How did indentured servitude impact the population in the American colonies?
How did indentured servitude impact the population in the American colonies?
While slaves existed in the English colonies throughout the 1600s, indentured servitude was the method of choice employed by many planters before the 1680s. This system provided incentives for both the master and servant to increase the working population of the Chesapeake colonies.
What role did indentured servants play in Jamestown?
Indentured Servants in Colonial Virginia. Indentured servants were men and women who signed a contract (also known as an indenture or a covenant) by which they agreed to work for a certain number of years in exchange for transportation to Virginia and, once they arrived, food, clothing, and shelter.
What is the historical significance of indentured servants?
The earliest settlers soon realized that they had lots 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 attract workers. Indentured servants became vital to the colonial economy.
Why would someone become an indentured servant?
The idea of indentured servitude was born of a need for cheap labor. With passage to the Colonies expensive for all but the wealthy, the Virginia Company developed the system of indentured servitude to attract workers. Indentured servants became vital to the colonial economy.
What was life like for indentured servants in the colonies?
Life for indentured servants was often bleak and grueling. They worked from dawn to dusk, six days a week. In contrast to black slaves, who were encouraged to raise families, they were expected to remain celibate, and under large employers usually lived under communal conditions resembling military barracks.
What did indentured servants do the living in the colonies?
Indentured Servants in Colonial Virginia. Indentured servants were men and women who signed a contract (also known as an indenture or a covenant) by which they agreed to work for a certain number of years in exchange for transportation to Virginia and, once they arrived, food, clothing, and shelter .
Who came to the colonies as an indentured servant?
Many white immigrants arrived in colonial America as indentured servants, usually as young men and women from Britain or Germany, under the age of 21. Typically, the father of a teenager would sign the legal papers, and work out an arrangement with a ship captain, who would not charge the father any money.
What is the difference from an indentured servant and a slave?
Unlike indentured servants, slaves had fewer/no rights. Indentured servants had more rights than slaves and were still free by law. Slaves, however, weren’t free and were instead owned by people.