The management of slaves
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The management of slaves formed an integral part of the management of the Southern plantation as a whole. Aside from questions of ethics and morals, the economic value of using slaves as a labor force in the South has been a matter of controversy. Nevertheless, both agricultural production and the running of plantation households depended heavily on the labor of black slaves. The structure of plantation life presupposed the organization of slaves into efficient work units under the authority of white men, and in some cases white women. The effective management of the plantation included means foracquiring additional slaves, and for selling surplus slaves or their labor. In addition, it included institutions designed to control the the social relations of slaves among themselves, and for deciding the disposition of the children born to slaves. Even in the antebellum South, many perceived slavery as a dirty business, but it was a business, nevertheless, a "peculiar institution"1 with its own peculiar techniques. The plantation economy of the antebellum South had evolved from practices that began early in the process of colonization. The standard practice of employing both black and white bondsmen as laborers of essentially equal status changed in the late seventeenth century. By the early eighteenth century, slavery had become a social institution that, through force of law and custom, involved a distinction between white and black servants. Blacks, who had
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e of "quality control," inspecting work to see that it was satisfactorily done. The effect of the task system was to release weaker slaves from the burden of keeping up with stronger ones, which was deemed a positive by the slaves, but ultimately recognized as a negative aspect of the system by the masters. The task system ultimately lost popularity because the plantation owners believed it damaged productivity, and it was displaced by the gang system on most plantations where it was tried. Even where the gang system predominated, however, the task system was employed when the work called for it in rail splitting, for example.6
To supervise the field hands, the masters used white men as overseers. Overseers had two important duties. First of all, they were to see that the health of the slaves was protected. Slaves were, after all, valuable property. A strong field hand could cost over $1000, a small fortune during the nineteenth century; the master was interested in the health of his field hands, just as he would be interested in the health of his best riding horses. Secondly, it was the duty of the overseer to bring in the crops. Most overseers were not well paid given the great responsibilities they held. For th
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Approximate Word count = 2411
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)
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