Condition Of Slavery

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It is hard to believe a human being could have a selling price placed on them, but that is exactly what happened not so long ago during the harsh times of slavery. The definition of a slave is, “A person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them.” Slavery began in America after Jamestown settlers had started hiring indentured servants. Most African Americans were taken as innocent people from their homes, and put onto ships that took them to America. There were many people on one ship for the couple of months that they traveled. Rich, plantation owning men were the ones that normally owned slaves because they could afford them and needed their help to work on different areas of the plantation. The living conditions,…show more content…
Most slaves had very poor and rough living conditions. The slaves’ homes were often very small cabins. Some cabins were already provided by the owners, which was something for the slaves to be grateful for. A small amount of owners did not provide cabins, and the slaves had to make their own. In some cabins, up to ten slaves…show more content…
When Jamestown colonists hired indentured servants when they first came to America, they realized they needed permanent workers to raise the tobacco. The colonists brought approximately twenty slaves in 1619 over to America to work for them. Two decades later, in 1636, the first slave trade began when the “Desire” was built and launched in Massachusetts. This allowed for slaves to be traded internationally. Four years later, John Punch became the first documented slave for life because he ran away from his master. This put other slaves in fear, and kept most from trying to run away. In that same year, a law was passed to forbid residents from feeding or harboring slaves. A big event occurred in 1654, when a court in Virginia granted the right to hold slaves to blacks. This was a big event because blacks had little rights, and to be able to own another was something not even all whites had the right to do. In 1662, a law was enacted in Virginia of hereditary slavery, which stated that a child born to an enslaved mother also inherited slave status. 1688 was the year in which the Pennsylvania Quakers passed the first antislavery resolution, trying to show how wrong slavery was. Three years later, South Carolina passed the first slave codes that were comprehensive. In 1694, rice cultivation was introduced into South Carolina, causing slavery to increase. Slavery increased because plantation

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