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Indentured Servants Research Paper

176 Words1 Pages
The British hesitated to establish slavery in their new American colonies, as they largely relied on indentured servants in the 17th century. Indentured servants were men and women who signed a contract by which they agreed to work for a certain number of years in exchange for transportation to Virginia and, once they arrived, food, clothing, and a place where to live. Adults usually served for four to seven years and children sometimes for much longer, with most working in the colony’s tobacco fields. At first, the Virginia Company of London paid to transport servants across the Atlantic, but with the institution of the headright system in 1618, the company attracted planters and merchants to undertake the cost with a promise of land. At
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