Slavery in Colonial America

Slavery is an imporant part United States history that was originated in the fifteenth century. Slaves had few or no rights at all in the south. Many worked as servants and farm workers. Some had some more skill required works such as shoemaking, others worked on cotton plantations. Men and women did harsh labor in the fields. They cleared new land, planted seeds, and harvested crops in all weather.   Teenagers worked alongside the adults pulling weeds, picking insects off the crops and carrying water to the other workers.

    Some slaves became skilled workers such as blacksmiths and carpenters. Some slaves worked in cities but their earnings belonged to their owners. Planters often hired these skilled workers to work on their plantations. Older slaves like women worked as servants in the planter’s house. They cooked, cleaned and did other chores under the supervision of the planter’s wife.



A slave being whipped by its owner, if you look at the owner's hand, he has the slaves baby



    The slave’s life depended on their individual owners. Some owners treated their slaves well by making sure they had decent food, clean houses, and warm clothes to wear. Other planters spent little time caring about these things. They were determining to get the most work possible from their slaves. Slaves worked from morning to sunset, as much as sixteen hours a day. They sometimes suffered whippings and other cruel punishments. Owners thought of them as valuable property, that way the owners wanted to keep their human property healthy and as productive as they can.

    Keeping slaves families together was very difficult to do because slaves were considered as property so owners could buy and sell them at their will. The law did not recognize slave marriages or their families that’s why a husband and wife could be sold to different plantations; the children could be taken away from their parents and sold also.

    African customs had its roots in slavery the extended family formed a close knit family group.   They handed down stories,

song to the children as a way to pass on their history and ideas. Faith in God helped slaves deal with the uggly daylife.

     The problem of slavery and the constitution brought on more issues. There was some peoples who thought slavery should be abolished, Patrick Henry refused to attend the convention because he “smelt a rat that believed a time will come when an opportunity will be

 offered to abolish this dumb law.

     In the constitution amendment 13 states “Abolition of Slavery”. It did away with slavery all together stating that it shall not exist in the United States or any place. Thomas Jefferson he insisted on having slaves until he died in 1826.