6. Until the late 1600s, the labor supply for the Chesapeake plantations was indentured servants, not enslaved Africans. Of the 120,000 emigrants to the Chesapeake colonies in the 1600s, 90,000 were indentured servants. Escaping the poverty of England, they contracted to work for four to seven years before being freed with enough clothes and tools—and in some cases free land—to establish their own homesteads. Their experiences varied, of course, depending on their master, their work, their health, and their temperament. Many died before they could attain freedom. Here we read two opposing views of servitude by former servants in the Chesapeake colonies, followed by the punishments ordered by a Virginia court after a servant uprising in 1640. Show
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Image: Indenture contract of John Getchall/Gatchall, 19, of Uphatch, Summersett, England, for six-year indenture in Virginia; date of indenture, 3 June 1684. Virginia Center for Digital History, University of Virginia. Permission pending. What was life like for an indentured servant in the Chesapeake?Servants typically worked four to seven years in exchange for passage, room, board, lodging and freedom dues. While the life of an indentured servant was harsh and restrictive, it wasn't slavery. There were laws that protected some of their rights.
What role did indentured servants play in the transformation of the Chesapeake in the early seventeenth century?Indentured servants were individuals who bargained away their labor for a period of four to seven years in exchange for passage to the New World. In the 17th century, indentured servants made up the mass of English immigrants to the Chesapeake colonies and were central to the development of the tobacco economy.
Why was there a need for indentured servitude in the Chesapeake colonies?While slaves existed in the English colonies throughout the 1600s, indentured servitude was the method of choice employed by many planters before the 1680s. This system provided incentives for both the master and servant to increase the working population of the Chesapeake colonies.
Did the Chesapeake colonies have indentured servants?Indenture Contracts:
Of the 120,000 emigrants to the Chesapeake colonies in the 1600s, 90,000 were indentured servants. Escaping the poverty of England, they contracted to work for four to seven years before being freed with enough clothes and tools—and in some cases free land—to establish their own homesteads.
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