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Indentured servants in colonial era
Indentured servants in colonial era
Indentured Servants role in the colonial time period
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In the early 1600s, Britain had managed to establish colonies on the coast of the present day United States. After the Spanish had settled North America in the 1500s, Britain became increasingly interested in what lay in the New World. The first successful group of aristocrats to make it to the New World had established a settlement at Chesapeake Bay, present day Virginia. The Chesapeake colonies ruled the East Coast until 1629 when the Puritans arrived. The Puritans were a group of religiously persecuted individuals who had broken away from the Anglican Church. These two groups hoped to find a new sense of peace in the New World that England could not provide them with. Despite the difference in purpose and religious views, both the Chesapeake …show more content…
Since gentleman were unaccustomed to labor, there were very few men who could raise crops for the colony. In 1609, the Chesapeake colony had lost three-quarters of its population due to famine during the winter. The Native Americans’ refusal to trade with the Chesapeake colonists also took a heavy toll on their food supply. The colonists had to turn to other sources of food such as mice, horses, and dogs. For they claimed that they had eaten more in one day back in England than they had in one week in the New World [Doc1]. In 1610, a terrible drought and another series of summertime illnesses had set in. The colonists were plagued with fevers, diarrhea, and swellings which caused their numbers to go down by another 50% [Doc 7]. The Puritans had a diet which was high in sea salt which weakened their immunity system and made them more vulnerable to diseases. They encountered cold related diseases such as pneumonia, frostbite, and scurvy. Within the first of two months of their arrival, two to three Puritans died every day. The climate of the New England colonies did not serve them as well. The land was too stony and sandy for them to plant many crops, and the growing season was only five months long because of the long, cold winters. These difficulties put a wall between the colonists and their goals for creating a society whether it was …show more content…
The cash-crop industry in the Chesapeake colony was booming, and the South proved to be an ideal place for the farming of plants with its rich soil and warmer climate. Tobacco soon became the top export in the colony along with maize. Due to the increased demand for these cash-crops, indentured servants soon flocked to the colony in order to aid the labor intensive economy which thrived on their cheap labor. Eventually, indentured servants were replaced with African American slaves [Doc 5] which caused a dramatic increase in the colony’s population [Doc 7]. The Chesapeake colony’s economic success was attributed to their focus being primarily secular as opposed to religious as the Turkish were in the time of the Gϋlen Movement in the mid 1970s. However, the Puritans proved that that was not necessarily the case. Though the climate proved to not be ideal for farming, the Puritans made use of the rich amounts of lumber in the creation of the top shipbuilding industry. They also became experts in fishing cod, halibut, and whales which they would later sell to Caribbean slave owners. The Puritans had also developed a strong relationship with the Native Americans who would trade them the food they needed for new supplies and European furs. Both the Chesapeake and New England colonies had overcome their struggles to become one of the top locations
The four groups of colonies were distinct from one another in the labor systems that they used. In New England, there were small farms that allowed a much bigger manufacturing and merchant class to arise. This was very different even from the middle colonies, where larger family farms and indentured servitude were prefered. In the Chesapeake and southern colonies, plantations were the most profitable economic choices. However, in the Chesapeake colonies these plantations were smaller and relied more on indentured servants than the slave heavy large
The Chesapeake and New England regions were settled by people of English descent, but by 1700, they had become two distinctly different societies. They had evolved so differently, mainly because of the way that the settlers followed their religion, their way of conducting politics and demographics in the colonies. Even though the settlers came from the same homeland: England, each group had its own reasons for coming to the New World and different ideas planned for the colonies.
While residing in England, the Puritans and faithful Catholics faced prosecution, which led to their immigration to the New World. Most left England to avoid further harassment. Many groups and parishes applied for charters to America and, led by faithful ministers, the Pilgrims and Puritans made the long voyage to North America. Their religion became a unique element in the New England colonies by 1700. Before landing, the groups settled on agreements, signing laws and compacts to ensure a community effort towards survival when they came to shore, settling in New England. Their strong sense of community and faith in God led them to develop a hardworking society by year 1700, which Documents A and D express through the explanation of how the Pilgrims and Puritans plan to develop...
Chesapeake district was for the most part swampy and not reasonable for average product developing exercises. However 5 years after their entry in the land saw the revelation of tobacco which really did well. In such manner, it is essential to take note of that because of the tobacco developing in the land, Chesapeake pilgrim utilized and utilized shabby work in their fields. They actually built up a contracted bondage framework in which people who wanted free entry to America had offer their administrations as far as work for a few years previously being permitted to go into America. Then again, New England locale was not portrayed of huge homesteads thus the vast majority of them essentially relied upon little ranches and other locally established sort of enterprises, for example, carpentry and printing. Because of the locally situated industry organizations, the New England pilgrims did not have to procure work as their families were sufficient to give the required work power to their
Throughout the late 16th century and into the 17th century two colonies appeared from England. In search of glory, gold, and God (religious freedom), England started to discover and surmount North America. The two colonies were called the Chesapeake and the New England colonies. Although the areas were governed by the English, the settlements had similar potential as well as different. The Chesapeake and England colonies cultivated into visibly different establishments. The difference was the colonial motive, religion, political structure, socio-economic, and race relation, these are what were accountable for creating these territories. In the Chesapeake, the motivation for colonization was mainly due to the economic issue that the colony was
The first successful permanent English colony to be founded in America was Jamestown, Virginia in 1607. Prior to this, there were two other attempts to colonize the region, unfortunately, they both failed to do so. The most famous of which was the colony of Roanoke island, set up by Sir Walter Raleigh, where all the colonists mysteriously disappeared leaving only the word “Croatan” carved into a tree. This successful settlement was a project of the Virginia company, a joint-stock company that existed to make money for its investors, something it never did. Jamestown might have been the first English colony in America, but Massachusetts Bay is most likely better known, this is probably because the colonists who immigrated there were very recognizable
He strongly believed in his words, "He that will not work shall not eat". Even though Captain Smith did a good job, in 1609, a new agreement replaced the unsuccessful council with an all-powerful government. In Maryland, they were able to prosper quickly economically because of their ability to grow tobacco. By having a long coastline along the Chesapeake Bay, it was easy shipping for the tobacco planters. New England's male settlers were small farmers, merchants, seamen, or fishermen which made a very good way of living. ON the other hand, the New England founding fathers had very high expectations for their region and they were fulfilled. Their economy was based on individual accomplishments of the towns’ farmers. They were able to harvest enough crops to feed their families, as well as, trade for things that they couldn’t make themselves. The New England region’s living standards were much higher than those of the Mid-Atlantic. The New England region became an extremely important factor in merchant and shipbuilding. They grew so much that they even served as the center for trading between the South and
In the first shipload of people they had about 104 people on board that ship. Many of those people died from diseases they picked up from exploring. In the summer of 1607 a sickness kills half the people that settled there. (Document E) This was a major downfall for the colonies because most of those people were Probably gentlemen and labourers (Document C). Also in the summer of 1609 and 1610 60 settlers died from a disease. Many of these people who died were laborers and gentlemen. Many of these people speaded these diseases to other people and food they shared (Nightmare in Jamestown.). I think some of these diseases could be the Bubonic plague or the black death. These diseases returned in Nov.-May 1610 when 110 colonist die from famine and diseases.
The diversity between the original colonies of Eastern North America is displayed in several different ways, whether it be the literal diversity seen between the immigrants of the regions or the different types of economic, social, and political structures that had developed between the time of first discovery and the liberation of America as a nation. These distinctions are very significant in that they indicate a schism between the New England and the Chesapeake regions which leads to the tension of the Civil War.
Virginia’s main crop and economy was based on tobacco, whereas New England’s economy was fishing and lumber. Tobacco became very popular among Europeans and was soon high in demand. The colonists soon realized that tobacco ruined their soil, so they were constantly looking for more land for plantations. Virginia also did not have many slaves until around the end of the 17th century. The first slaves arrived in 1619, but they were too expensive so the colony mostly used indentured servants. New England was near the coast so they did not have as much area to grow crops, but there were able to fish and chop lumber. There was a lot of slavery, especially in Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. For every one slave for every four white families within these three colonies. New England colonists each held some portion of the land they had received. As it is stated in the Articles of agreement, “4. That everyone shall have a share of the meadow or planting ground….”(document 4). New England and the Chesapeake Bay area had plantations and slaves, but they were used in two different
Elbert Hubbard once said “Truth is stronger than fiction”, the truth about Jamestown, It was fated to be unsuccessful. In 2014, 320,090,857 people lived in the United States; in 1607, a sum of 100 men from England occupied the same land. Aspiring to be the first permanent English settlement in The New World colonist filled three boats and set sail up the Chesapeake Bay and landed in Jamestown, Virginia. The settlers had a problematic start to their journey causing almost 805 of the population to die in the initial stages of Jamestown. So many people died in the early days of Jamestown colony because the settlers’ went ready for the challenges yet to come in the New World.
The puritan’s religious beliefs caused them to believe very strongly in hard work and improving themselves and their society. Economically, Puritan New England fulfilled the expectations of its founders. Their economy relied on fishing and shipbuilding because they were located so close to the Atlantic Ocean. The Carolinas economy was based farming and trading only for goods they could not produce themselves. But their failure came from their perfect soil. “South Carolina’s swampy coast, so perfectly suited to growing rice, was less suited for human habitation. Weakened by chronic malaria, settlers died in epic numbers from yellow fever, smallpox, and respiratory infections.” (Davidson p. 56) Their population grew from immigrations. “The Mid-Atlantic had rapid growth of people and wealth but political wrangling as well as ethnic and religious diversity made for a higher level of social conflict”(Davidson p. 77) So although their population and wealth were in good standing they had problem with their governing. “The colonial population remained small and fractious. The company made matters worse by appointing corrupt, dictatorial governors who ruled without an elective assembly.” (Davidson p.
Slavery was the main resource used in the Chesapeake tobacco plantations. Conditions in the Chesapeake region were difficult, which led to malnutrition, disease, and even death. Slaves are a cheap and abundant resource, which can be easily replaced at any time. The Chesapeake region’s tobacco industries grew and flourished on the intolerable and inhumane acts of slavery. The Chesapeake colonies of Virginia and Maryland were settled in the early 17th century.
Though the Puritans, as well as some later groups, fled to the American colonies to escape religious persecution or restrictions, the fact remains that the Puritans had been granted "a charter from King James" for their settlement. Thus, the colonists who came to America for religious reasons were serving the primary purpose of generating profits for the Mother country of England (Boorstin et al.
Chesapeake colonies transitioned from a society with slaves to a slave society. They needed slaves to work on the tobacco plantations. The demand for tobacco was high and kept growing. This unfortunately encouraged the continuous of slave imports. Chesapeake planters invested in the slave trade to support their tobacco economy. Prices for tobacco dropped but some planters shifted to other production.