Settlers, Slaves, and Servants |
 Men and women with little active interest in a new life in
America were often induced to make the move to the New World by
the skillful persuasion of promoters. William Penn, for example,
publicized the opportunities awaiting newcomers to the
Pennsylvania colony. Judges and prison authorities offered
convicts a chance to migrate to colonies like Georgia instead of
serving prison sentences.But few colonists could finance the cost of passage for themselves and their families to make a start in the new land. In some cases, ships' captains received large rewards from the sale of service contracts for poor migrants, called indentured servants, and every method from extravagant promises to actual kidnapping was used to take on as many passengers as their vessels could hold. In other cases, the expenses of transportation and maintenance were paid by colonizing agencies like the Virginia or Massachusetts Bay Companies. In return, indentured servants agreed to work for the agencies as contract laborers, usually for four to seven years. Free at the end of this term, they would be given "freedom dues," sometimes including a small tract of land. Perhaps half the settlers living in the colonies south of New England came to America under this system. Although most of them fulfilled their obligations faithfully, some ran away from their employers. Nevertheless, many of them were eventually able to secure land and set up homesteads, either in the colonies in which they had originally settled or in neighboring ones. No social stigma was attached to a family that had its beginning in America under this semi-bondage. Every colony had its share of leaders who were former indentured servants. There was one very important exception to this pattern: African slaves. The first black Africans were brought to Virginia in 1619, just 12 years after the founding of Jamestown. Initially, many were regarded as indentured servants who could earn their freedom. By the 1660s, however, as the demand for plantation labor in the Southern colonies grew, the institution of slavery began to harden around them, and Africans were brought to America in shackles for a lifetime of involuntary servitude. |
Directions: Read the text above, then answer the
questions below. |
|
1. __________ had to work off the cost of
their passage to the colonies before they were free. a. Financiers b. Indentured servants c. Ship captains d. Slaves 2. When were the first Africans brought to
the colonies? 3. Involuntary servitude is better known as what? |
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here to print this worksheet. |
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Text courtesy of the U.S. State Department,
Bureau of International Information Programs, 2005 |
