Indentured Servitude

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

The decline of indentured servitude and the rise of chattel slavery were caused by economic factors of the English settlers in the late 17th century. Colonists continually tried to allure laborers to the colony. The head right system was to give the indentured servant a method of becoming independent after a number of years of service. Colonists chiefly relied on Indentured Servitude, in order to facilitate their need for labor. The decreasing population combined with a need for a labor force, led colonists to believe that African slaves were the most efficient way to acquire a labor force that would satisfy their needs.

After slavery came to an end in the 1800s, the rise of a new source of labor that became known as indentured servitude began. Indentured servitude is a system of labor where people serve under a contract, to work for a certain number of years, with pay along with food and housing. As the Industrial Revolution continued to grow, the demand for cheap labor increased, and due to the abolishment of slavery, the request for a cheaper sources of labor also increased. Indentured servitude replaced slavery, behind the scenes it was technically slavery. Although it was not referred to as slavery, indentured service was a resolution to the abolishment of slavery, where employers could get workers to sign a contract and have them agree to all their conditions. Is the end of slavery caused laborers to engage in various extreme conditions, the

With the end of slavery came the rise of indentured servants in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. When slaves were freed, they were no longer willing to put in the hours they were previously forced to work. The colonies depended on plantations and also needed a new source of labor. This led to mistreatment of indentured laborers.

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).

As settlers continued to pour into the America, colonies were still trying to stabilize the current population naturally, recruit indentured servants and capture slaves to maintain crops that boosted the economy, and instill the religious traditions on the newcomers and current colonist. Disease was still ripping through the people in the 16th century, making it harder for natural reproduction and future generations to increase especially in the southern colonies. Women were outnumbered by men, younger generations grew up without the older generations, and life expectancy for the majority was condensed to about early twenties. Marriages were also cut short by the death of a spouse reflecting a large number of blended families to conglomerate. Native-born inhabitants eventually

The 17th century also known as the "Age of Reason" was the spread of European influence into the Americas, Caribbean, and Africa. This caused the spread of ideas, goods, and even faith which lead to the creation of new colonies. To maintain and support the colonies there's a need for laborers which cause the two main these of the 17th century. These themes are indentured servitude and the concept of slavery.

I liked how you separately related indentured servitude and surrogate motherhood under the different concepts focused on in the lecture/PowerPoint. I agree that depending on the situation and/or perspective, surrogacy could and could not be considered a form of indentured servitude. When I wrote my discussion, I focused on egoism as a hole, but I liked how you focused more on the subcategories. When I was listening to the lecture, I was a little confused about the difference between the two. I felt like the only distinction I could draw was that the wording of the definitions were slightly altered, but I didn’t really know how to apply those differences in the definitions to real life topics, such as surrogacy. I thought how

Indentured servants first arrived in America in the decade right after the settlement of Jamestown by the Virginia Company in 1607.The foundation of indentured servitude developed from a need for cheap labor. The earliest settlers soon realized that they had acres of land to care for, but no one to care for it. With passage to the Colonies expensive for all but the wealthy, the Virginia Company developed the system of indentured servitude to lure in and attract workers. Indentured servants became vital to the colonial economy. Without them they would’ve experienced a downfall in their economic system.

Indentured servants were people who came over to the southern colonies in America from Britain were bound to a contract to work off their debt overseas. The women who came over as indentured servants were often convicted of crimes back in England or came from poor families, either way these women hoped to create a new life for themselves after working off their debts. A large portion, about three-fourths of the women who came over from Britain to the Southern Colonies during the seventeenth century, were indentured servants (Dubois, ch.2 p.51).

Word of the New World had spread to Europe and many people, mostly English immigrated there in the search of land to settle, and riches to make. As the first English immigrants settled in Chesapeake Bay, John Rolfe perfected the planting of tobacco and established the tobacco industry in Virginia, saving it from collapse. The demand for tobacco was very high throughout the seventeenth century that colonists planted tobacco before food crops. As the tobacco rush increased in the southern colonies, especially in Virginia and Maryland, colonists needed a larger workforce. England had an abundance of poor whites willing to work as indentured servants in the colonies. However, various tension endorsing factors led to the shift from indentured servitude

The history of Colonial American is based on the success of English men whom established great amounts of farm in Virginia and Maryland. Also, it was the era when indentured servants began, both men and women. Men and women that was promised a fully paid fare across the Atlantic Ocean and also a freedom bonus to establish themselves after their contract was up. Although women and men was indentured servants, women did experience a more horrific and shorter life.

During the seventeen century a large amount of slaves starting to enter North America; Virginia and Maryland in particular. At the time tobacco was introduced to the colonies by John Rolfe. Indentured servants where people who worked for a master for a certain of number of years and, in exchange they were brought over to New World for free. At first many indentured servants could not survive the New World, and died quickly due to diseases. Over time the servants adjusted to the new environment and started living much longer than before. As the New World began to expand, servants to break their contracts with their masters. Many servants fled to Pennsylvania because of William Penn’s belief in universal freedom. Some also left also back to Landon

I find your points very fascinating and interesting, especially towards the end of your post. Of course your points in the beginning of your posts, where you believed that it would be preferable to be an indentured servant rather than a slave, I agree with wholeheartedly. It's pretty clear that the rest of the students in this course agree with it as well, having read most of the original posts and replies to them, there doesn't seem to be very much differentiation in it, which sometimes makes it difficult to have a discussion or reply on a post, because one doesn't want to just reiterate the same idea or post that one is replying to, or simply feel like one is echoing everyone else's thoughts. However, perhaps the fact that we all agree is a good thing and a sign that, especially in the 21st Century in the United States, it's a positive aspect and result and sign that so many of us agree that slavery was horrible, awful, and unjust, and the thought or idea that a lifetime of servitude and harsh mistreatment of not only yourself, but also your family and even your children, is reprehensible, shows the progress we have made over the past few centuries in our country and

Indentured were an American advancement with English roots. The considered serving for a period of years had for some time been a bit of apprenticeships; after 1563, English law had required about all remuneration specialists to diminish by the year. In both cases, masters acknowledged just about add up to control over their workers: they could set them to a collection of endeavors and repel them physically moreover expected to sustain and house them.