American Revolution: The Indentured Servant System

A fundamental principle of the colonial life before the American Revolution was the African slave system, however, it was not always existent. The indentured servant system which promised to provide men and women with basic needs such as shelter, clothing and food in exchange for hard work, rapidly progresses to the slave system . The reason for this swift change was that it was simply cheaper to enslave African people than to ship English indentured servants over to Virginia . From this change during 1630-1656 there were four key court decisions which enticed the development of legal slavery in Virginia. These various cases went to court and had deliberated outcomes which significantly shaped the creation of the new African slavery laws in
The Re Davis case of 1630, the John Punch case of 1640, the John Casor case of 1654, and the Elizabeth Key case of 1655-1656 each individually pushed for the creation of new laws in Virginia which allowed for African slavery. These cases all clearly contributed to the enforcement of new legalized African slavery laws.
Bibliography:
US History. (2008). Indentured Servants. http://www.ushistory.org/us/5b.asp
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Anderson, P. (2012). Supporting Caste: The Origins of Racism in Colonial Virginia. http://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=gvjh
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History in an Hour. (2011). The "first slave" - the case of John Casor - History in an Hour. http://www.historyinanhour.com/2011/03/08/the-first-slave-john-casor/ [Accessed 8 Oct. 2017].
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