1.Slaves are treated as the personal assets of their master unlike servants. 2.Being a slave is like a state for your life. A servant is more of a business arrangement. 3.Slaves are enslaved for eternity while servants have the chance to become free members of society upon completion of their services.
What is the difference between slaves and indentured servants?
The key difference between slaves and indentured servants is that slaves worked throughout their lifetime, whereas indentured servants worked only for a selected period according to a business arrangement. The following figure presents the differences between slaves and indentured servants in tabular form..
How are servants treated better than slaves?
Servants are generally treated better than slaves. In Chains, the treatment that Becky, the Locktons' housekeeper, receives from her employers, is practically lavish compared to the treatment that Isabel receives from those very people. Peter Wood, a professor of history at Duke University, was asked this very same question.
How were indentured servants and slaves treated in the colonies?
Indentured servants and slaves were treated in broadly similar ways. They were both brought to the New World in horrible conditions with many dying along the way. They were both subject to physical punishment from their masters. They both worked for no pay and with no control over their working lives.
What is the difference between servitude and slavery?
• Many servants lived a life similar to that of slaves, but they were hopeful of freedom after the end of their contract. • Obedience is the essence of slavery whereas service is the essence of servitude.
What is the difference between service and slavery?
Obedience is the essence of slavery whereas service is the essence of servitude. Anyone offering his services is a servant whereas anyone offering obedience is a slave. A servant is free to work for the chosen master, whereas a slave is forced to work against his will.
What are the differences between slaves and indentured servants?
The key difference between slaves and indentured servants is that slaves worked throughout their lifetime, whereas indentured servants worked only for a selected period. Slavery is a status that slaves gained for their life. They had to remain as slaves during their whole lives, and their offspring also become slaves.
How were indentured servants treated?
Indentured servants were frequently overworked, especially on the Southern plantations during planting and harvesting season. Corporal punishment of indentured servants was expected for rule infractions but some servants were beaten so severely they later died. Many servants were disfigured or disabled.
What is the similarities between indentured servants and slaves?
Indentured servants were very similar to slaves in many ways because of how they lived their day to day lives, treatment, and how owners handled the situation of runaway. Both groups suffered greatly from the harsh treatment their masters would do to them.
What is the difference between a slave and a servant?
2.Being a slave is like a state for your life. A servant is more of a business arrangement. 3.Slaves are enslaved for eternity while servants have the chance to become free members of society upon completion of their services.
What are servant services?
The servant’s services can be in exchange for food, lodging, clothing, transportation, and other amenities during the indentured years. Most of these individuals are young (below 21 years old) and work on farms doing the majority of the manual work. Others were asked to serve at homes doing some domestic services.
How long can an indentured servant be?
As a result, the normal indentured years of four to six years can be extended to as long as seven years or more. Historically speaking, before the American Civil War, both indentured servants and slaves were regarded as the property of the master or the owner.
Why is the difference between slaves and indentured servants blurred?
The difference between slaves and indentured servants has been blurred because of the changes that happened across various points in time. And so their respective characteristics or roles may appear different when you look at them from different historical perspectives. Generally speaking, though, slaves appear to be more pitiful ...
Why are slaves considered to be more pitiful than indentured servants?
One of the reasons for this is because they are not given freedom even after many years of toil and hard work. They are, therefore, slaves for as long as they live. As such, they literally become the property of their master and have no rights.
Do servants get free dues?
Some servants will even receive a monetary incentive known as “freedom dues” upon the completion of their service. Thereafter they are now regarded as free members of the society. In this connection, they are already entitled with the right to own real estate or properties.
Can slaves be sold?
Like all other types of property, slaves can be sold, exchanged, bargained for, and even be included as one of the assets in a will. By contrast, it is only the contract of the indentured servant (but not the actual servant), which can be bought or bargained for by an interested third party.
Who are Slaves?
The word ‘slave’ originated from the old French word ‘sclave’. The usage of this word came when central and eastern European slaves were enslaved by Moors in the North American peninsula during the Medieval period. Slaves were treated as property and also poorly treated. They were owned by people and therefore could be sold at their will.
Who are Indentured Servants?
Indentured servants can be recognized as men and women who agree to work for a definite number of years through a contract. They enjoyed more freedom than slaves. They were also provided with transportation to the relevant country/place, food, accommodation, and clothing.
What is the Difference Between Slaves and Indentured Servants?
Slaves are people who are the legal property of others and are forced to obey and work for them. Indentured servants are workers who signed a contract by which they agreed to work for a certain number of years in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, and shelter.
Summary – Slaves vs Indentured Servants
Slaves are owned by masters throughout their lifetime. Therefore, slavery is a lifetime status. Children of slaves also become slaves. They are given no liberty, remuneration, rights, nor freedom to make any kind of decision. They are almost always poorly treated and can be bought and sold according to their masters’ wishes.
How do slaves differ from servants?
Slaves differ from servants in three important aspects: value, consent, and treatment . In terms of the value that they are rewarded for their labor, servants are paid for their work, while slaves are not. They are forced to labor for free, and the most that the fortunate among them can expect in return is basic human kindness.
What is the difference between a slave and a servant?
Skin color doesn't make a difference. The defining feature of a servant is that he or she is under contract to work for a certain number of years.
Was Isabel a slave or a servant?
In essence, the servant was the equivalent of a rental, while the slave was actual property and needed to be taken care of. In Isabel's situation though, Isabel was treated much more poorly as a slave than Becky was treated as a servant. Approved by eNotes Editorial Team.
What is the difference between a servant and a slave?
is that slave is a person who is the property of another person and whose labor and also whose life often is subject to the owner's volition while servant is one who is hired to perform regular household or other duties, and receives compensation as opposed to a slave.
What is a servant?
Noun. A person who is the property of another person and whose labor and also whose life often is subject to the owner's volition. A person who is legally obliged by prior contract (oral or written) to work for another, with contractually limited rights to bargain; an indentured servant.
What does "slave" mean?
One who has lost the power of resistance; one who surrenders to something. a slave to passion, to strong drink, or to ambition. A drudge; one who labours like a slave. An abject person; a wretch.
What were slaves treated like?
Slaves, unlike indentured servants, were treated like property. They received basic food and shelter and were forced to work long hours. They had no rights and received no education or freedom of movement.
How were indentured servants and slaves treated?
Indentured servants and slaves were treated in broadly similar ways. They were both brought to the New World in horrible conditions with many dying along the way. They were both subject to physical punishment from their masters. They both worked for no pay and with no control over their working lives.
What is the difference between slaves and indentured servants?
Another fundamental difference between slaves and indentured servants is that indentured servants entered indenture freely, usually through a contract in which they would receive certain benefits such as ship passage. Slaves had no such liberty and no similar benefits.
What happens to indentured servants at the end of their period?
At the end of their period of indenture, they would be restored to their former status as freemen. And, in many cases, indentured servants were awarded property or money at the conclusion of their period of indenture.
Why were indentured servants used?
They were widely used in the early decades of the American colonies to provide labor in return for board, lodging, and a passage across the Atlantic. Indentured servants were contracted to work for a set length of time, which was an advantage they had over slaves, who would remain in their condition ...
Why could slaves expect better treatment?
Slaves could sometimes expect better treatment because their masters had more money tied up in them. Indentured servants, especially those reaching the end of their terms, were of little value to the masters and did not need to be treated as carefully so as to protect their master's investment.
Did slaves have to monetize their labor?
At a superficial level, the lives of slaves and indentured servants were not that different. Both had no ability to monetize their labor from the point of indenture and/or enslavement and were beholden to their masters.
What is the precise nature of the treatment of servants and slaves in. colonial America?
The precise nature of the treatment of servants and slaves in. colonial America has long been a topic of controversy among historians. The problem stems in large part from the dearth of primary sources still . extant concerning the two classes of laborers.
What was the differential treatment received by freemen, servants, and slaves?
free white, a servant, and a slave - all accused of the same crime. Jacob, a Negro male, was presented for stealing three bags of tobacco .
What was the relationship between the masters and their bondsmen?
relationship between the masters and their bondsmen became more . subservient and parasitic, more control became necessary (Ross, 1969: 101). When slavery proved to be the more profitable of the two labor . systems, the measures taken to control the blacks became increasingly .
How many convicts were brought to Virginia?
20,000 were brought to Virginia and Maryland (Smith, 1947: 119). Consequently, convicts constituted a very significant portion of the . indentured laborers in Virginia, especially after 1718. Servants were the major source of labor in colonial Virginia .
What is a second definitional law?
A second type of definitional law is that prescribing the . rights of and restrictions upon servants and slaves. The laws defining . rights and imposing restrictions served to outline more fully the . actual status of servants and slaves in colonial Virginia society.
How long can an indentured servant work?
Indentured servants willingly enter an agreement to work for a specific period of time, up to six years or longer if there is a breach of contract, in exchange for something such as land. The contract of an indentured servant can be sold to an interested third party, but the servant is not considered property of the contract holder.
What happened to the slaves after the Civil War?
After the Civil War, laws were changed to allow only the contracts of indentured servants, and not the servants themselves, to be considered real property. Both slaves and indentured servants were often used to work in fields at farms and complete other hard manual labor. ADVERTISEMENT.
What happens to a slave after he is released from his contract?
Once the indentured servant is released from his contract at the end of the term, he becomes a recognized part of the community and can own property or vote. A slave is considered to be the property of his owner. Slaves are not allowed to own property, earn money for their services or vote. A slave can be bought, sold, left as property in ...
Can an indentured servant be freed?
Indentured servants can be freed after working for a certain period of time. Slaves are not given their freedom, causing them to remain slaves until their owner releases them. Neither slaves or indentured servants are paid during their service.
How were slaves treated in the United States?
The treatment of enslaved people in the United States varied by time and place, but was generally brutal, especially on plantations. Whipping and rape were routine, but usually not in front of white outsiders, or even the plantation owner's family.
Why did slaves receive medical care?
The quality of medical care to slaves is uncertain; some historians conclude that because slaveholders wished to preserve the value of their slaves , they received the same care as whites did. Others conclude that medical care was poor. A majority of plantation owners and doctors balanced a plantation need to coerce as much labor as possible from a slave without causing death, infertility, or a reduction in productivity; the effort by planters and doctors to provide sufficient living resources that enabled their slaves to remain productive and bear many children; the impact of diseases and injury on the social stability of slave communities; the extent to which illness and mortality of sub-populations in slave society reflected their different environmental exposures and living circumstances rather than their alleged racial characteristics. Slaves may have also provided adequate medical care to each other. Previous studies show that a slave-owner would care for his slaves through only "prudence and humanity." Although conditions were harsh for most slaves, many slave-owners saw that it was in their best interest financially to see that each slave stayed healthy enough to maintain an active presence on the plantation, and if female, to reproduce. (In the northern states of Maryland and Virginia, children were openly spoken of as a "product" exported to the Deep South .) An ill slave meant less work done, and that motivated some plantation owners to have medical doctors monitor their slaves in an attempt to keep them healthy. ( J. Marion Sims was for some years a "plantation doctor".) Other slave-owners wishing to save money would rely on their own self-taught remedies, combined with any helpful knowledge of their wives to help treat the sickly. Older slaves and oftentimes grandparents of slave communities would pass down useful medical skills and remedies as well. Also, large enough plantations with owners willing to spend the money would often have primitive infirmaries built to deal with the problems of slaves' health.
Why did some slaveholders improve the living conditions of their slaves?
After 1820, in response to the inability to legally import new slaves from Africa following prohibition of the international slave trade, some slaveholders improved the living conditions of their slaves, to influence them not to attempt escape.
Why did slave owners fear slave rebellions?
The desired result was to eliminate slaves' dreams and aspirations, restrict access to information about escaped slaves and rebellions, and stifle their mental faculties .
How many lashes did the Virginia slaves get?
In 1841, Virginia punished violations of this law by 20 lashes to the slave and a $100 fine to the teacher, and North Carolina by 39 lashes to the slave and a $250 fine to the teacher. In Kentucky, education of slaves was legal but almost nonexistent.
What is the title of the book A concise view of the slavery of the people of color in the United States?
Another collection of incidents of mistreatment of slaves appeared in 1834, from an otherwise unknown E. Thomas, under the title A concise view of the slavery of the people of color in the United States; exhibiting some of the most affecting cases of cruel and barbarous treatment of the slaves by their most inhuman and brutal masters; not heretofore published: and also showing the absolute necessity for the most speedy abolition of slavery, with an endeavor to point out the best means of effecting it. To which is added, A short address to the free people of color. With a selection of hymns, &c. &c.
What did ex slaves write about?
As there began to be a significant number of literate ex-slaves (freedmen or fugitives), some wrote of their earlier experiences as slaves, reporting mistreatment they witnessed and suffered themselves. Shortly after, a growing number of former slaves were able to speak in public, sometimes eloquently, about what they had experienced and seen. Starting with James Bradley, in Ohio, then William G. Allen, so well-educated that he taught Greek at New-York Central College, in Massachusetts and upstate New York, Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth across the free states, and the list could be extended. Both the slave narratives and the lectures were for free state audiences, who were mostly naware of the reality of enslaved peole's lives.
Who Are Slaves?
- The word ‘slave’ originated from the old French word ‘sclave’. The usage of this word came when central and eastern European slaves were enslaved by Moors in the North American peninsula during the Medieval period. Slaves were treated as property and also poorly treated. They were owned by people and therefore could be sold at their will. Slaves had very few rights and were ev…
Who Are Indentured Servants?
- Indentured servants can be recognized as men and women who agree to work for a definite number of years through a contract. They enjoyed more freedom than slaves. They were also provided with transportation to the relevant country/place, food, accommodation, and clothing. Usually, adults serve about seven years, while children may serve more than that. But many wer…
What Is The Difference Between Slaves and Indentured Servants?
- Slaves are people who are the legal property of others and are forced to obey and work for them. Indentured servants are workers who signed a contract by which they agreed to work for a certain number of years in exchange for transportation, food, clothing, and shelter. The key difference between slaves and indentured servants is that slaves worked...
Summary – Slaves vs Indentured Servants
- Slaves are owned by masters throughout their lifetime. Therefore, slavery is a lifetime status. Children of slaves also become slaves. They are given no liberty, remuneration, rights, nor freedom to make any kind of decision. They are almost always poorly treated and can be bought and sold according to their masters’ wishes. Indentured servants work for a specific number of y…