Difference Between Indentured Servants And Slavery

Slavery and Indentured servants were Vital to the success of the British colonies in North America in the 1600’s and 1700’s, because having slaves and Indentured servants are how the colonist were able to grow the British colonies. Jamestown was in a bad place and were struggling to stay together as a colony. Jamestown then discovered tobacco. Tobacco was brought from the Caribbean islands. The colonies began growing tobacco and were soon shipping up to 50,000 pounds of tobacco a year England. Fifteen thousand pounds of tobacco were being of tobacco was being exported to England by 1670. The increased demand for tobacco required an increase in laborers needed to help clear land, plant, and grow tobacco. Thus, began the use of indentured servants. …show more content…
The indentured servants would agree to work for several years in exchange for food and housing, after their debts were paid off they received land to live on and begin their lives. The colonist also acquired slaves to help with the development of their lands. The first slaves were acquired by the colonist in 1619 after a Dutch ship brought 20 slaves from Africa to English America. With the increased demand for tobacco, the demand for slaves increased. “By 1700 enslaved Africans made up 11 percent of the total American population.” In the Chesapeake colonies and the Carolinas, the slavery population was higher than in other colonies. Without slaves and indentured servants, the British colonies in North America would not have been able thrive the way they did; unless they were going to do the work on their own and still them they would not have prevailed as they did with the forced labor of slaves and indentured