Upon discovering new lands west of Europe, many quickly went over in search of new opportunities and riches. Many of these travelers though were middle class and therefore could not afford to pay their way across upfront. This then led to the practice of indentured servitude, a common practice in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries where middle class men and woman signed binding contracts agreeing to work for a preselected amount of years after receiving free travel across the Atlantic Ocean to the Americas. On paper this practice seems fair, but in reality the servants were severely mistreated by their masters. The highest concentration of these indentured servants where in Virginia’s Chesapeake Bay. The servants were often under fed,
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Many servants complain of hardly being fed once united with their new masters in the colonies. If they do happen to be fed, the food they get is lacking any of the substantial nutrients needed to nourish a body to be able to perform under the extreme working conditions that faced many of the servants at the time. One servant who wrote home to their family wrote that four servants had to share one small bread loaf while only receiving a small amount of meat as well. Being fed so little, some servants wished to hunt the small game in the area to satisfy their cravings but most masters forbade such actions. On top of being poorly fed, many servants where poorly clothed. Many hardly had proper shoes fit for the working in the field for long periods of time, which was required of them. Like many slaves, some chose to go barefoot because it was easier than wearing shoes that did not fit properly. Clothing was also in short supply, which led to stealing amongst fellow indentured servants. Many indentured servants only had the clothes on their back and a very few lucky ones were able to have at second set of clothes. Some servants, like Elizabeth Sprigs, wrote home desperate for any food or clothing their family or hometowns could manage to send across the ocean to them. Between the indentured servants lacking key nutrients and proper attire to work long days in the crop fields, many of the servants had a very low quality of
Many servants complain of hardly being fed once united with their new masters in the colonies. If they do happen to be fed, the food they get is lacking any of the substantial nutrients needed to nourish a body to be able to perform under the extreme working conditions that faced many of the servants at the time. One servant who wrote home to their family wrote that four servants had to share one small bread loaf while only receiving a small amount of meat as well. Being fed so little, some servants wished to hunt the small game in the area to satisfy their cravings but most masters forbade such actions. On top of being poorly fed, many servants where poorly clothed. Many hardly had proper shoes fit for the working in the field for long periods of time, which was required of them. Like many slaves, some chose to go barefoot because it was easier than wearing shoes that did not fit properly. Clothing was also in short supply, which led to stealing amongst fellow indentured servants. Many indentured servants only had the clothes on their back and a very few lucky ones were able to have at second set of clothes. Some servants, like Elizabeth Sprigs, wrote home desperate for any food or clothing their family or hometowns could manage to send across the ocean to them. Between the indentured servants lacking key nutrients and proper attire to work long days in the crop fields, many of the servants had a very low quality of