Essay #2

Essay # 2

[Name of the Writer]

[Name of the Institution]

Essay # 2

Introduction

There is no doubt in the fact that African Americans have struggled throughout their time in the United States. There are many stories behind what it was like to be black in America and how African-American history has its standing in the United States. The struggle and journey that the African-Americans have been through while maintaining their rich and vivid culture through history and pursuit for freedom have helped them counter racism and oppression. Back in the day slavery was quite wide-ranging and it depended on the region, weather, mechanical progression and the development of plantations (Hine, Hine & Harold, 2014). The population of the slaves also varied based on the region. Regardless of the fluctuation of slavery in many ways, there were still numerous practices that went without any change. This paper will help compare and contrast the slavery in the 18th century as it existed in the Chesapeake, in the low county of South Carolina and Georgia and the northern colonies.

Discussion

The northern colonies and Chesapeake started using servants by an indenture, which initially laid the foundation indenture servitude. Having said that, the northern region kept the slave population low in contrast to the southern side. There came a time in the 1800s when the slave population in the southern region reached up to a whopping 1,519,017 (Hine, Hine & Harold, 2014). The tobacco production in Chesapeake reached a peak and there were times when even the masters worked with the slaves, but the farms were usually quite small. The economy was also a significant factor when it came to the variation of slavery. The economy of northern regions was quite diverse from that of the southern colonies, which was the reason that they, unlike the southern colonies, did not rely on the labor given by the slaves.

Coming to the low county of South Carolina and Georgia the stats of slavery were much higher due to satisfactory climate and larger plantations, which were being put to benefit for commercial agriculture. Chattel slavery was practiced from the very start when slaves were treated as property, but Chesapeake introduced the concept of indentured servitude in which the slaves were bound with an indenture (Carr, Morgan & Russo, 2015). Georgia and Carolinas owned great plantations which they were using to cultivate cotton and rice. Later, the cultivation increased which made the need for more slaves' inevitable. As time passed cotton became the main crop that was being cultivated on the plantation.

The larger plantations increased the mortality rate in the slaves as they were not getting the needed healthcare, which resulted in many deaths among the servants due to various diseases and well-being issues (Carr, Morgan & Russo, 2015). Further, due to there being a higher rate of slaves working in the southern plantations, many servants were able to preserve their cultural beliefs. On the contrary, the slaves in the northern region associated themselves with the whites due to their limited population.

Conclusion

Where there were many similarities within all regions, there were differences as well. Regardless, the need and acceptance of servants were present in all the regions. Male slaves had a higher ratio as opposed to women due to their durability and strengths. However, the similarities were much stronger as no matter how good or bad African-Americans were treated in either of the regions, they were always considered inferior to the whites. Even if we talk about "Mulattoes," "mixed" or the “Creoles” all were considered the inferior race. In short, all the slaves were included under the umbrella of “Slave Codes” with the variation in how strictly those rules and codes were enforced on them by the region they were living in.

References

Hine, D.C., Hine, W.C. & Harold, S. (2014). African Americans: A Concise History (5thed. Combined Volume). New York: Pearson.

Carr, L. G., Morgan, P. D., & Russo, J. B. (Eds.). (2015). Colonial Chesapeake Society. UNC Press Books.