Wage Laborer System In New England Colonies

Slaves on the plantations would never make any money. Their work was work, and there was no pay. Even if a slave was somehow able to escape the plantation they could never last long without a penny to their name. In the south slaves worked in the fields and not in a trade, and a master would never dream of allowing a slave to keep any money that they did earn. In the northern cities, however, it was very different.

- Slaves were brought to the colonies by boat , by the indentured servants whose job was to exchange passage to North America. 3. What types of jobs did slaves do in each colonial region: New England , Middle and the South? - The slaves mostly did manual labor ( mostly physical) like harvesting cash crops such as : rice, tobacco , and cotton.

Slaves were put into all types of work. “The 125 slaves on one plantation, for instance, included a butler, two waitresses, a nurse, a dairymaid, a gardener, ten carpenters, and two shoe-makers. Other plantations counted among their slaves engineers, blacksmiths, and weavers, as well as domestic workers from cooks to coachman” (Foner 425). Some slaves were put to fuel the steamboats by cutting woods, labor in coal and iron mines, in the southern ports the slaves manned the docks, also laid the railroad tracks. The local authorities put slaves to construct and repair bridges, roads and other facilities.

Plantations were spread out from each other along the regions rivers, and with every plantation conducting its own manufacture, sales and distribution, there was very little chance for the Virginians to create a more communal society. Plantation owners controlled large groups of bondsmen working in the fields controlled by overseers, and women served as house servants for the plantation masters. Most of these women were sexually abused by their masters and penalized with longer terms of service if they happen to bare illegitimate children. Because of disease, living conditions and harsh treatment 40% of the servants did not survive their terms of service. 1.

The Southern states utilized slaves to work their large plantations and to perform other work. Oftentimes, slaves were traded, rented, or sold to pay off debts, thus being treated like objects or property by the slaveowners (Document G). This demonstrates how the slaves dealt with injustice and discrimination while under the white man 's control. Although the Union disagreed with the Confederacy’s use of slavery, 12% of slaves lived in the border states of the North and the South (Document B). While the North had no slaves, the South owned 3,500,000.

In Virginia, slaves lived and worked on plantations or small farms where tobacco was the cash crop. As a general rule, they worked from sunrise to sunset, usually in the tobacco fields. On large plantations, some learned trades and worked as blacksmiths, carpenters, and coopers or served as cooks and house

They constantly worked from dawn to sunset. They had to make food for the entire plantation slaves which left them no time to rest. Some of their tasks included working on the plantation, farms and fields, and in the main house. They had to constantly keep mental count

Beginning in the 17th century, European settlers began using African Americans laborers as a cheaper source of work. In southern American colonies, slavery spread like wildfire. African American slaves worked on tobacco, rice, cotton and indigo plantations. Most slave owners forbid their slaves from learning to read and write, and typically did not treat them humanly.

Since many were carpenters and mechanics, they were permitted to work in town. However, the money that they made had to be paid back to their owner. Lastly, the lowest group were known as the field slaves. Field slaves were the ones who worked in plantation fields. They worked on producing cash crops such as cotton, sugar, and tobacco.

These people were usually war prisoners or criminals who were seen as the “outsiders” in a class hierarchy. Even though some of these slaves were brutally treated and forced to work until death, some however, enjoyed a more filling and successful life. For example, some slaves worked for the state or in the households of their masters while others worked dreadfully in the mines. Also, some masters retired their slaves when they got too elderly to work efficiently. Also, others were granted their freedom after they had paid off a debt or could purchase their freedom.

After slavery was abolished in the North, it became a peculiar institution of the South, which meant that it was an institution unique of southern society. Slavery was a system of labor in which the slaves suffered very difficult life conditions, violent punishments, and injustices. Most slaves lived on plantations or farms. Most slaves were field workers, while a small percentage worked on the industry. Usually, the slaves who worked in urban areas had more autonomy than those who worked in rural areas.

The plantations were often busy so slaveholders relied on overseers to supervise the slaves quality of work in the fields and help overlook the cultivation of crops. Outside the plantations and inside the household, operations were run differently. Some slaveholders hired personal managers for their households while others just relied on mistresses to oversee and handle household affairs. Slaveholder’s were infatuated with becoming the best cotton manufacturer as well as becoming skilled producers of sugar and rice. Eager for success, they put their slaves to hard work on the plantations; clearing substantial amounts of forest and hoeing fields for harvest.

The Southern colonies differed in that slave labor was crucial to their society. In New England everyone helped with the family chores. It didn’t matter whether you were 5 or 50. As long as you could walk, there would be something for you to do. Even though the soil was weak in quality and very rocky, they still managed to farm some crops including corn, rye, peas, squash and pumpkins.

Firstly, the owners of land ownership in the southern colonies rapidly pooled their land, forming a large-scale farms, which, respectively, required much more labor. Second, the price of tobacco, the main crop of the South, in the 1660s fell and remained at a low level, forcing all the planters to sell cheaper. Third, as population growth in England and at the same time reduced to improve living conditions, the number of people who wanted to go to America as indentured workers, reduced - thus the number Servent also declined. Fourth, the laws of Virginia and other colonies were aimed at the worsening situation of black workers and ultimately led to legitimize the system of slave labor. Although theoretically black workers were free men, in fact, they had to put up with infringement of their civil, legal and property rights.

Labor systems have been the foundation for civilizations since the beginning of time. Who did what and how they benefited each other, in other words, specialization of labor, came to be a defining factor in whether a society was truly a civilization or not. Most great civilizations were founded on agricultural labor systems, and societies with no systematic format on their workforce were seldom able to take the main stage in world history. Between 1450 and 1750, the Americas began to mark their place in the world, proving they were just as relevant as Europe, Africa, or Asia. The labor systems established during 1450-1750 were key factors in how they were able to do so.