Slavery

In North America, the thirteen British colonies grew quickly. Farms and industry began to thrive. With this expansion, workers were needed. Some people did work as indentured servants. An indentured servant is different from a slave because this person can earn his or her freedom after an agreed-upon term. Many people came to the New World as indentured servants; someone else paid for their passage in return for a required number of years of service, but eventually the person could earn his or her freedom. This was not so with slavery.

Slavery was introduced in America as early as the 1600s. Slavery expanded in the colonies as the New World began to grow. In fact, the population grew so quickly that many colonists feared they would be overpowered by the slaves. Slave codes were put into place. These codes kept slaves from gathering in large numbers and also from traveling without permits.

The daily life of a slave varied. Some were given jobs as house slaves, while others toiled in fields working long, strenuous hours. Slaves were treated differently depending on their owners. Some were treated very cruelly and punished in barbaric methods, such as being hit with a whip. Others were treated as family such as the life of slave Phyllis Wheatley, who was taught to read and write and was later given her freedom by her owner. Unfortunately, stories like Phyllis Wheatley’s did not often occur. The issue of slavery would not be settled in America until 1865 at the end of the Civil War.