James Revel
Revel's poem shows a civilization in which you were either owned or an owner. The individuals who chose transport over death were lined up and inspected by prospective buyers on arrival, and a life of hard physical labor ensued. This is illustrated in the line that reads, "For I was forced to work while I could not stand, Or hold the hoe with my feeble hands." Even though the individual was so sick he was still forced to work. The poem also shows that the felons who were forced to work in servitude were treated no better than the black slaves, yet on occasion one might come across a kinder master. The punishment of transportation strengthened the negative feeling and myth toward to new world due to the horrible conditions that were suffered by slaves and masters alike. Revel shows this when he writes, "And in my heart I often cry'd to see, so many transport fellons there to be." The writings of Harriot and other promoters of Virginia and New England were falsified by the testimonies of transportees, and it's clear that the eventual success of colonization in north America was due to slave labor.
Yes you would think so
Yes you would think so Amanda, but the Bible does also say for slaves to respect their masters and various other things concerning slavery, but the people at this era didn;t use the parts of the Bible that didn't support their view.
I agree totally though you'd think they'd strive to do the better things the bible says rather than ignore them for personal gain.
Slavery is for the Lazy
Its too bad that people depended so heavily on slavery while they were colonizing America. It shows how lazy they were. There was a definite sense of entitlement that was created by the class system of that day. I don't understand how slavery was ever even an option in an era when morals were centered around the church. You would think the Bible would've taught them to love their neighbor and that men were created equal.
slavery
I think you are right about the success of colonizing North America being due to slave labor. I guess that basically means the only reason The United States of America exists is because of slaves. So we really have a lot of African Americans to thank for our independence, not our founding fathers. (haha, but kind of seriously.)
shared blame and praise
Just as slaves built Egypt, they built America, North and South, at least as far north as the Canadian border. Even as we moved beyond "chattel slavery" (the ownership, body, mind and soul of the worker) we moved to what Marx termed "wage slavery." I think today we have evolved to "credit slavery" where we work to pay off our debts and keep our credit score looking good. Every culture needs someone to do the heavy lifting. When the pay isn't worth it, or isn't affordable to be paid, then slavery, out sourcing, layoffs and the like are what we get. Bradley
Bradley
sounds about right
I feel like a slave sometimes. It does seem like we are on a credit slavery system now I never though ot it that way