In the early 17th century black and white indentured servants from England worked together on plantations, sharing roughly the same quality of life, using English agricultural practices from the motherland. The frequently rugged conditions of life demanded close contact between slave and slave master, and because the practice of slavery had not yet initiated the principles of slavery, a low-key equality existed between the master and the slave. Fortunately, masters were conditioned by English custom to provide food and shelter for their servants, thus slaves were adequately supplied necessities. Since the slave codes had not yet been put into place, slaves had the freedom of movement and were able to bargain with the master. Some slave owners were harsher while others allowed their slaves to be financially independent. This arrangement allowed slaves to maintain an independent economy of growing, buying, selling and hiring that competed with the economy of the slave owners. At this time slavery was often seen as a temporary state that time or money could change, and cultural separation was more among class lines then race lines, a stark contrast to what later slave societies would create. Between 1620-1670 people of African descent never accounted for more then 5 percent of the population, people of various races existed together during the charter generation; thus, the rigid social distinctions that segregated people on the basis of race were not a universal characteristic of these early societies with slaves (Clark, Pujara 1/29/15). Towards the end of the 17th century, an increasing reliance on labor-intensive cultivation of cash crops in the Chesapeake and extensive importation of slave labor directly from Africa, shaped slavery in the Plantation generation.
Thus, the Plantation generation of slaves did not enjoy the privileges of the previous generations. During this time, due to a labor shortage, the slave trade intensified as Europeans moved deeper and deeper into Africa.