Slaves in the 18th Century
Isaiah Smith
Larsen Plyler
HI 1063-03
20 September 2013 The first Africans that came to North America landed in Virginia in 1619. They seemed to have been imprisoned servants. Most of them got their through converting over to Christianity. Some successful black people even had slaves. The slaves were treated very harsh. They were looked as property instead of regular people. Planters relied of their slaves to grow tobacco. But once the servants had served their terms of indenture, they became free men and women, and were given fifty acres of land. Their indenture was usually seven years. The supply of indentured servants slowed down by the end of the seventeenth century, and planters slowly began to shift to slave labor. Virginia planters started to get involuntary slaves. They imported large numbers of African slaves. The majority of blacks that lived in Chesapeake worked on tobacco plantations and large farms. Cultivation of tobacco was mostly labor-intensive. The labor was mostly done by the Africans. Slaves working on food crops had little less hard work, but the work was not less demanded. The variety of food crops and livestock usually kept slaves busy throughout the years. Slaves on plantations lived in complete family units. “Old newspapers are one of the most useful pieces of historical information for both historians and archaeologists” (Brock). Their work was decided by the rising and setting of the sun, and they mostly had Sundays off. There were slave ads out at this time. The ads provide the slaves health and their physical conditions. “When read on a deeper level, these advertisements also give glimpses into the personal lives of the slaves” (Brock). The law in Virginia was based on slavery. The laws were all about slavery. Virginia laws forced that enslavement was for life and was transferred to the children through the mother. As racial slavery spread from Virginia after 1700, the number of Africans entering America increased
Larsen Plyler
HI 1063-03
20 September 2013 The first Africans that came to North America landed in Virginia in 1619. They seemed to have been imprisoned servants. Most of them got their through converting over to Christianity. Some successful black people even had slaves. The slaves were treated very harsh. They were looked as property instead of regular people. Planters relied of their slaves to grow tobacco. But once the servants had served their terms of indenture, they became free men and women, and were given fifty acres of land. Their indenture was usually seven years. The supply of indentured servants slowed down by the end of the seventeenth century, and planters slowly began to shift to slave labor. Virginia planters started to get involuntary slaves. They imported large numbers of African slaves. The majority of blacks that lived in Chesapeake worked on tobacco plantations and large farms. Cultivation of tobacco was mostly labor-intensive. The labor was mostly done by the Africans. Slaves working on food crops had little less hard work, but the work was not less demanded. The variety of food crops and livestock usually kept slaves busy throughout the years. Slaves on plantations lived in complete family units. “Old newspapers are one of the most useful pieces of historical information for both historians and archaeologists” (Brock). Their work was decided by the rising and setting of the sun, and they mostly had Sundays off. There were slave ads out at this time. The ads provide the slaves health and their physical conditions. “When read on a deeper level, these advertisements also give glimpses into the personal lives of the slaves” (Brock). The law in Virginia was based on slavery. The laws were all about slavery. Virginia laws forced that enslavement was for life and was transferred to the children through the mother. As racial slavery spread from Virginia after 1700, the number of Africans entering America increased
Cited: Web blog post. What Can You Learn from Runaway Slaves?. Terry Brock, 27 May 2012. Web.