What were the slavery and its legal basis in USA?

Question

I'm not in USA so I am doing some research about it.

In slavery age, how was a slave treated? Was he treated as an animal or an employee? Was he paid? Was he still considered as a human? Could a slave be freed by his master? Could a free white man be enslaved? Could a slave be murdered freely ?

What was legal basis of the slavery in that age when the declaration of independence of America clearly claimed that all men are created equal?

Thanks.

Answer 1

When you look at the history of slavery in the US, you have to consider the history of slavery around the world, because it is certainly not unique to the US. Slavery has been around and accepted since the dawn of man. Up until around the 19th century, slavery was pretty much accepted all over the world. Even though it is now illegal everywhere, forms of slavery are still being practiced in places around the world and human trafficking is still a problem.



There was no such term as the "slavery age". Slavery was legal from the beginning until it was made illegal. Africans enslaved other Africans and sold them to European slave traders. Europeans traders brought them west to where manual unskilled labor was most useful. Slavery first appeared in the Western Hemisphere in the Caribbean to harvest sugar cane for sugar and rum. Slavery originated in the US area when it was a BRITISH colony and were imported for labor in cultivating the new world. Slavery was not abolished in the British Empire until 1843. It hung on in some US states because of the need for lots of manual labor on plantations.



To answer your questions:

There may have been a few laws that regulated the treatment of slaves, but for the most part slaves are property and could be treated as the owner sees fit. Some owners treated them like respected servants, while others treated them like animals.



Generally slaves were not paid.



Generally slaves in the US were treated as subhuman, a treatment in some states and by some people that lasted more than 100 years after slavery was abolished in the US. The fact that in the US slaves were a different race made this feeling easy.



Slaves could be freed. Thomas Jefferson freed his slaves upon his death.



Technically, a free man could not be enslaved, so a white man could not be enslaved (but he could be an indebted servant). Slaves originated as imports or children of existing slaves.



I am sure that there have been many cases of murdered slaves, either directly or though poor living conditions. However, since slaves were property, murder or lack of care would destroy the value of that property.



At the time of the Declaration of Independence, slavery was legal by both the US and Britain. The DOI was not a legal document so the statement "All men are created equal" was not law and not directed at slavery (you have to take it in context with the document). There was LOTS of inequalities between at that time as there are now. However, the statement did lead to the abolishment of slavery in Massachusetts.

Answer 2

Slaves were not, generally, treat as employees, and not, generally, paid. The whole purpose of the slave was to get labor out of them without having to pay them. Some masters might offer some slaves money or goods as an incentive for better performance, but that was the exception and not the rule. White men could not be enslaved and, by the 18th century, slaver was exclusively reserved for people of African descent. For much of slavery's history in America, masters could free their slaves as they saw fit. However, as the 19th century went on, white Southerners became more and more concerned about free blacks who were living in their states. They worried that these people would sympathize with the slaves and help slaves escape or rebel. So they passed laws intended to slow down the rate of manumissions by owners. These included things like requiring masters to post money to ensure their former slave's good behavior, or requiring the freed slave to leave the state. By the 1840s it was virtually impossible for masters to free their slaves. Generally it could only be done by special act of the legislature and then only if the slave had done something extraordinary like save a white person's life, or inform on a slave rebellion. As far as murder went, this varied from place to place and based on the circumstances. I believe that in most places the killing of someone else's slave was a civil infraction where the owner could sue you for damages. Killing your own slave, without a good reason such as self defense, was illegal in some places. In most places though, pointless murder of slaves was seen as potentially indicating that someone was a sadist. Out and out murder of slaves was probably rare. They were, after all, expensive pieces of property, probably the equivalent of an expensive automobile today. Masters generally didn't want to lose that wealth for no reason. So they would often engage in horrific levels of violence to keep their slaves in line but would usually try and stop it before it actually killed them.

Answer 3

slaves were considered property, and were very much at the mercy of their owners. they were not paid for the work they did for their owners, though they might be given tips etc for special services. Slaves on large plantations had small gardens attached to their cabins, where they grew vegetables, and they were allowed to sell their produce to make a little money. many slave owners apparently treated their slaves decently, but some did not. They could be freed, and some owners for instance would free favoured slaves in their wills. or the slave could buy his freedom with money he had earned from tips, selling garden produce etc. money was sometimes offered to female slaves as an inducement to breeding. major wallon, a plantation owner, offered every new mother a calico dress and a silver dollar.



in theory, a slave owner could probably get away with killing a slave with no repercusions, but in practice, i think most slave owners wanted their slaves alive, not dead, they were more valuable alive.

Answer 4

In the beginning, only endentured servitude was lawful in the usa. Slavery was temporary, & a way for a man to pay off his debts. After completing a term of servitude for a specified time, no more than 7 years by law, a "slave" had to be set free. One such endentured servant, a black man named Anthony Johnson became a successful farmer who had endentured servants of his own. When one black servant, John Casor, completed his term & left to take a regular job, Johnson sued Casor in court and won the right to keep him as a slave for life in 1655. Later, other laws were passed in parts of the country allowing others to own black men, and eventually, most slaves were black & almost always owned by whites. Many slaves were dehumanized, overworked, beaten, refused education & had their children sold off, never to see them again. Others were well treated, some, like the infamous Montgomerys, were highly educated, but most all yearned for that 1 basic thing: FREEDOM.