Slave Codes established in Colonial North America

WHEREAS, the plantations and estates of this Province cannot be well and sufficiently managed and brought into use, without the labor and service of negroes and other slaves; and forasmuch as the said negroes and other slaves brought unto the people of this Province for that purpose, are of barbarous, wild, savage natures....it is absolutely necessary, that constitutions, laws and orders, should in this Province be made and enacted, for the good regulating and ordering of them....

Slaves codes were laws that reinforced the thought that blacks were nothing but working animals to the white plantation owners. They lived in small shacks on dirt floors with mostly no furniture or way to have comfort. Six days out of the week is how much labor they endured, most of the time from sun up to sun down, meaning the the hot days of summer were long. Often the plantation owner had a foreseer, a person that enforced the days work, and more so than not the overseer was harsh, unsimpathetic, and violent. However, the plantation owner wanted to make sure his property, the slaves, were worth his investment and would often do away with the foreseer due to his property being over worked to much and lack of accomplishment was getting done around the plantation.

There is nothing in todays society, of the United States, that even comes close to the centuries that allowed slavery. State and federal prisons of today seems like a vacation when you compare it the days of slavery. If i was given a choice, to either be sent to todays prison or sent back into the early colonial days as a slave and maybe have a chance at freedom by escape, I would choose a modern day prison sentence. Atleast if you try to escape prison, a few years just get tacked on more to you initial sentence as where if you were a slave that had been captured, you better start saying your prayers. Whipping was the punishment most black slaves were given for just about everything that violated the codes. Black slaves were truely treated like animals and to me, thats just plain discusment. I am thankful for the society that I live in today, even though curruption and wrong doing still exists, nothing as bad as slavery will ever be repeated.

sources:

South Carolina Code

Module 2

Every story has two sides. It all depends on who you hear it from. To me, Zinn's book tells the whole story, both sides. We all know how Christopher Columbus discovered American and lived happily ever after. In my high school history classes, I do not recall ever learning about the greed Columbus had for gold nor the cruelty he supressed onto the natives.

In todays society, it seems that cover up's of political mess ups and governmental wrong doings are only half way told. We hear the side of the story that gives us information that yes, something the government did or that politican messed up because, is only partially told to us Ameican's while what's really is going on behind that curtain is unknown of. There's been so many conspiracies noted as to why the stock market crashed a couple of years ago, but no actually reason has ever been put out into the public limelight. What a lot of people also dont know is that many of the CEO's that where running the corporation's that went bankrupt and asked for bailouts, are now working as our current Presidents financial advisors and other postions within his cabinet.

I am excited to know what else I may discover while reading Zinn's book. I respect his boldness and not beat around the bush type of writting. Like he says, "I don't want to invent victories for people's movements." I think what he means by that is, he's not writting this book to sugarcoat historical events and make the reader feel that he's picking sides, he's not. Zinn is provided us readers with discriptive events that occured during a time of what a lot of people believe where remarkable discoveries and positive historical highlights.

Intro

My name is Garrett Morgan. I am originally from Olympia, WA, about an hour south of Seattle for those of you who have ever visited. I am living in the Bay Area now due to work, I am active duty military, U.S. Coast Guard. I have been in the Coast Guard for almost twelve years now. It has taken me all over the U.S. and i've been able to visit many historical sites as we may learn about in the class. I have been stationed so far in Alaska, Washington state, Oregon, Tennessee, and of course here in California. Besides work, school, and time with my wife and dog, I am an avid mountain biker and surfer. I hope to leave this class with a better appreciation for those who walked before us and shaped this country into what it is today.