Field slaves worked very long and hard. They worked each day from the time the sun rose until it set. Many of these slaves lived in extreme poverty in small houses with no heat or furniture. Sometimes, five or ten people lived together in one room.

House slaves usually lived in the home of the plantation owner. They did the cooking and cleaning in the house. House slaves worked fewer hours than field slaves, but were more closely supervised by the owner and his family.

Laws approved in the southern colonies made it illegal for slaves to marry, own property, or earn their freedom. These laws also barred slaves from receiving an education, or even learning to read. But some owners permitted their slaves to earn their freedom, or gave them money for good work.

Other owners punished slaves to get them to work. The punishments included beatings, withholding food and threatening to sell members of a slave's family. Some plantation owners executed slaves suspected of serious crimes by hanging them or burning them alive.

Historians say that people who were rich enough to own many slaves became leaders in their local areas. They were members of the local governments. They attended meetings of the legislatures in the capitals of their colonies, usually two times a year. Slave owners had the time and the education to greatly influence political life in the southern colonies...because the hard work on their farms was done by slaves.