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Indentured Servants In Colonial America

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In the beginning of the colonies, a large amount of settlers came as indentured servants. The reason for this was that there were many English that wanted to come to the new land. It was cheaper and the labor paid very well, for most of them this was the only way they were able afford the trip. The colonies were in dire need for a labor service so they took advantage of their poverty. It wasn’t for at least around fifty years until Africans started showing up to the colonies. The first Africans were traded for supplies, then more and more trickled in over time. Many of the servants would fraternize with each other and some even had mixed racial relations. This was an act that was punished by the court. Around the early 1700’s the Chesapeake
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The Chesapeake colonies grew up on cash crops, whisking up indigo, rice, and tobacco to make ends meet. However, once they began having intentions to mass produce they had to look for a cheap method of labor. That’s when the south adopted the idea of indentured servants, which was soon to be questioned because of a rebellion. Nevertheless, it was a mistake for them that they would learn to “fix” by replacing those indentured servants with African slaves because it was more efficient and helpful. The placement of African slaves in this system led to the creation of the Barbados Slave Codes in 1661 that led to the formation of superiority between whites and blacks.

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Most of history is seen through the eyes of those of privilege, education, and wealth: royalty, nobility, and merchants. There were those of less fortune or lower class that were educated enough to be able to record their experiences and points-of-view, but they were far and few between. Especially in early America, from immigrants, slaves, free blacks, natives, and indentured servants. “In Defense of the Indians” by Bartolome de La Casa, “An Indentured Servant’s Letter Home” by Richard Frethorne, “Ads for Runaway Servants and Slaves”, “The Irish in America” by John Francis Maguire, and “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass” by Frederick Douglass are by or about the natives, slaves, indentured servants, and immigrants in the early

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I am enlightened by your desire to come join me here in Jamestown, but life has been a never ending roller coaster as the years slowly pass by. Some days I wonder if leaving the slums to avoid my peasant status was worth risking making an attempt at creating a new life in Jamestown. I have trouble falling asleep as I am persistently worrying about whether or not I will wake up the next morning, or if I will die in my sleep during a surprise Indian attack. Even tobacco alone cannot soothe my nerves and paranoia, nor can the money that has been produced from the tobacco market keep my mind in a state of peace. Even though the colony has recently prospered from the blooming tobacco business, I would strongly recommend for you all to refrain from coming here unless you enjoy an indentured servant life, constant Native American threats, and terrible living conditions.

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In fact, religion and wealth were major factors in determining a person’s place in society by the time the first Africans came to Virginia in 1619. The color of a person’s skin was irrelevant. (Race the Power of an Illusion episode 2). Poor, white, indentured servants were the main means of labor in the colonies at that time. Gradually, the idea of using race as a means of status began to spread, as fewer poor Europeans were willing to travel to the Americas.

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I would move to Pennsylvania to become a indentured servant because even though you are being a slave and might not have any say in what you will be doing and what harsh treatment that they may be acting towards you .It will be worth the suffering because it will only be for a couple of years to be put to work until you pay for what you owe of them for bring you into the new world. After you are done paying your dues you get to leave free and you are offered a piece of land to live on and do as you please. I would feel like there would be more opportunities to become a slave than to just being a poor famer that has to live off his crops and build with what he has. In some of the sources it is talking about being a servant it is more convincing

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