As the other educator states, the experience of slaves in New England and the southern colonies differed because the economies of the two regions were vastly different. The large-scale plantations in the south meant that southern slaves lived in large slave communities. This allowed them to develop a strong culture and identity in spite of, and in many ways also because of, the many restrictions placed on them by their white abusers.
The lack of large slave communities in the north meant that slaves there typically had little interaction with other slaves. They might be their master's only slave and had no community to call their own. This meant that they were more often obliged to interact with the white community than slaves in the south were.
Also, because large-scale farming never developed the way it did in the south, slaves in New England were often trained in a trade such as carpentry, blacksmithing, or ship-building. Many of these jobs, while still labor-intensive, were not as grueling as the tobacco, rice, and cotton farming that southern slaves were often engaged in. This also meant that unlike in the rural south, slaves in New England tended to live and work in urban areas. It was also common for northern slaves to be hired out to their owner's neighbors when needed.
Many slaves in New England were also used as servants, valets, and personal attendants of the very wealthy. This was much less common in the south, where slaves were more often forbidden from such positions. Most female slaves in New England were employed in domestic work, which also occurred in the south; however, in the south, female slaves were more often used as a source of physical labor.
In short, southern slaves were part of large communities engaged in agricultural labor, while in New England there were fewer slaves who performed a much greater variety of work.
https://arlingtonhistorical.org/slavery-in-colonial-new-england/
The experience of slavery differed between the Southern colonies and the New England colonies primarily because of the differing economies of these regions. The differing economies between New England colonies and the Southern colonies can be heavily linked to geography.
In the Southern colonies, the soil was more suitable to agriculture. The quality of the soil, along with long growing seasons provided by the warmer climate, led to the development of agriculture as the backbone of the Southern economy. As wealthy landowners gained more land, it became necessary to find labor sources to work the land. The labor source often came in the form of African slaves. The use of slaves kept the cost of production of agricultural goods low and increased profits for wealthy landowners. Thus, in the Southern colonies, slavery was focused around farm labor.
As the plantation system grew in the South, primarily after the invention of the cotton gin in the 1790s, the nature of slavery would also change. Larger plantations meant greater numbers of slave laborers. With more slave laborers present, landowners often hired overseers who used violent measures in an attempt to increase production. This was not the case with slavery in the North. In fact, around the time of the invention of the cotton gin, many northern states of the newly independent United States had already moved to abolish slavery in their territory.
In the New England colonies, the soil was not as well-suited for agriculture. Without the profitability of agriculture that the Southern colonies had, the New England colonies had to result on other means to become profitable. This led to the development of a more diverse economy based on industries like shipbuilding, trading, manufacturing, and whaling. As a result, slavery wasn't as central to the New England economy as it was to the Southern economy. Slaves in New England were less common and primarily owned by the wealthy. Slaves in the New England colonies were also often trained in trades which they performed in addition to household duties. It was not common, however, to see many slaves performing agricultural labor in the New England colonies due to the lack of large-scale farming.
Through these differences, we can see why the northern states, to whom slavery wasn't a central part of the economy, would be the first to ban slavery. In the American South, the plantation system of agriculture would, for years, require laborers to keep profits high. It wouldn't be until the Civil War that the South would relinquish its grip on slavery.
http://www.medfordhistorical.org/medford-history/africa-to-medford/slaves-in-new-england/
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