Plantation slaves lived in small shacks with a dirt floor and little or no furniture. Life on large plantations with a cruel overseer was oftentimes the worst. However, work for a small farm owner who was not doing well could mean not being fed. The stories about cruel overseers were certainly true in some cases.
Belonging to another human being brought unique constrictions, disruptions, frustrations, and pain. Slavery not only inhibited family formation but made stable, secure family life difficult if not impossible. Enslaved people could not legally marry in any American colony or state.
Part of the reason slavery evolved differently in New England than in the middle and southern colonies was the culture of indentured servitude. As a carryover from English practice, indentured servants were the original standard for forced labor in New England and middle colonies like Pennsylvania and Delaware.
How was life different for slaves in the city than on the plantation? They could live on their own if they contracted with their masters. They could perform jobs that immigrants were doing in Northern cities. They frequently relied on the free black communities to help them escape.
It wasn't just their labor that spurred the commercialization of society. The driving of more and more slaves inland and across the continent, the opening up of new slave routes and the expansion of old ones, tied hinterland markets together and created local circuits of finance and trade.
The effect of slavery in Africa Other states were completely destroyed and their populations decimated as they were absorbed by rivals. Millions of Africans were forcibly removed from their homes, and towns and villages were depopulated. Many Africans were killed in slaving wars or remained enslaved in Africa.
Enslaved people were regarded and treated as property with little to no rights. In many colonies, enslaved people could not testify in a court of law, own guns, gather in large groups, or go out at night.
How did African slavery differ regionally in eighteenth century North America? There were three distinct slave systems in the colonies: tobacco-based plantations in the Chesapeake, rice-based plantations in South Carolina and Georgia, and no plantations in New England and the Middle Colonies.
High European demand for cash crops (Tobacco, sugar, and rice), Difficulty in enslaving Natives, and lack of indentured servants were the reasons for growth of slavery.
One major difference between urban and rural slavery was the high concentration of slaves in cities. Whereas great distances often separated small communities of rural slaves, urban slaves typically lived and worked in close proximity with one another.
For one thing, enslaved people in cities lived in very close proximity to their enslavers, often in the same house. Enslaved people in cities did not do the agricultural labor that was typical on plantations. Most of the enslaved women in cities worked as servants, taking care of their enslavers' home and family.
In 1750, most enslaved people in the South lived and worked on a large tobacco or rice plantation and lived with a large group of other enslaved people. In New England, enslaved people usually lived alone or at most, with one or two others, often with the family inside their home.