Slavery: North vs. South

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Slavery in the North.

In the 17th century slavery in the North wasn't absolute bondage, it was a nebulous condition similar to that of indentured servants.  Some slaves bought to America from Africa were bought to be servants who were eligible freedom a certain number of years.  The first official legal recognition  of chattel slavery as a legal institution in British North America was in Massachusetts, in 1641, with the “Body of Liberties.” Slavery was legalized in New Plymouth and Connecticut when it was incorporated into the Articles of the New England Confederation in 1643. New England was the center of the slave trade in the colonies, supplyin captive slave to the South and the Carribean islands.  Colonies in the North preferred to get their slaves from the new world colonies instead of directly from Africa because that seemed to difficult and dangerous.  Since they already survived climate changethey also adjusted better to Northern winters, which incapacitated or killed those direct from Africa.  By the late colonial period, the average slave-owning household in New England and Mid-Atlantic had about 2 slaves.

http://www.slavenorth.com/slavenorth.htm

Slavery in the South

http://americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/civwar/slaves4.jpg

Close to 2 million slaves were brought from Africa to South America and the West Indies during the centuries of the Atlantic slave trade. Approximately 20% of the population of the American South over the years has been African American, and as late as 1900, 9 out of every 10 African Americans lived in the South.  There was a large number of black people mainting manual labor before slavery was legalized but the South wasnt permitted to threaten the region's character as a white man's country.  When slavery became legal white racism became the driving force of southern race relations. In the antebellum South, slavery provided the economic foundation that supported the dominant planter ruling class. Children during this period were often malnourished because they didnt know how to balance out nutrition properly and the slaves werent begin fed equally. The clothing and housing for slaves were bad but managable and they were forced to live in small wooden cabins, one per family. some wealthy slaveholders would call for physicians if their slaves became ill, but the treatments were mostly various concoctions that most of the time did as much harm as good.
   In conclusion slavery in the North wasn't as bad as slavery in the South.
 http://americanrevwar.homestead.com/files/civwar/slavery.html