Slavery and indentured servitude were the primary means of help for the wealthy in America. Either as a slave or as an indentured servant a person was required to work in the fields maintain crops, as a house servant or as the owner of debtor so chooses. The treatment of both was very similar, but the method and means to which they came to America were uniquely different as the following examples will illustrate. Broteer was an African prince of the tribe of Dukandarra in Guinea. His father, Saungm Furro, was well off and king. When Broteer was six years old, his province was invaded by a large army of about 6000 men and very well equipped. The leaders of this army required Saungm to pay a large sum of money and livestock in order for his army not to invade. The king agreed in order to save his people from the hardships of conflict. However, he was informed by a friend or acquaintance that the army was not one of honor and did not keep their word. Therefore, Saungm set out to save his family and flee from the invaders. He set out in two groups in order to keep the traveling parties smaller and less noticeable. However, as they were camped and had lit a fire, a scouting party discovered their location from the smoke and captured the family. The king was killed for failing to divulge his riches, but Broteer and the women were treated more tolerantly since they were more submissive. After his capture, Broteer was made a waiter of a scouting party. He set out with them on hunts and soon discovered that these people were efficient and quick to lay waste to herds and to people. They often would sack villages and captured the inhabitants. The army continued to march and attack village after village. But as they did so, the size of the ... ... middle of paper ... ...sing the Atlantic in a Slave Ship in 1789” 2011. MyHistoryLab. Pearson Education, Inc. 1995-2011. 8 February, 2011. http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/hss_hine_aaodyssey_4/instructor_resources/primary_source_documents/chapter02/2_4.pdf Sprigs, Elizabeth. “Letter to Her Father” 2011. MyHistoryLab. Pearson Education, Inc. 1995-2011. 8 February, 2011. http://wpscms.pearsoncmg.com/long_longman_mhlus_0/0,11867,3124639-content,00.html Bennett, Edward. “Wessell Webling, His Indenture (1622)” 2011. MyHistoryLab. Pearson Education, Inc. 1995-2011. 8 February, 2011. http://wpscms.pearsoncmg.com/long_longman_mhlus_0/0,11867,3125014-content,00.html Sewell, Samuel. “The Selling of Joseph” 2011. MyHistoryLab. Pearson Education, Inc. 1995-2011. 8 February, 2011. http://media.pearsoncmg.com/ph/hss/hss_hine_aaodyssey_4/instructor_resources/primary_source_documents/chapter03/3_2.pdf
During the 1600’s people began to look for different types of work in the new world. As cash crops, such as tobacco, indigo, and rice, were growing in the South, there became a need for labor. This got the attention of convicts, debtors, and other people looking for new opportunities and money. Indentured servitude was vastly growing during the 17th and 18th centuries. Approximatively 10 million men, women, and children were moved to the new world. Women during this time found themselves being sold to men for these cash crops. A commonly used term during this time for these women was tobacco brides. Almost 7.7 million of the slaves captured and moved to the new world were African Americans. Slaves and indentured servants had it rough for
A variety of different viewpoint can be taken away while reading The Selling of Joseph. The author, Samuel Sewall, was a man of much importance during his time due to the fact he was the first person to write against slavery. His story has more to it than just the stereotypical story of slavery regarding the hardships one had to endure. The story gives a glimpse of hardships rising to triumphs from a political point of view. Sewall discusses topics such as legal, moral, and religious aspects that coincide with a person owning a slave. The author played a critical a role in the Salem Witch Trials and was one of the only people to apologize for his role in them, praying that his sins would be forgiven. The Selling of Joseph was made famous for
Physical abuse by plantation owners towards both their servants and slaves was common. One account by Thomas Gates in a General Court of Colonial Virginia document about Elizabeth Abbot, an indentured servant, stated that “she had been sore beaten and her body full of sores and holes very dangerously raunckled and putrified both above her wast and uppon her hips and thighs” (General Court of Colonial Virginia). In fact, such abuse towards servants and slaves was so common that the state of Virginia had to make laws for such cases. Unfortunately, colonial governments did not consider corporal punishment illegal. Thus adding to the brutality endured by persons in captivity and servitude during the colonial era. “Moderate corporal punishment inflicted
The use of labor came in two forms; indenture servitude and Slavery used on plantations in the south particularly in Virginia. The southern colonies such as Virginia were based on a plantation economy due to factors such as fertile soil and arable land that can be used to grow important crops, the plantations in the south demanded rigorous amounts of labor and required large amounts of time, the plantation owners had to employ laborers in order to grow crops and sell them to make a profit. Labor had become needed on the plantation system and in order to extract cheap labor slaves were brought to the south in order to work on the plantations. The shift from indentured servitude to slavery was an important time as well as the factors that contributed to that shift, this shift affected the future generations of African American descent. The history of colonial settlements involved altercations and many compromises, such as Bacons Rebellion, and slavery one of the most debated topics in the history of the United States of America. The different problems that occurred in the past has molded into what is the United States of America, the reflection in the past provides the vast amount of effort made by the settlers to make a place that was worth living on and worth exploring.
EXPLORING AMISTAD: Race and the Boundaries of Freedom in Antebellum Maritime America (Mystic Seaport) http://www.mysticseaport.org/nf-home.htm
During American colonization, the economy of the south became predominantly dependent on the tobacco plant. As the south continued to develop, they shifted their focus to cotton. Indentured servants as well as African slaves were used for these labor-intensive crops because their labor was decent and cheap (Shi and Tindall 39). Young British men were promised a life of freedom in America if they agreed to an exchange between a free voyage and labor for a fixed number of years. Many willing, able-bodied, and young men signed up with the hopes of establishing a bright future for themselves in America. Unbeknownst to them, indentured servitude was not as easy as it was made out to be. Many servants endured far worse experiences than they had ever imagined. The physical and emotional conditions they faced were horrible, their masters overworked them, and many had to do unprofessional work instead of work that enabled them to use their own personal skills. Young British men felt that because they faced such horrible circumstances, the exchange between a free voyage to America in exchange for servitude was not a proper trade.
There are many aspects contributing to the rise of slavery and decline of indentured servitude. The beginning of slavery started when Columbus invaded Hispaniola and enslaved the Arawaks . This was the first time people thought to enslave people against their will for labor. Hard labor and diseases nearly killed off their race, essentially concluding that they were no longer available candidates for labor. Indentured servitude was used as bait to lure people into enslavement and eventually began to fade due to multiple historical events, such as The Bacon Rebellion . African Americans became an easy target because they were less prone to diseases and their bodies were capable of such intense and difficult labor. As slavery began to rise in popularity certain laws were passed through Congress that supported slavery.
The role of an indentured servant in the 1700s was not a glamorous one. They came to the New World knowing that, for a time, they would be slaves for someone they did not know and the risk of disease and death was high, but the opportunity that laid ahead of them after their time of servitude was worth everything to these settlers of the New World. They came to America for the same reasons as all of the other settlers. Religious freedom, land, wealth, and a new start were motives for both settlers and indentured servants but the one thing separating most settlers from the indentured servants was that they could afford their voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Indentured servants couldn’t buy their ticket to the New World, but that didn’t stop
Klein, Herbert S. The middle passage: Comparative studies in the Atlantic slave trade. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press , 1978. 282. Print.
The slave trade into the United States began in 1620 with the sale of nineteen Africans to a colony called “Virginia”. These slaves were brought to America on a Dutch ship and were sold as indentured slaves. An Indentured slave is a person who has an agreement to serve for a specific amount of time and will no longer be a servant once that time has passed, they would be “free”. Some indentured slaves were not only Africans but poor or imprisoned whites from England. The price of their freedom did not come free.
Rediker, Marcus. The Slave Ship A Human History. New York, New York: Penguin Group, 2007. Print.
When America was first founded the colonists believed that they could do one of two things. They could either ask for entire families and groups of people to come over from England to start family farms and businesses to help the colony prosper. The other option was to take advantage of the lower class people and promise them land and freedom for a couple of years of servitude (Charles Johnson et al, Africans in America 34). Obviously the second option was used and this was the start of indentured servitude in colonial America. The indentured servants that came from England were given plenty of accommodations in exchange for their servitude. They were also promised that after their time of service was complete that they would receive crops, land, and clothing to start their new found lives in America. Men, children, and even most criminals, rushed to the ports hoping to be able to find work in America and soon start their new life. However, a large quantity of them either died on the voyage over, died from diseases, or died from the intensity of their work, before their servitude was complete (Johnson et al, Africans, 34). America finally began to show signs of prosperity due to the crop, tobacco. The only problem now was that the majorit...
The typical life of an indentured servant was not a convenient one. Their journeys to the Americas were miserable. The servants were packed into large ships carrying thousands of people as well as, tools, food, etc. Not only were the people densely packed, there were various diseases flooding the ships, and many people would die from them. “I witnessed . . .
conditions aboard ship were dreadful. The maximum number of slaves was jammed into the hull, chained to forestall revolts or suicides by drowning. Food, ventilation, light, and sanitatio...
Henry, Matthew, and Martin H. Manser. The new Matthew Henry Commentary: the classic work with updated language. Abridged ed. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2010.