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The Terrible Transformation Summary

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According to Peter Wood the historian the “Terrible Transformation” was realization of slaves that their children will be slaves, too, or in another word when slavery became racial. Based on the rule of Virginia a child born in colony is going to be slave or free based on the condition of mother(whether she is slave or free). Settlers were divided in two categories: free settlers and indentured servants. Free settlers could pay for their own expenses or their own passage and owned land, while indentured servants were workers who voluntary gave up their freedom and signed a contracted with free men to work for them. In s sense, servants and slaves were almost the same with one difference, servants could be free after the termination of their contract, and also receive freedom dues like land, while slaves had to work …show more content…

At first Africans were not slaves but servants. Anthony Johnson is an example of African servant who acquired lands and servants (even white servants) after he managed to become free. Due to development of famers in America tobacco in particular settlers needed more labors, and since lands were limited and most of former indentured servants were not able to receive a land, so they were did not want to go back to work, settlers saw African as a good opportunity for cheap labors. Since Africans were not England citizen, they had no rights to claims, as a result, settlers were able to work them for their whole life. Slavery became profitable especially in Virginia, soon rules were made to make slavery legal, and took away any rights that slaves had. Based on the documentary, for a Virginia plantation it was more profitable to work a slave to death and buy a new slave than let slaves to work in a humane condition. Another reason for development of racial slavery was Englishmen projected slaves as aliens and inferior, as Blight stated “as an outsider”, in different factors such as: color, religion, and

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