Is this an accurate description of slave life? Source 3

Evidence of Mr Francis regarding the treatment of slaves. Taken from The Debate on a Motion for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1791.

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Your task is to decide whether Washington's description of slave life is accurate or not. The sources in this investigation have been chosen to help you in this task. Once you have read the source and thought about the things to consider, you might find it helpful to make some notes on the worksheet.

Things to consider...

Do you think that the punishments described by Francis are typical of those used on slaves?

Apart from punishing the individual slave in question, can you think of any other reasons why an owner or overseer would behave like this?

What do you think of the jury's explanation of why they acquitted the man charged with murder?