Northern Slavery Vs Southern Slavery Essay

Southern Slaves and Northern Laborers had many different experiences, even though they were both considered workers. Their compensation, working hours, working conditions, and consequences for breaking rules varied. In the end, the life of a Southern Slave was, mainly, harder than the life of a Northern Laborer. First off, Southern Slaves probably had better compensation than Northern Laborers. Although Northern Laborers were given wages by the factory owners for their work, they ultimately had to pay back the factory owners for their provisions. In other words, any money that the owners gave to workers would ultimately come back to the owners when workers paid for food or clothing. Northern Laborers had the privilege of earning money, but a substantial amount of their wages were lost just so that they could have everyday provisions. As such, these workers were taken advantage of and even if they saved their money, they would not be able to do much with it as the maximum daily wage was two dollars. Buying provisions could cost as much as up to

Northern Laborers worked an average of “...12 hours a day, six days a week” (Northern Laborers Documents). Laborers had Sundays off for Sabbath. In all, this was about 72 hours a week. Slaves could work anywhere from nine hours to eighteen hours a day, sometimes even longer on harvest days. Also, “..there were no weekends or rest days” (http://bit.ly/1ORHR3T) for many slaves. Although some slaves only had to work as little as nine hours a day, many did not have it this easy. Unlike Northern Laborers, slaves could be ordered to work into the night by their master. Laborers most of the time did not have to work into the evening; their working hours were mostly consistent. The maximum hours of work for Northern Laborers were lower than the maximum hours for a slave which is why Northern Laborers had better working hours than Southern