Indenture

A Cry for Help An indentured servant named Richard Frethorne, from the Virginia plantation Martin’s Hundred, wrote letters to his mother and father begging them to “redeem” his indenture.1 The letter written by Frethorne opened up his parents eyes and the eyes of other Englishmen to the unforsaken truth about indentured servants, the conditions they were living in, and what hardships America was going through (e.g. disease, starvation, and death.) Frethorne wrote his parents a letter in hopes of revoking his indenture and returning home to England. If the Frethorne family were unable to do that, alternatively, selling meals with “good folk” or sending him food to sell in America to pay back his indenture. Richard was surrounded by death and…

Many facts led the colony to adopt a system of slavery such as Indenture Service was one of these reasons, followed by the Civil war in England, and the decrease of death rates in the colony. Also, the large number of Africans brought to the colony helped to establish this system. Lastly, Bacon’s Rebellion played a strong role on the change of race relations in the colony. After establish the first permanent English colony. The people living in Jamestown faced difficulties because of its low…

that would be free and could live as a free person in the Chesapeake. The Chesapeake rarely had slaves in its early years of development because of the vast majority of indentured slaves. All different kinds of people from England wanted to come to the Chesapeake and become rich in the tobacco industry. The vast majority of indentured servants were those white people from England. Since the job economy was so poor at this time in England everyone wanted to go to North America and make it big.…

Indentured workers were always available, and indenture practice never halted, the practice only diminished when slavery became available and more profitable to business. Indenture work was a solution established to bring labors to British colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although initially all the servants came from England, throughout the colonial period migrants from other countries joined the flow of servants to British America; Scottish, Irish, and German immigrants…

the colonies caused the colonial south to favor and encourage slave labor. The shortage of indentured servants arriving at the colonies increased by sharing advice, increased wages in England, and harsh treatment in the colonies. Many servants sent advice to loved ones about the reality of living in a colony as an indentured servant. As an indentured servant, one gives up four to seven years of his or her own life to work for a master. Masters only gave servants basic necessities such as…

sweltering humid summers depending on their contractual placement. Despite nature’s callous welcoming it was the restrictions and punishment of the courts that made indenture servitude a forlorn struggle that many could not tolerate. For those that sought their liberty through running away the courts held brutal punishment once apprehended. Fear of a servant’s rebellion lead many courts to punish disobedience in ways that could not be masked, “[he] should receive the punishment of whipping and…

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…

CONTEXT: Elizabeth Sprigs was an indentured servant working and living in Baltimore Town, Maryland during the year of 1756. At this time there were many people coming to the New World from Europe to work as indentured servants for a certain amount of time, in exchange for travel. (Foner 53) Living as an indentured servant had many challenges because of cruel treatment from masters and poor living conditions. Many people who came over to work as an indentured servant would die before their term…

When you think of indentured servants and slaves, you may think that they are the same thing. In fact, they quite different from their origin and rights. One would have a contract to serve time and later be freed and the other owned by someone, permanently, along with their family and children. An indentured servant is a worker who serves for periods of three to seven years and freed once their time was completed in exchange for goods. These goods included weapons, clothes, cattle, land, etc.…

of slavery. Initially slaves received a seven year indenture, but as the slave population began to increase the indenture was raised to ninety-nine years (“Bermuda History and Heritage”). Soon violence increased across the island as slaves wanting their freedom attacked and killed their masters. Plots were being discovered time and time again by both slaves and whites until the slave trade was outlawed in Bermuda in 1807 and slaves were freed in 1834, the day is now celebrated as Emancipation…