Plantation Management in the Old South Essay

William Scarboroughs, The Overseer, examines the importance and the workaday duties of the plantation super and how they influenced and contributed to the return and efficiency of hard workers in the Old in the south. This position was unarguably, the most important position in the southern plantation system as they determined the success or failure of a plantation. In near small plantations, but mostly largerr ones, the superintendent was in charge of the supervision of en break ones brookd Africans, care of the land, planting, farm tools, and harvesting. The overseer has been curiously known in history as the handler of approximative disciplinal actions against knuckle downs for breaking heavy or mild rules. The emergence of job advertize stormed through the south with higher enactment of individuals owning slaves. Over time leaders up to the Civil War, the position of overseer has been artalized with near planters even requiring earn of recom mendations from their applicants. The goal of the author is to gather facts and accurate evidence that demonstrate how overseers effectively completed their task set forth by plantation owners and were little concerned about the torture and harsh beating of the enslaved Africans. The writer focuses more than on the profession itself as opposed to examining the individuals affectionate secern or morals in society. He alike attempts to try a valuable interpretation of one of m some(prenominal) groups that made up the white middle class of the Old South.The book is divided into tercet segments with the first concerning the history and role of the overseer in the plantation establishment. It also gives key details on contract negotiations between the overseer and the plantation owner. Lastly, this section shows the enchant of the overseer by the general public. The second section examines the managerial duties and responsibilities and some of the disagreements between the plantation master a nd the overseer. The final section shows the occupation and the importance of the plantation supervisor during the Civil War and how the spillage or decrement in available overseers affected the surviving plantations afterward the war ended.The overseer system was first introduced in the United States by the Virginia Company of England with the primary winding job function of upholding gained territory. When Africans were shipped to the Louisiana Territory as slaves, this very system was implemented. The vast majority of overseers during the colonial period were bandaged servants whose terms of service had expired. One major reason for the increase in overseers in the antebellum south, during the 18th century were the cultural change that demanded plantation owners to indulge in the arts and other cultural pursuits. The profile of many of the men that went into this profession were most likely either the son of a planter, white lower class men, and men who actually saw the sp aring benefits of being an overseer. One distinctive feature of the overseer system during the colonial period was the practice of leasing developed plantations with slaves as stock. With this agreement the overseer was in charge for maintenance of the slave force, and in return received trey of the net proceeds from the selling of the crops. This profession would soon become highly profitable when cotton became the forefront of agriculture in the United States although to some had a negative view of the position. Although most of the overseers were originally poor and uneducated, they pipe down gained luxuriant respect by their employers to be acknowledged as a semi-elite professional with a very profitable position. Whatever may stupefy been the view of the planter class regarding the step on the social flow occupied by slave managers, the overseer himself had no feeling of class inferiority and showed little resentment toward the proprietary group.One of the major duties of the overseer was the welfare and discipline of the slaves, the care of livestock and other agriculture implements, and the production of staple and subsistence crops. The overseer assigned genuine task to specific slave groups and supervised the labor of slaves in the field. The overseer was expected to have canonic medical belowstanding to be able to examine the slaves and make measure of any who actually needed professional treatment to treat certain physical hinders. The slave manager was obliged to make periodic inspections of slave cabins and was responsible for the distribution of clothing for the slaves. Lastly, and most importantly, the overseer was expected to assure the security of the whitesagainst uprisings of slaves, which was to some, inevitable. Depending of the plantation, there were also a second set of rules that were turn over down from the planter to the overseer to instruct to the slaves. Some plantations had very harsh working conditions and required lon g hours, regardless of age or gender, duration other were pretty mild with less work demanded from pregnant women and children under the age of seven. Some planters stated that a happy slave is a productive slave and the overseer had to abide by the wishes of the planter although they may have had different views on the use and managing of the slaves. The relationship between the overseer and the planter became pivotal leading up to the Civil War in 1861.As the Civil War began to run its course, the production of agriculture (with slave labor) was extremely important in the surviving and continuity of the south. The role of the overseer became even greater than ever with the departure of healthy white men leaving to join the unite Army. In many areas in the south, the besides remaining security against insurgencies from the slaves was the overseers. It was no surprise that the drafting of plantation managers to the Confederate Army, angered many planters knowing that there would not be enough qualified managers to keep the slaves productive and fearful. There were even laws put into berth in states such as Georgia, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana that limited the number of overseers that could be drafted into the army. The south also made a rule stating that any wounded soldier who is able must return and oversee a plantation in order to contribute to the production of goods in the south. With this reduction in overseers, many slaves were able to escape and a number of large plantations fell due to the absence of the slave Manager.Scarboroughs The Overseer, examines the life history and impact of the plantation overseer and how it shaped the working system of slaveholding and production in the United States. The authors uses key facts to back his thesis on the importance and professionalism of the overseer. Scarborough did extensive research by exploring primary sources such as the memoirs of planters, public records, legal documents, and advertising posters. He incorporates a number of different employment contracts between planters and overseers andcompared them based on the size of the plantation, state and region, and number of slaves. The author seemed to look at this job commentary from a professional standpoint as opposed to the ills and negative view that society and some historians have placed on the managers of plantations. He mentions that some overseers who were uneducated or inexperienced greatly affected the outlook for this profession and shadowed the somewhat complex job of managing an entire plantation.