Slavery in North and Chesapeake

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Slavery in the North and Chesapeake both experienced gradual racial distinctions as slaves originated from the Caribbean; however, the lived experience of enslaved people differed in the North and the Chesapeake during the Charter Generation. The difference in geography affected the economic configuration of each region; consequently, this difference varied the slave experience in both regions in terms of the labor demands, living conditions, and societal structure. These factors illustrate a contrasting slave experience in the North and Chesapeake. In both the North and Chesapeake, slaves came from the Caribbean and worked initially as servants where there were modest chances of freedom. In the North, there was “half-freedom” in addition to the fact “manumission was not an uncommon reward for long or meritorious service, although it came with painful qualifications,” (Franklin, 53). In the Chesapeake, a fair amount of slaves worked as indentured servants. They were allotted land and their freedom at the end of their terms. Nevertheless, slavery gradually developed into being defined by race since “beginning in the 1660s, slave codes and other racial restrictions hardened as colonial leaders began to fashion legal structures designed to lock blacks irrevocably into chattel slavery,” (Franklin, 54). The economy governed the forced labor required in each region. The North, being a society with slaves, lacked the ability to maintain large-scale cash crops. While some masters used slaves on small and large farms, and some plantations, many northern slaves worked in variety of skilled jobs in addition to domestic, manual, and industrial work. There was division of labor as the women primarily did domestic work. Initially, slaves worked for a limited term, functioning as servants and apprentices that could be hired out. Eventually, the limited terms of service turned
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