Meant By Term Slavery And How Did This Practice Increase A Slaves Likelihood Of Gaining Their Freedom

3. What is meant by "term slavery" or hiring out and how did this practice increase a slaves ' likelihood of gaining their freedom from bondage?

Being a slave for a particular period of time is what "Term Slavery" means. The idea for this was to allow more trained Slaves who were given the opportunity to travel to different parts of the country and/or live away from their plantation for work. Urban masters often let slaves purchase their freedom over a term of years to keep them from leaving. In Baltimore, during the early nineteenth century, this “Term Slavery” was gradually replacing slavery for life (Hine, Hine, and Harrold). Slaves Masters used "Term Slavery" to keep hardworking Slaves from leaving, but most managed to purchase their freedom after performing their required duties after a certain amount of years.
Slaves could purchase their own food, clothing, and other essentials and some Slave Masters found it harder to control their Slaves due to the Slaves being able to provide for themselves. "Term Slavery" Slaves were not 100% free, but being able to take care of themselves only fueled their desire to become free Slaves. Industrial slavery overlapped with urban slavery, but southern industries that employed slaves were often in rural areas. By 1860 about 5 percent of southern slaves—approximately 200,000 people worked in industry. Enslaved men, women, and children worked in textile mills in South Carolina and Georgia, sometimes beside white people (Hine, Hine, and Harrold). The Slaves earned their ability to be free through paying a certain amount of monies and/or work