This essay will discuss whether the experience of the convicts transported to Australia was one of slavery. It will discuss the definition of slavery, who the convicts were, how the convicts were treated, whether the convicts were all treated the same, whether the convicts did have any rights or freedom at all and the different visions on slavery. This essay will argue that the experience of the convicts transported to Australia was one of slavery.
Slavery had a long history in the British empire and was not officially abolished until 1833 (Boyce 2008, p. 90). The definition of slavery in law and the contemporary understanding of slavery has continually evolved and continues to be contentious. The 1926 definition emerges as the benchmark. That …show more content…
Dallas (1968, p. 61-61) argues that convicts, particularly those on assignment, are like any other slave category and that the British colonial system was based on slavery. On the word of Nicholas (1988, p. 127) it was the assignment of convicts to private masters that identified the convict system as a type of slavery. According to him, the colonial New South Wales has been characterised as a slave society and convictism as a slave labour system. However, while inexorably bound together, the two concepts of convictism and slavery are not identical, a point which has escaped both contemporary observers and historians (Nicholas 1988, p. 111). According to Maxwell-Stewart (2008, p. 155), when Governor Arthur was asked to describe how the convict’s condition related to that of the slave, he replied that it differed in no respect ‘except that the master cannot apply corporal punishment’ and had ‘property in him for a limited period’. He had once described the operation of the convict system he had devised as a prison without walls (Frost & Maxwell-Stewart 2001, p. 21). Governors Arthur, Darling, Gipps and Fitzroy believed that assigned convicts were slaves, all governors having had previous experience in colonies where other forms of slavery existed. According to them, convict and slave labour was identical, whether the convict was assigned or in government service. They also believed that transportation was slavery. The fact that convicts might gain a higher living standard than free workers spoke of the efficacy of any slave system, but did not alter the basic fact that convictism was slavery (Nicholas 1988, p.
Slavery had a long history in the British empire and was not officially abolished until 1833 (Boyce 2008, p. 90). The definition of slavery in law and the contemporary understanding of slavery has continually evolved and continues to be contentious. The 1926 definition emerges as the benchmark. That …show more content…
Dallas (1968, p. 61-61) argues that convicts, particularly those on assignment, are like any other slave category and that the British colonial system was based on slavery. On the word of Nicholas (1988, p. 127) it was the assignment of convicts to private masters that identified the convict system as a type of slavery. According to him, the colonial New South Wales has been characterised as a slave society and convictism as a slave labour system. However, while inexorably bound together, the two concepts of convictism and slavery are not identical, a point which has escaped both contemporary observers and historians (Nicholas 1988, p. 111). According to Maxwell-Stewart (2008, p. 155), when Governor Arthur was asked to describe how the convict’s condition related to that of the slave, he replied that it differed in no respect ‘except that the master cannot apply corporal punishment’ and had ‘property in him for a limited period’. He had once described the operation of the convict system he had devised as a prison without walls (Frost & Maxwell-Stewart 2001, p. 21). Governors Arthur, Darling, Gipps and Fitzroy believed that assigned convicts were slaves, all governors having had previous experience in colonies where other forms of slavery existed. According to them, convict and slave labour was identical, whether the convict was assigned or in government service. They also believed that transportation was slavery. The fact that convicts might gain a higher living standard than free workers spoke of the efficacy of any slave system, but did not alter the basic fact that convictism was slavery (Nicholas 1988, p.