Indentured Servants Research Paper

Seeing the potential benefits from the plantation of commercial crops in the New World, most Britain laborers came as indentured servants. They seemingly suffered from their status in social and economic aspects, but their contributions were one of the factors that affected the economic and social development in each colony nonetheless. In Virginia, a highly increase in the demand of labors and the costly impact of having indentured servants were the factors that led to the result of the shift from indentured servants to the race-based slavery. Due to the economic success in the plantations of commercial crops, such as sugars, rice, and tobacco in the New World, it attracted many laborers to come over for expecting a better life. Meanwhile,

Indentures servants were not slaves because they worked under contract for an agreed-upon period of time, usually seven years. Once the indentured servants survived from their work and got free from their contract, they would receive lands and food supplies. Realizing the expense of owning indentured servants, most owners felt worried about losing their properties and threatened by the fastest-growing groups of freed servants in competing for economic benefits. It was especially true as the Bacon’s Rebellion (a class-based rebellion) against the colonial elite happened in Virginia in 1676. This incident increased the value of enslaved Africans. Since then, landowners turned to enslave black slaves as their labors as it was a more profitable source. It is because of most Africans who came to the New World would not demand for their human rights compared to the white indentured servants. Historically, only non-Christians or war

The Atlantic slave trade became vital to the colonial economy and it was a trading cycle. Millions of African slaves were forced to the New World across the Atlantic in a horrifying voyage, named as the Middle Passage. On the first leg of the trip, traders brought goods to Africa in exchange of slaves, it was an overland journey of delivering slaves to the coast. On the “middle” leg, slaves were transported to Americans on an oceanic trip. According to the accounts of Olaudah Equiano, a survivor from the journey, he wrote that the journey was terrifying and led to the death of millions Africans. It was due to the barbaric conditions inside the ships, the dissemination of diseases and the brutality treatments, which caused some slaves to desperately escape from such situations by committing suicide. African slaves were treated disastrously, they were crowded together in a limited space and lying in a pool of excrement. Dysentery was the biggest killer. Cruel means, such as whippings were used by the ship crews to control a large amount of slaves. On the third leg of the trip, traders sold the slaves to other locations in America, such as plantation and mining locations in return of other commodities, such as sugars and tobacco. As a result, slaves were distributed unevenly in the New