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Indentured Servitude Essay

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Introduction: At this point in time in history, indentured servitude wasn’t an uncommon act. Many of those who migrated from Europe to the New World couldn’t pay for their passage and were sold to landowners to pay their dues for passage. They were fed, clothed and given shelter. Those who could afford passage to the New World had no money to survive once they arrived. They would then sign these indentured servant contracts in the hopes of having something of their own. Many contracts at the time would involve owning land once the contract was fulfilled. Some of these contracts was to gain education and training in that certain field of a cordwainer. In exchange for 7 years of hard labor with many restrictions like that of a slave, he would …show more content…

But the salary was very poor for the indentured servants during not improving much of their quality of life. People were paid very little as 50￠for 10 hours of work if they were lucky. With families not making enough, kids young as 10 years old, would learn a trade in the matter of weeks to begin working because of the demand of products. The cost of living was such little $4.00 a week for rent although during this time was unaffordable by most families so the kids pay, even with it being so little would help with the family’s expenses. Unfortunately, this meant that kids would become endangered by heavy machinery in factories but were still forced to …show more content…

There were no tv or phones or any internet to have media or communication, so it took a while for people to find out things and talk. The slaves were living in sheds and if they were lucky, in the master’s house. They also didn't get paid very well either, the average wage earner only made $16.00 a week. Some trades only made two, three, four, or six dollars a week. The men driving the horse drawn streetcars in New York in the 1880's made $1.75 a day working 14 to 16 hr. a day. So, this goes to show that its much different than from today where the average job pays anywhere from $20-$40 an hour with is anywhere from $800-$1600 a week, this was much

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