a convict is someone who is guilty of an offense and sentenced to imprisonment and will be a free person when the sentence is completed. A slave is a person legally owned by another and having no freedom of action or right to property - and may never have...
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Slaves were people who were forcibly owned and considered property, while convicts are individuals who have been found guilty of committing a crime and are serving a sentence as punishment. Slaves were often captured or bought through the slave trade, while convicts are generally processed through a legal system.
Slaves were people who were forced to work without pay and were considered property. Convicts were individuals found guilty of a crime and sentenced to punishment, such as prison time or hard labor. Blackbirders were individuals who coerced or kidnapped people into forced labor, often in the context of the transatlantic slave trade. The key difference between convicts and blackbirders is that convicts were legally sentenced for a crime, whereas blackbirders were involved in illegal and often violent practices of capturing individuals for forced labor.
Slaves and convicts are both individuals who have been deprived of their freedom. Slaves are forced into unpaid labor against their will, while convicts are incarcerated as punishment for committing a crime. Both groups historically have faced severe oppression and exploitation.
The convicts literally built the colony. They constructed the buildings, roads and bridges and quarried the stone for building as well as cutting down the trees. They established the first farms and crops, and tended the livestock. Some convicts were assigned as servants or tradesmen to free settlers. Other, educated convicts were given work that suited their education; for example, one of Australia's most famous convicts was the architect Francis Greenway.
It was the first European colony in Australia, at Sydney in 1988. The English established the colony in order to relocate the convicts from the overcrowded prisons in England. In spite of their heritage, many of the Australians of today are honest people. The convicts were not the first settlers: the original Australians had already been there for maybe 50,000 years.
Convicts who misbehaved could be subjected to floggings, solitary confinement, hard labor, or restraints. They could also have their rations reduced or face longer periods of imprisonment. In extreme cases, convicts could be transported to more remote penal colonies or have their sentence extended.