Slavery and the Constitution

Slavery is a part of our past United States history that was originated in the fifteenth century. Slaves had no rights at all in the south. Many worked as servants and farm laborers. Some practiced skill trade as shoemaking others worked as field hands on cotton plantations. Men and women did harsh backbreaking labor in the fields. They cleared new land, planted seeds, and harvested crops in all weather.   Teenagers worked alongside the adults pulling weeds, picking insects off the crops and carrying water to the other workers.
    Some slaves became skilled workers such as blacksmiths and carpenters. Some slaves worked in cities but their earnings belonged to their owners. Planters often hired these skilled workers to work on their plantations. Older slaves like women worked as servants in the planter’s house. They cooked, cleaned and did other chores under the supervision of the planter’s wife.
    The slave’s life depended on their individual owners. Some owners treated their slaves well by making sure they had decent food, clean houses, and warm clothes to wear. Other planters spent little time caring about these things. They were determining to get the most work possible from their slaves. Slaves worked from sunup to sundown, as much as sixteen hours a day. They sometimes suffered whippings and other cruel punishments. Owners thought of them as valuable property, that way the owners wanted to keep their human property healthy and as productive as they can.
    Keeping slaves families together was very difficult to do because slaves were considered as property so owners could buy and sell them at their will. The law did not recognize slave marriages or their families that’s why a husband and wife could be sold to different plantations; the children could be taken away from their parents and sold also.
    African customs had its roots in slavery the extended family formed a close knit family group.   They handed down stories, song to the children as a way...