In his important study on slavery, Many Thousands Gone, Historian Ira Berlin discusses the difference between “slave societies” and “societies with slaves.” According to Berlin, “What distinguished societies with slaves was the fact that slaves were marginal to the central productive processes; slavery was just one form of labor among many.”
Source: Ira Berlin, Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1998), p. 8.
Labor Systems in the Americas
Please examine the different labor and social systems utilized in the Americas. How were the societies in New England and the Chesapeake “diverging?” Please be sure to refer to primary documents in section 1 of the course pack or those located through use of the Open Stax “click and explore” websites to support your ideas.
You may also look up the book by Ira Berlin (show below) if you wish to examine an important secondary source. Please refer to the “About Discussion