Olmsted likened this regime to the harsh disciplining of seamen. “The lash is constantly held over them as the remedy for all wrong-doing.” Overseers also spoke like “ship-masters and officers,” telling Olmsted how it was necessary to “break the negroes in” and teach “them their place.” The difference, of course, was that seamen signed up and received pay, rather than being involuntarily “enlisted for their lives in the service of their masters.”
