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Mercnbeth -> RE: Slaves, slaves, slaves EVERYWHERE (1/17/2005 10:01:33 AM)
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quote:
If he meant "slave of jesus. . .I'm sure that is how he would have put it.
there is no indication that the word "slave" existed in that form during Jesus's life. according to the dictionary, "The word slave first appears in English around 1290, spelled sclave. The spelling is based on Old French esclave from Medieval Latin sclavus, “Slav, slave,” first recorded around 800. Sclavus comes from Byzantine Greek sklabos (pronounced sklävs) “Slav,” which appears around 580."
quote:
Once again, at the time of indentured servants, the term "slave" was around and in use. If they meant slavery, I'm sure they would have used that term.
Before 1650 the laws referring to servants did not differentiate between race--servants were servants, african, indian or white. Around 1660 the laws started to reflect a difference. In 1670, a law was passed that prohibited Indians or Africans from owning "Christian" servants, but they were free to own other servants of their same nationality.
"Whereas it hath been questioned whither Indians or negroes manumited or otherwise free, could be capable of purchasing christian servants, It is enacted that noe negore or Indian though baptised and enjoyned of their owne ffreedome shall be capable of any such purchase of christians, but yet not debarred from buying any of their owne nation."
"the word slave did not appear in Virginia records until 1656, and statutes defining the status of blacks began to appear casually in the 1660s. The inference was then made that blacks called servants must have had approximately the same status as white indentured servants. Such reasoning failed to notice that Englishmen, in the early seventeenth century, used the word servant when they meant slave in our sense, and, indeed, white Southerners invariably used servant until 1865 and beyond. Slave entered the Southern vocabulary as a technical word in trade, law and politics." Robert McColley in Dictionary of Afro-American Slavery, Edited by Randall M. Miller and John David Smith, Greenwood Press, 1988 pp 281
"By the 1650s some of the indentured servants had earned their freedom. Because replacements, whether black or white, were in limited supply and more costly, the Virginia plantation owners considered the advantages of the "perpetual servitude" policy exercised by Caribbean landowners. Following the lead of Massachusetts and Connecticut, Virginia legalized slavery in 1661."--Compton's Encyclopedia Online
In theory, the "indentured servant" is only selling his or her labor. In practice, however, indentured servants were basically slaves and the courts enforced the laws that made it so. The treatment of the servant was harsh and often brutal. In fact, the Virginia Colony prescribed "bodily punishment for not heeding the commands of the master." Half the servants died in the first two years. As a result of this type of treatment, runaways were frequent.
according to this slave's maternal family legend, two of this slave's ancestors came over on the indentured servant ticket, they died before their term of service was up and therefore their son was required to serve in their stead. He ran away, stole a boat and rowed out to an island where his descendants live to this day.
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