Slavery in Early American History: The white man's burden

Slavery in early American history (Student’s name) (Institutional Affiliation) Introduction Initially, in America there was never imagined that slavery will once come into existence but surprisingly, after a century there was slavery. There was evidence of slavery in Virginia from 1640-60. By the year 1700, the Africans who came into English America were treated differently from the original inhabitants. However, the data is not sufficient but we have to rely on it to try and understand the life that was led by Africans in English America at that time and why they were made slaves. However, this paper seeks to explain the extent of slavery in America and the way in which the slaves were treated by their masters. It goes on to explain the beastly actions that the slaves faced and also how one became a slave. It also explains why Africans were seen as different. Many immigrants who came to America were used as slaves and this led to deaths of many of them. Those who survived were separated from their families and taken far away in places they did not know people (Jordan, n.d). The Englishmen who migrated to America were educated, civilized and were free men. In America, there were huge pieces of land but there was not enough source of labor hence they needed slaves to work in these farms. There were three systems of labor in America. They were free wage, chattel slavery and the other one was temporary servitude. Slaves could be sold by their masters to another master until his/her time expired and when it expired he/she was set free. In reality, it was his labor that was traded but not himself as a person. The relationship between the master and the slave was regulated by statute law and customs. Slavery in America was encouraged due to the presence of huge portions of land that needed to be cultivated (Jordan, n.d). State of slavery in America Slavery was evident in America and the slave’s labor could be transferred from one master to the other and the slave could not object under all circumstances. After some time, the slaves started asking for their freedom. The Englishmen had no precise methods to ascertain what was happening to their social functions. The normal status of the Englishmen was personal freedom. In explaining the meaning of the word slave, we note from the source that slaves and servants are same and still differ in one way or another, “slaves could be “servants”, but servants should not be “slaves” (Jordan, p.31). Slaves did not have freedom. Slaves were subjected to hard labor and were always in bondage. Slavery was however seen as everlasting condition though it did not mean lifetime labor. The Englishmen termed slavery as loss of liberty and humanity. They had a feeling that treating somebody like a slave is like treating him/her as a beast. These Englishmen disliked the idea of people being treated like slaves. The church fathers held that slavery was connected to sin. The extent of the inhuman nature of the slave trade is evidenced in the chapter where the writer comments, “…it was ordained by the constitution of nations, …that he that was taken in battle should remain bond to his taker forever, and he to do with him, all that should come of him, his will and pleasure, as with his beast, or any other ca...