punch, was ordered to “serve his said master or his assigns for the time of his natural Life here or elsewhere. ” John Punch no longer had hope for freedom.

The whites and blacks were obviously miss treated harshly. All that chaos happening the Africans needed an answer and why they are the way they are. They retraced it in the bible of the story Noah and ham his son, and the figured why they are the way they are. The moral story this was that Noah was a drinker and he came home one day naked. His 2 sons looked away from him and his other son Ham just stared at him, couldn’t get his eyes off his naked dad. So Noah banishes him away to the land now called Ethiopia and cursed him that his children, children’s well be cursed forever.

Looking back to that story they started to relate amongst themselves and they actually believed that god placed them in this world just be slaves and nothing more than that There was obviously no hope in their eyes. Why Africans why not other race? The Virginia men migrated to Africa to slave the people and bring them to their society as new members. As they bring the slaves to Virginia they carry millions of them across the ocean back to Virginia on these ships called Middle Passage. the men in Virginia were being sent to get slaves because they were in need of major labor in there city.

The ship held millions of Africans, men, women, pregnant women and children in the ships. They are literally cramped so tight that they have no room to do anything. Of course some of them die and some of them survive by the long months they get there. But when some of the Africans die the men that are in charge of them, dump them off the ship and sharks would eat them. There would literally be a row of sharks following them all the way back to Jamestown, because they were snaking on the died humans. 2 million slaves arrive safetly out of the 18 million. Why they actually wanted Africans Well one thing is straight if they captured any other race than Africans Americans like the native Americans they would have died out quick because they could adapt to the new world. There was once a time with the Native Americans were enslaved, but they died of European dieses like plague and small pox and wiped them out which they were trying to avoid any dieses brought to the new world time.

Also native Americans they would blend in quite so easily with local people( skin color) and they can go home whenever they want to, and Virginia would be the ones that lose. The most reason why they didn’t want to enslave the native Americans was because they would start a conflict like they always do and they want to avoid any kind of conflict. Plus they could learn English very quickly. On the other hand African American were more intimidated by the white people and the country because they wouldn’t know anything about it.

They were powerless they didn’t speak the language, they couldn’t escape the land because they had know where to go. The further away you take someone from their own land the less they will be powerful so that was one major reason why they wanted to slave African. They also could adapt maybe faster than other tribes because they would be so intimated that they have to learn before they get punished. and they are less likely to bring dieses to the people. They were distinguishable, easy to spot and see the blacks if they ever try to run away. These all leads to this question, did slavery lead to racism?

Yes I believe it did because first off all slavery came first not racism and when generation passed by slaves already had their ground rule that if you are a slave you are permanent into working for life when generation went by they stood for that and lead to racism. If they stood up to their land owners or whoever they would work for(slaves), I think there wouldn’t be a time called slavery. It wouldn’t exist really in the American history. That’s my say on that. There are many differences between the indentured servants and the slaves, more detailed there was more difference between the blacks slaves than the blacks/whites servants.

The slaves basically are like working machines when the machine breaks or dies out they find another machine to replace it. 6. Compare and contrast indentured servitude with slavery. Why do indentured servants and slaves come to the New World? Be sure to discuss the historical realities of life as an indentured servant as compared to that of a slave. Your essay should include a discussion of why Africans, as opposed to other groups of people, were enslaved. Finally, address the relationship between slavery and racial prejudice.