Indentured Servants And African Slaves

For a long time, Jamestown, VA took in many indentured servants—a worker who is under contract of an employer for up to seven years in exchange for transportation and many necessities (clothing, food, drink, and lodging)—in order to fulfill the duties that the owners couldn’t. Though employers made Jamestown seem like a loving and welcoming place, it was just the opposite. These indentured servants were treated equally to slaves, but many were willing to risk their lives in order to gain their own land. Once they obtained land of their own, they could grow their own tobacco and become extremely wealthy.

Throughout time, in all places, there is an upper class and a lower class. During the 16th to 19th century in America people came from all over Europe. People from Europe found America as an escape from their life; a new start. Some could not afford to take a boat ride across the Atlantic with their whole family. Because of this, some people became indentured servants. Later on, the South revolutionized America by bringing in black slaves and getting rid of indentured servitude. Slaves generated the economy for the South, but was also the main cause of the civil war. Both slaves and indentured servants were treated badly, however, black slaves were much more expensive and had to work for life,

A plantation economy, an economy founded on an agricultural mass production like tobacco, sustained the source of income of the Chesapeake regions, consisting Virginia, Maryland, and northern North Carolina. The early settlers soon realized the urgent need for labor in the New World. Due to the fact that many potential immigrants could not afford an expensive trip across the Atlantic, the Virginia Company developed the system of indentured servitude to attract common laborers. Since tobacco required intensive hand labor all year round, indentured servants have become vital to the colonial economy. "Virginia Servant and Slave Laws" represent the elaborate efforts of masters' to profit from indentured servants and slaves against runaway and

During the 18th century, indentured servitude had become very common in British North America; this was one way many poor Europeans could come to America for a “better” life. In order to emigrate to the American colonies, they would sign long-term labor contracts, to pay off the debt they picked up when they wanted to come to the American colonies. The primary source, “Gottlieb Mittelberger on the Trade in Indentured Servants” is written by Mittelberger himself in 1750, who was an emigrant that arrived in British North America as an indentured servant. In this source, he explains the negatives of coming to British North America; the ups and downs he faced, for instance: the long and horrible voyage conditions, and the sale of human beings once they had landed.

When black slavery first started in the United States, all the slaves were being imported from Africa. Slowly overtime slaves were being born in the United States instead of solely being brought from Africa. The birth rate of the slaves was not high enough to depend on the reproduction of slaves in the south though. This resulted in a combination of both American-born slaves and African-born slaves on plantations. Eventually, there was a division between the two groups of slaves in the Southern part of the United States.

The first twenty Africans to arrive in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 were eventually traded by the Dutch for food and supplies. A point worth noting, the first twenty Africans were not identified as legal property(slave). The former Spanish owners had baptized and given each a Christian name. In fact, Africans worked as indentured servants for a specified time because English law disallowed the enslaving of Christians. Africans became landowners and were of equal standing with the poor English Pilgrims. However, by 1640, Virginia court documents started displaying verdicts for a life of servitude. These were verdicts given to runaway indentured servants. African indentured servants to be exact. Between 1661 and 1662, a child’s status in the colonial United States depended on whether the mother was free or a slave.

In the middle colonies, a large part of the labor force consisted of indentured servants--men and women, but more often men, who would travel to the colonies to work under a contract for approximately four to seven years. However, according to “Indentured Servants in The U.S.”, “an indentured servant’s contract could be extended as punishment for breaking a law” such as running away or becoming pregnant, in a woman’s case. Throughout the time that they worked, the indentured servants were under the complete rule of their masters, but they were provided transportation/passage, food, clothing, and shelter. Indentured servants were a useful source of labor, but the problem was that it was only temporary, and after their contract ended, they had the option of continuing to work

Life in England during the early 1600’s was harsh for a multitude of the poor. The country was just coming out of the Thirties Year’s War with a flood of citizens and laborers displaced. In fact, PBS (2015) indicated that “the timing of the Virginia colony was ideal.” The Thirty Year 's War had left Europe 's economy depressed, and many skilled and unskilled laborers were without work. A new life in the New World offered a glimmer of hope; this explains how one-half to two-thirds of the immigrants who came to the American colonies arrived as indentured servants” (para. 3). This opportunity for those willing to receive free passage to the New World and start a new life was enticing. Granted, the work was difficult it was not without reward.

William Gunnell, Jr. travelled with his parents from their home in Great Britain to Virginia sometime before his tenth birthday in 1715. In Virginia, they became indentured servants for a man named Richard Lee. Following his master’s death, William’s indenture was inherited by Richard’s son. William worked for the Lee family for six years as a clerk, running errands and keeping the books. At the age of sixteen, William’s contract ended, and he became a free man (“Indentured Servants,” n.d., para. 4). This is one of the better examples of indentured servitude in the colonies, since most servants did not live to see the end of their contracts. In the colonies, indentured servitude acted as a kind of contract-based slavery in which free people were turned into property for a term of four to seven years, on average. Their owners paid for their food, clothing, and shelter on arrival in the colonies until the servants had completed their contract, upon which they were paid “freedom dues” which could be anything from tools, land, or even guns (“Indentured Servants,” n.d., para. 1).

The colonies of 1916 were desperate for labor and manpower, to grow enough food to stay alive since agriculture and craftwork were key to the development of the colonies. The colonists thought about forcing the Indians to work for them, but they were massively outnumbered (Zinn). Initially, indentured white servants were used for labor, but there was not a sufficient quantity of them and the amount of work was increasing. Fearing a servant revolt, the colonies resorted to using African slaves rather than the servants. They relied on the slaves to work on the plantations or mine precious metals.

With economic conditions in England worsening, European immigrants travelled to the New World in pursuit of a better life. From 1607 to 1700, over half a million Europeans emigrated to the New World. Some set their sights on the West Indies, looking to build their fortune on sugar cane once they acquired land. The vast majority of settlers came as indentured servants, packed like cattle on ships to the Americas. Indentured servants were similar to slaves, they could be bought and sold, whipped, and subject to punishment from their masters. However, indentured servants earn their freedom after serving several years. On the contrary, some settlers were able to pay their way into the New World; although the process to the Americas was difficult

Compare the treatment of black indentured servants and white indentured servants leading to the legalization of slavery. Give at least three comparison points from the reading.

In the 18th century, the Spanish considered bringing as many native people as possible to the virtues of Catholicism; therefore, in 1769, the first mission was founded at San Diego, and many followed toward the north to attempt to change all the aspects of the native people’s lives. To accomplish this, native people were taken away from their ‘undisciplined’ lives and concentrate at the missions, making it easier to control them for labor. Once baptized, the Indians moved to missions. Because baptism was voluntary and the labor demands were modest, this was considered free labor of Native Americans.

Despite being held at the bottom of the social pyramid for throughout colonial times, the labor of the colonies would prove to be far from useless. While vast, open land was turned into numerous plantations in the colonies by rich planters, the plantations could not purely be run by their owners, creating a great need for labor. This lack of labor would eventually be solved through the use of African slaves, but after the first shipment of slaves to Jamestown in 1619, few were purchased due to high prices for an extended amount of time. The planters, however, would be able to fulfill their need for labor through English indentured servants. Through the use of indentured servants, basically free labor was provided to land owners, while

Labor in colonial America was scarce. Explain the development of using indentured servants for labor in the colonies. Below are some of the items you may include: