Indentured Servitude In The 17th Century

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).

This weeks reading covers in detail the victims themselves of transportation. American authorities sent many Quakers suspected of Loyalism to the British to Virginia frontier. While British authorityies sent the banished to Charleston they also sent rebel leaders to St. Augustine. In both cases, the victims and others produced abundant documentation protesting the legality of these moves, but it happened anyway. The forced removal of tens of thousands of people that American authorities viewed as treasonous, including the massive confiscation of their property, seems to fit in with many of the trends discussed in this book.

Richard Frenthorne, an indentured servant from England wrote a letter in 1623 to his parents. In the letter “Indentured Servitude” he explains the hardships he went through on his journey from England to Jamestown, Virginia. Frethorne describes the struggles he had to cope with such as starvation, diseases, being penniless, yearning for home, and loneliness. Seeking American shore was a difficult task because of the poor conditions on the ship. On the ship gruel and peas made up the indentured servant’s diet. The shipboard mortality rate of 15 percent reflects the inhumane shipboard conditions. Once the ship reached the New World, indentured servants were heavily exploited by their owners. Working hours included all twenty four hours in a day. Servants continued to die off the ship

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.

“The company in England was convinced by 1609 that the settlers would have to grow at least part of their own food,”(page 5, Morgan). The settlers had to step up since Indian labor plan was not going to work well. The task they had to accomplish depended on their life. Settlers had to work from five in the morning to around eight at night. Winter conditions changed the time a little by taking off about 2 hours. Complaints started coming up about laziness and irresponsibility from the workmen. People started raising prices to survive. Men were always hungry barely having the energy to work. That was one of the excuses some men brought up to explain why there working they way they are. The author explains more indebt of the laziness and problems. Even men with large amounts of land could not afford labors. The government issued laws for problems with work and labor, “ Sometimes men were obliged to take on a poor boy as a servant whether they needed him or not. The parish might lighten the burden by paying a fee, but it might also fine a man who refused to take a boy assigned to him,”(page 7, Morgan). Things were falling apart.

Settlement of Virginia started with James I becoming king and making peace with Spain who at that time had control over North America; as well as the Native Americas. Charter London Company was mainly started to fund the vogue to Jamestown. The idea behind the company was to give investors land, gold, and goods, for investing in help of settlement in Virginia. The settlement of Jamestown was to find more trade and resources. In 1607 Jamestown was colonized but early on there was crises. Lack of food, and new diseases caused many settlers to die. As well as Spanish and Native American attacked the new settlers seeing them as threats and intruders. With low farmers food was scarce and Atlantic crossing was a 3 months sail in order to send messages to England. In order to survive Jamestown

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.

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.

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.

Most indentured servants did not outlive their contracts so their masters did not have to pay their servants any sort of freedom due – clothing, tools, or money. However, towards the middle of the seventeenth century, more and more indentured servants were outliving their contracts, so their masters had to start paying them their freedom dues. Costing masters and plantation owners more money and creating more competition in the new world for tobacco sales and exports. Most of the time they were robbed of their freedom dues because their plantation owner did not want to pay for it nor have the income to pay for the increasing amount of freedom dues that were needed.

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

Indentured servants flocked to America in hopes to reach the long term goal of buying their freedom and inquiring land from landlords outnumbering their landlords. Opportunities were becoming scarce as land was being turned into plantations and farmland. Additional fees and punishments were instilled on them. Freed servants were being pushed further into the country. This tension sparked Bacon’s rebellion, led by a painter, Nathaniel Bacon. In 1680, wages began to rise for the poor people, making it harder for landlords to convince anyone to take the roles of servants in the new world. At the same time, plantations were thriving in the South making the demand for workers increase. Merchants switched gears to pull in capturing slaves from Africa. What survivors were left from the commute to America, lived a harsh life in the South. The tobacco plantations in the north housed, better living conditions for them; eventually stabilizing their own population. In the south, the social stature was based off the amount of slaves you

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:

However, Virginia colonists differed from New England colonists in a multitude of ways. The Virginia colonists began their colony, Jamestown, because of an economic venture. The Virginia Company of London, a joint-stock company in England, was interested in making a quick profit from a temporary colony in the Americas. As a result, Jamestown settlers were not well equipped to handle the dangers of the New World. Most Jamestown settlers were aristocratic males who

The European slave trade began in Africa in the 15th century with the Portuguese. Within the next century, the Spanish, Portuguese, and the French began transporting African slaves into the New World. During the 17th century, Britain established colonies in North America for a variety of reasons, some for profit, some for religious freedom. Britain granted charters to joint-stock companies establishing colonies for profit. The need for cheap labor in order to keep colonies running caused the development of the concept of indentured servitude: the requirement of work for a certain length of time, in exchange for passage to America. However, as colonial America grew, so did the demand for labor. In the period 1607 to 1750, the institutions of