Sugar plantations were Hell because of the endless labor
they demanded from slaves. They were Hell because of
the many dangers and the injuries that they caused. They
were Hell because the slaves who labored without end got
nothing for their work-except to live another day, to
work more. But none of these miseries was the true
reason the plantations were so evil. The plantations were
Hell because the masters and overseers were treated as
gods-which turned them into devils. The English
historian Lord Acton famously said, "Power tends to
corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." That is
a perfect description of sugar Hell. Men with absolute
power over their slaves acted like creatures we would
otherwise meet only in nightmares. Their cruelty had no
limit-they preferred to kill their slaves rather than fear
them. As Equiano explained, the island of Montserrat
"requires 20,000 new Negroes annually, to fill up the
vacant places of the dead."
What is the most important point that the authors make
in this paragraph?
Most enslaved people worked under fair to good
conditions.
Enslaved workers had decent lives if they had fair
overseers.
Plantations often were harsh because of the cruelty
of those in charge.
Men with absolute power can lose the sense of
what it means to be good.