Under the “Questions To Think About” Section of the reading, on page thirty-five, it discusses how historians have become greatly divided based on the questions on why slaves were slaves, and why indentured servants were indentured servants. Historians argue that Europeans were indentured servants and Africans were slaves because of race or racism. Other historians argue that Europeans were indentured servants and Africans were slaves based on the availability and price of the laborers. When asked which statement makes the most sense, one must consider all of the information provided. After reading and analyzing the eight documeents, I can form an opinion that Europeans were indentured servants and Africans were slaves because of racism in …show more content…
The two ideas have several similarities, but they also have differences. Indentured servants during the 1600 and 1700s were Europeans, whereas slaves were from Africa. The indentured servants willingly signed contracts to work for colonists in return for basic living needs like food, shelter, clothes, etc. Needless to say, the type of treatment given to the indentured servants depended on the colonists they were working for. Slaves, on the other hand, were taken away from their African homeland and put on ships to America unwillingly. When the slaves got here, usually the work was harsh, and the colonists were not forced to provide anything to their slaves. All eight summaries discuss how Europeans were indentured servants and Africans were slaves. The argument that Europeans were indentured servants and Africans were slaves based on the availability and price of the laborers is irrelevant because we see a straight divide between the two laborers. That division is race. If race was not the deciding factor for the laborers and price was, then there would be more Africans as indentured servants and Europeans as …show more content…
The documents state that the slaves were not able to eat, and were overwhelmed by fatigue. The author of the eighth document discusses how she lived the entire journey on the ship in fear of being killed. The source is filled with awful images of how the slaves were treated in the 1700s. The reasoning behind these experiences was once again because of race. The Africans were seen differently; therefore, they were treated differently in comparison to the European indentured servants. The fifth document is a selection of Virginia laws that discusses how indentured servants were better off in comparison to the slaves between the 1600 and 1700s. The source provides evidence on how people were treated based on the color of their skin, and their religion. Law IV states that people who were not Christians, then they would be forced to be slaves. This is unfair considering the Christian religion was not well-known in Africa. This fact is still true in today’s
Also, it quotes “But, it is better to die as free men, than to live as slaves,” that is saying that living as a slave is not glorious at all as it would be to be living as a free man in the united states. The evidence that can be used to support my subclaim from document 4 is “He shall be free to live, and to thrive, if he can,” This evidence supports my subclaim because when it quotes “and to thrive, if he can,” it shows that they don't believe that he could succeed. It also shows that the non-minorities don’t want him to be free and only want to use them for work and labor. When Analysing document 2 it’s source seems to be very reliable due to the fact that it was quoted by a person who was enslaved and escaped from slavery. However, that does not mean it it is 100% reliable, that maybe because the person who could have quote that
4) Slavery was justified by racial ideology. Consider three texts, including one that was written by a former slave. How do the authors either replicate or refute racial ideologies common in the nineteenth century?
Note to the wise: Look at the content of the documents, the place at which the document originated, and the time at which the document was written. Also consider who wrote the document and how that individual feels about the institution of slavery.
Through out the entire time period of slavery, religion remained a high priority and a way in which to label different social groups. The lack or complete non-existence of religion among Africans led to them being viewed as somewhat inferior. Later in the second chapter Jordan talks about how during the slave era religion distinguished whites from blacks. Also how classification changed once Africans began to enter the Christian church. He himself viewed this type of labeling somewhat ridiculous, in that many of the Africans were baptized before the came to the New World. Thus they in many circles would be identified as Christians. This important information helps show the reader how the justifications for slavery evolved. Jordan captures the utter and blatant hypocrisy that the colonies exuded with regards to the slave situation. Jordan also sees religious injustice within the treatment of Indians and Africans. The English made attempts to convert the Indians and had little desire or intention to do the same for Africans. This again shows to what lengths early Americans went in creating a subculture for the purpose of slavery.
In these letters I see that the servants have a really rough time. They talk about sickness and how they feel weak and still have to work from sun up until sun down. They also mention that they had every little to eat. Slavery didn’t come with sex or age they mostly took anyone into slavery it didn’t matter to these people.
Indentured servants were used in early colonial times as a means of passage to the new world. The cash crops of the early settlers were exhaustingly labor intensive. In fact, U.S. History (2015) indicated that “the growth of tobacco, rice, and indigo and the plantation economy created a tremendous need for labor in Southern English America” (p. 1). The technology did not exist at the time for machinery that clears the ground and works the land as it does today. The work had to be done by hand; from clearing and prepping the fields to harvesting the crops, it was all manual labor for which the new land did not have ample supply of.
“Virginia Laws Governing Servant and Slave” reveals the rebellions of servants and slaves who united to fight against their masters. Bacon’s Rebellion, in 1676, occurred in the Virginia Colony in opposition to Virginia's Indian policy (Roark, The American Promise, p. 79). Bacon’s Rebellion demonstrated that poor whites and poor blacks could be united in a cause, and it shows that they are capable of challenging the ruling class together. Virginia lawmakers enacted the laws to prevent the servants and slaves from uniting to fight against masters. According to "Document 2: Law Making Slave Status Inherited from Mother, 1662" the Virginia legislators punished interracial sexual relations, "And that if any Christian shall commit fornication with a negro man or woman, hee or shee soe offending shall pay double the ffines imposed by the former act"
They show a newspaper article displayed by a slave owner, that a Negro-man, who did white washing and fishing for money, was not providing the money to his owner and so the owner posted that no one was to hire him and that they would be prosecuted by law if they did. In the journal of Charles Wesley he describes the brutal whipping and maiming and killing of slaves, and was outraged by the fact that these atrocities were done and the only penalty was a payment of seven pounds and half that amount, if the master turned himself in.(cite). From these documents we see the absolute disregard of a slave being a human person. They were an object of use and nothing more. All codes were written for the slave owner and never for the
indentured servants and slaves were brought to America to work, they were stripped of their normal every day lives and forced to suffer harsh conditions and do hard labor. Treatment for both groups was not very pleasant and the voyage to America was extremely difficult sometimes even leading to death. Besides both parties coming to work there was some differences between them. Indentured servants and slaves differed in the way of being treated, they were also brought to America differently, and both groups had different feelings when arriving to America.
The two forms of involuntary labor were great asset to communities but the system of slavery was more established in state affairs and issues surrounding the practice debated on both sides. Slaves were victims of lifelong hereditary services which spikes the significant difference between indentured servants. Unlike indentured servants, who could negotiate their service, as described in the account of Mittelberger, slavery had no terms of signed contracts. An indentured servant had rooms to bargain, refuse and accept a buyer’s offer and was entitled to certain provision once a contract finish. As Mittelberger explains, “he or she is entitled to a new suit of cloths at parting;…a man gets, in addition, a horse, a women and a cow” (89). However,
The black slaves resisted and tried to run away they wouldn’t give up. Even though there was laws in trying to stop the blacks from running away, they still ran away. There were laws made that if anyone were to find black slave they should do to them what they feel be appropriate. Man slaves were killed or burnt in the book there was a case were a black slave was burnt in a slow fire for 8-10 hours. In some cases both white and black slaves ran way together but the punishment wouldn’t be the same white would only extend there period of serving as slaves and the black salves were hanged or killed. Even then they could see racism how the whites that committed the same crime would get treated differently then the black slaves. The black salves couldn’t do anything besides being slaves, so thought the white people. Even the white servants were treated different, not only were they working for a set period of time, but they were treated as humans and they had rights, and would receive land and pay at the end of their term. The white people justified their own slave trade because in Africa slavery existed too. This was
I find your points very fascinating and interesting, especially towards the end of your post. Of course your points in the beginning of your posts, where you believed that it would be preferable to be an indentured servant rather than a slave, I agree with wholeheartedly. It's pretty clear that the rest of the students in this course agree with it as well, having read most of the original posts and replies to them, there doesn't seem to be very much differentiation in it, which sometimes makes it difficult to have a discussion or reply on a post, because one doesn't want to just reiterate the same idea or post that one is replying to, or simply feel like one is echoing everyone else's thoughts. However, perhaps the fact that we all agree is a good thing and a sign that, especially in the 21st Century in the United States, it's a positive aspect and result and sign that so many of us agree that slavery was horrible, awful, and unjust, and the thought or idea that a lifetime of servitude and harsh mistreatment of not only yourself, but also your family and even your children, is reprehensible, shows the progress we have made over the past few centuries in our country and
People were running to America from England due to the religious intolerances and harassment; political turmoil and military drafts. So to leave often someone would agree with a land owner in america to be an indentured servant in turn for the land owner to pay their passage over to the new land. Said person then would willingly work for several years until their time was up and then they were free to go on about their life. The second group of people most commonly traveling from England to America were criminals. In England the penalty for crime was death, so it became practice for the king to pardon them as long as they agreed to leave the country.
Indentured servants came to America from Europe in search of land, work, increased wages, and religious freedom. However, the colonies expanded so rapidly, labor became scarce. This led to a greater import of Europeans willing to begin a new life in the New World, in exchange for their servitude for a contracted period (O 'Brien & Sparrow, 2014). When labor contracts ended and freed servants received their land, servitude needed to continue with farms and business operation. With scarce labor, Indians became the new target. Captured and forced into servitude by colonials, the Indians filled the gaps in the colonial workforce to repay debt. The Indians eventually revolted and went on murderous adventures against the white man, leading to the expulsion of slave labor trade and outlawing independent trading in the Southeastern states (Shi & Tindall, 2012).
He notes that, the slavery institution made them forget about their origin, and anything else that entails their past, and even when they were born. The slaves forgot everything about their families, and none knew about their family because, they were torn from them without any warning. Douglass explains how they went without food, clothing and even sleep because their masters were cruel to them. American slavery took advantage of black laborers as they were beaten mercilessly without committing any offense. They were not treated as human beings, but as property that could be manipulated in any way. The slavery institution was harsh for the Africans especially women who were regularly raped, and forced to bear their masters children and if they declined, they were maimed or killed.