Indentured Servants Essay

Most of the early American population emigrated from Europe as indentured servants. An indentured servant is someone who has sold himself/herself for bonded labour for a certain number of years and certain amount of freedom dues to be paid at the end of the term, in exchange for transportation to the colonies (Galenson, 1977). This paper looks at the relationship between the destinations the servants selected and the length of the contract. In addition, it also reflects on how the destination preferences

to overwork their servants or slaves and expect their wives to be obeying, but the British have no right to take from us our money and resources. Indentured servants are bound to the landowner for a fixed period of time and slaves are their property. Landowners are responsible for providing food, clothing and shelter for them, so it is only naturally right that they can put them to work. There are also no working restrictions that prevent them from overworking either the servants or slaves. People

In the seventeenth century, slaves and indentured servants were considered property. The difference between the two groups of people, is slavery lasted a lifetime while indentured servants labor lasted for four to six years until the servant were able to pay their owner back. So under these circumstances, slaves and indentured servants’ lives were very similar but also different. Based on their clothing and the skills they had, slaves and indentured servant lifestyles were different. Clothing seemed

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

1. 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. Black and white indentured servants suffered through constructing the agriculture in Virginia. Like the Africans, many of the white indentured servants arrived involuntarily; carrying similar fears of violence and hostility along with aspirations of freedom. Through the unfortunate circumstances of their arrival under

reading, on page thirty-five, it discusses how historians have become greatly divided based on the questions on why slaves were slaves, and why indentured servants were indentured servants. Historians argue that Europeans were indentured servants and Africans were slaves because of race or racism. Other historians argue that Europeans were indentured servants and Africans were slaves based on the availability and price of the laborers. When asked which statement makes the most sense, one must consider

Indentured Servitude as a Catalyst for Colonial Success The colonies were better able to adapt to the New World and all of its’ trials through the use of indentured servants. Indentured servitude gave colonists access to the new freedoms they may not have had otherwise in Britain while giving colonies such as Virginia a chance at success. The New World involved challenges that the colonists never could have imagined including but not limited to disease, crop differences, and Native Americans with

these cash crops, indentured servants and slaves were brought into America in order for farmers to cultivate these resources quickly. Indentured servants were brought into America because of Europe’s economic decline and grew interest in working for a master for several years so they could one day own their own land to harvest crops. Slaves were brought in from the famous middle passage and suffered unimaginable brutality and later on replaced the need for white indentured servants in America. Back

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

sustain life in the New World, for self-sustainability as well as for trade with Native Americans and England. As farms and plantation grew, so did the need for manual labor. Originally, the land owners adopted England’s tradition of indentured servant. Indentured servants were people that would pay their debts with time and labor. For example, the lower class of the population in England, wanting to travel to the new world, would sign an indenture agreement stating that if a higher class citizen would