Similarities And Differences Of Indentured Slavery And Slaves

Indentured servants were very similar to slaves in many ways because of how they lived their day to day lives, treatment, and how owners handled the situation of runaway. Both groups suffered greatly from the harsh treatment their masters would do to them. Although there are some differences between slaves and servants the similarities make them much more alike than different. To understand how these people are similar the path of how they entered into slavery and servitude must be established. Indentured servants were almost all white poor Englishman who could not find work in England but heard of the overwhelming possibilities over in North America, but the problem was that because they were poor they had no way of paying for the voyage …show more content…
Slavery would then take over those of indentured servants and made it possible for the freedom of all white people while blacks would be the slaves. Africans became slaves first in their own continent and then brought to North and South America. People always say that Africans would enslave and sell themselves, now yes technically that is true but Africans had a wide variety of tribes, cultures, religions, languages, and ways of life. These African slave owners would trade their slaves to European sailors for a variety of things ranging from food to guns and ammo so that they may go and capture more slaves to trade to other Europeans continuing the cycle. These slaves had no idea who, why, or where these white men were taking them only knowing that they would more than likely never return to their land ever again. Once they reached North America the slaves would then be sold to the highest bidder and be taken across the coast doing whatever their masters told them to do which could range from plantation working to construction of new towns and …show more content…
Depending on where the slaves and servants lived made them have different types of jobs they may have. Those whom lived in the Southern region would normally harvest tobacco, while in northern areas they would harvest rice. Once the indentured servants had been freed they began to write about their experience they would compare their timed served as “slave” or “sent to hoe tobacco plants from dawn to dusk”. They could also be forced to do simple jobs around the home like cooking or cleaning for their masters. For those in the South the indentured servants and slaves would spend the majority of their day tending to the tobacco plants similar to a 9 to 5 job today but only much harder and without breaks, while those of the North had a system of do the amount of work you are told to do that day and the rest of the day is yours. Work for both the North and the South was extremely strenuous for slaves and indentured servants and if the master did not like how their property worked they could do anything they wanted to them to force them to work faster from beatings to whippings without any recourse from the public. Once they finished their work slaves or servants may go and spend time with their families or visit with the other slaves and servants and were