What is your non-biased viewpoint of how the slaves were treated by their masters during colonial America?

Question

I'm having a hard time believing that the majority were treated maliciously, but I didn't live then so I can be wrong. For some reason, I believe many were taken in like family, and were treated with generosity. What are your viewpoints?

Answer 1

You would have to ask someone that was alive during that time period.

Answer 2

The majority were agricultural workers. This always means long hours, back-aching labor. They were not allowed to marry as they pleased, and when they did, family members could be sold. During colonial times, slaves farmed tobacco. You can bet that they were heaving around heavy bales of the smelly stuff, and, after it "cured," it'd be dusty and carcinogenic -- not that people lived long enough to get cancer then.

During the early years of the USA, slaves farmed cotton. Again, while this was a "hard knock life," the slaves were treated in a way that would get the maximum amount of daily labor out of them. Mutilations and beatings were probably not as common as TV would have you believe, because that would have resulted in a slave not performing well in the fields the next day. But again, with constant forced labor, limited social interaction, and the threat of family members being sold, this life was less than ideal, and many slaves did try to escape from it. There must have been a VERY good reason why they wanted to escape, right?

Answer 3

Not that anyone can come at this discussion without some bias, to some degree....

Slaves in colonial times were treated like an object. Like we today view a car, or bike, or computer, or desk, or suitcase, etc. Each has its use, usually a specific use, but often times a multifunction item. Sometimes (whether for malicious, or incompetence) we misuse our possesions. We use them inappropriately, we damage them, we run them into the ground without proper maintenance. Usually we take care of our stuff, but there is an occasion where we don't.

By todays standards, slaves (as human beings) were treated poorly, because we know that people are not possessions. But, in those days, it was acceptable. Many were treated well (fed, good place to sleep, not over worked, given praise, etc.) I am sure some were treated poorly, and even fewer were treated with what we today would consider human dignity.

Like I said, hard to do this unbiased, but there you go.

Answer 4

I don't think there is any good way to answer this question...my guess is that some were treated well, and others were not, and there's probably also some middle ground, but none of us have any way of knowing what actually happened. There is some history available on the topic, but that's probably also biased from whoever recorded it.

Consider your question - you've revealed your bias in asking it. You've stated your inclination to believe that the majority of slaves were treated well, so you're probably going to be more likely to believe other people who share that same viewpoint, and discount the opinions of people who say that all or the majority of slaves were treated poorly.

Answer 5

I think it is possible that some were, I wouldn't put that past people, I mean look at Washington, I'm pretty sure he treated his slaves very well and those in the South that had only about two or so slave, could very possibly been very kind to them. I do know, from reading a few things, but former slaves, in history class, that many were tortured, such as beatings, rape, and other horrible things. Several slave owners at what is known as gang systems, these systems were put in place to basically punish the slaves that did something they saw as wrong. So I don't think all were treated horribly, but many were. It depended on the heart of the slave owners.

Answer 6

I'm sure they weren't treated as bad as the history books state.
Some were but most were probably treated as some what human.
I think that many of the slaves were treated as inequal. They would give them what they needed for decent living conditions but nothing to grand. They probably never took in there opinion or anything.
But then you hear about some who were really nice. Like they took in the slave kids as there own, taught them how to read, fed them well.
And then you hear about the people who were completely evil. The people who would make them work before the sun came up till after it went down, with out a break.
You get your goods and bads in everything. It was probably in the middle for most though

Answer 7

The unvarnished truth was that the slaves were treated vastly different. That is because all the slave owners were individuals and they all had their own way of getting what they wanted done. Just as some slave owners were bad and treated their slaves bad, there were slaves owners that were kind and treated their slaves kind.It is as varied as the human personality.

Answer 8

I'm not sure, you hear both such accounts (violent and kind). Like in Uncle Tom's Cabin.

It probably depended on the personality of the slaveholder.

Ultimately though, white people of the time were raised since birth to see black people as sub-human and, therefore, many would have worked them like livestock. I would imagine that most slaveowners would have been stern enough to get the slaves to do what they wanted them to do, but wouldn't punish them unnecessarily. But I really don't know, I haven't studied this particular issue. That would make a good essay.

Answer 9

I live in Canada and my relatives supported the Underground Railroad, a system that allowed escaped slaves to enter Canada and assume lives free of servitude. I have heard many tales of abuse, especially of the rape and abuse of women and children. Many families were torn apart and sold like cattle... even by the "kind" owners. What kind of life is that? Some slaves were allowed to buy their freedom...... after countless hours of backbreaking labour paid at minimum amounts. They were the lucky ones.There is just nothing good to say about the shameful legacy of slavery.

Answer 10

i guess its a case by case thing. Some slaves were treated very well, and even freed by thier owners, others were given medium treatment (i think most of them) like the slaves in the movie Gone With the Wind, while others were treated really badly.

Answer 11

not all slaves were treated badly. in fact, some slave owners even took the slaves in and treated them nicely, and some even got to sit at the dinner table and live in their homes.
however, of course you know that some owners were horrible and brutal to their slaves, working them like dogs and beating them and raping them and so on.
it really just depended on who the owner was and what their were like as a person.