Slaves
Creators of America
By: Kalina Taraski
Introduction
Slaves helped maintained America by, doing work for their owners. Most of them were captured and brought here and bought by people who wanted someone who could do their work and maintain there house and farms. During the beginning of the Revolutionary war more than 20% of the population in America was slaves. The punishments were harsh , and they had many rules to live by that were unfair. What did slaves do to help shape America into the country that it is today? All of these things contribute to who the slaves were, how they were treated, and what they did on a daily bases.
Coming Over
Coming to America, on a ship.
Punishments
One of the punishments a slave had to suffer.
Working
Working hard for there owner.
Coming Over
John Hawkins brought the first boat of slaves to America carrying 300 people. These people were from Africa. They were captured and brought here to work for white people, with no pay. Slavery started in the Northern Colonies but as the Southern Colonies were founded and started, slavery traveled down south ad became a big thing down in the south.This was the beginning of slavery but it certainly was not the end.
Punishments and Rules
Slaves had no rights, owners could do what ever they wanted with their slaves. Some of the punishments for slaves were getting whipped, and beaten, and sometimes they were put into a smoke house this was considered smoking them. Whipping was mainly used to control the slaves behaviors. The number of lashes depended on what the slave did, and also the harshness of the punishments depended on what they did. Other punishments were being pushed does a hill , being submerged under the water, if they tried to get away they were chased by dogs,and if they were caught they would suffer a punishment. These were just some of the punishments that slaves had to suffer.
What Did Slaves do?
Most slaves worked almost 18 hours a day, and were lucky to get up to 3 hours of sleep a day. Just because kids were younger doesn't mean they didn't have to work. They had to do most of their work outside and you would rarely see them working inside a house. Slaves who worked in the field were called a "field slave." Field slaves worked longer and harder than any other type of slave. House slaves worked and lived in their owners homes. They worker fewer hours and had more privileges than other slaves. On Saturdays there was square dancing it was like a break for the slaves.
Concluding
The slaves worked hard, were treated badly, and suffered horrible punishments. Slaves were used by lots and lots of people in the 1700s during the Revolutionary war. The punishments that they suffered were just plan cruel. Our beautiful country is the way it is because of these people. Though the slaves had a rough life and worked hard everyday they contributed a lot to our country and if it wasn't for them we wouldn't be who we are today.