Indentured Servitude Vs. Slavery
1
Thomas Gordon
Indentured Servitude vs. Slavery
13 January 2015
US History
University of Phoenix
In the beginning of the 1600’s the term slavery in the U.S. wasn’t even thought of. It was more in the terms of indentured servants. In 1607 indentured servants first arrived in America in the decade of the settlement of Jamestown by the Virginia Company. The idea was formed in the thought of servitude was born for a need for cheap labor vs hiring a person and paying them a lot of money. The first couple of colonies and settlers realized that they had acres upon acres of land with only a couple of people to take care of it all. For the settlers that didn’t have a lot of money this was a huge predicament where for the wealthier families they could afford to hire anybody because they could pay for anybody. Therefore the Virginia Company formed this organization of indentured servitude to help attract workers. …show more content…
They both have serious labor in front of them, something the owner definitely doesn’t want to do. Another distinguishing factor is that once the person has signed or the slave has got to the owner they can make that person do whatever they want them to do because of the law abiding contract. Also, are filling a labor shortage at a price less than hiring a regular person. The difference was that were indentured servants were under a contract and signed up for voluntarily for certain amount of time. In the end were a individual would come out learning a new skill set and/or paid of some type of debt. Slaves was needed by owners because when the labor requirement wasn’t met by the indentured servants. As time passed, a law was created that allowed owners to inherit their children that was born on their property. Another thing was were servants could leave the property and come back slaves
Thomas Gordon
Indentured Servitude vs. Slavery
13 January 2015
US History
University of Phoenix
In the beginning of the 1600’s the term slavery in the U.S. wasn’t even thought of. It was more in the terms of indentured servants. In 1607 indentured servants first arrived in America in the decade of the settlement of Jamestown by the Virginia Company. The idea was formed in the thought of servitude was born for a need for cheap labor vs hiring a person and paying them a lot of money. The first couple of colonies and settlers realized that they had acres upon acres of land with only a couple of people to take care of it all. For the settlers that didn’t have a lot of money this was a huge predicament where for the wealthier families they could afford to hire anybody because they could pay for anybody. Therefore the Virginia Company formed this organization of indentured servitude to help attract workers. …show more content…
They both have serious labor in front of them, something the owner definitely doesn’t want to do. Another distinguishing factor is that once the person has signed or the slave has got to the owner they can make that person do whatever they want them to do because of the law abiding contract. Also, are filling a labor shortage at a price less than hiring a regular person. The difference was that were indentured servants were under a contract and signed up for voluntarily for certain amount of time. In the end were a individual would come out learning a new skill set and/or paid of some type of debt. Slaves was needed by owners because when the labor requirement wasn’t met by the indentured servants. As time passed, a law was created that allowed owners to inherit their children that was born on their property. Another thing was were servants could leave the property and come back slaves