Indentured Servitude In The Early 1600's

The expansion of the British American started with Columbus discovery of the New World. This is where two grand worlds collided; that being the Old World and the New World. Once the Europeans started coming over they realized what great land and grand wealth there was, thus they kept coming and expanding their people. As this happened between the wars where they were taking land and lives of the Native American Indian, decreasing their numbers immensely (McCarthy, 2014). The Europeans were far more advanced in weaponry verses the Native Americans with bow and arrows that accounted for a lot of life loss. The Europeans also brought many diseases the New World had never seen resulting in the death of millions. To date that number is believed to be a decree from about five million that were here in the 16th century to about 600,000 now. This was the greatest reason for the decrease in the Indian population, smallpox being the most destructive of all.
Indentured servitude in the early 1600’s was a benefit for both sides in this trade.
Mainly from England indentured servitudes wanting to come to the New World would have their transpiration paid by the land owner in trade for 4 to 7 years as a servant (Schultz, n.d.). This aided the land owns with improved income by having the workers on the land; as it aided the servants by getting them to the land to be freed someday to proper on their own. It was agreed that once the 4 to 7 years was over they were free. At this point a lot of them bought land and started their own farms or crops; thus, becoming competitors with their former masters. This was frowned upon by the masters to say the least. Some other indentured servants would run as soon as on America soil, never to be seen again; this being a waste of money to get them here by the masters again frowned up. By the 1680’s, this practice was going away as a better way was coming in, at least to the
masters.
African servants were now the focus of the American colonists. Once very few of these were mingled in with the indentured servants and treated like them, however as time went on it was formatted into a slave-based society. These servants became slaves that typically were not ever freed nor did they have any rights. The masters, or owners of the plantations, bought these slaves and they were then their property. This made the masters much more money and these slaves were used for all reasons, not just the fields. By the 1700’s there was a large number of slaves and as we all know this number continued to grown until the civil war put a dent in this practice. A dent that slowly got better for the African American people.
Reference
McCarthy, M. (2014). Native American population decline during the nineteenth century. Retrieved from https://nativestudy.wordpress.com
Schultz, K. (n.d.). HIST. Retrieved from https://www.betheluniversityonline.net/cps/default.aspx?SectionID=5860&tabid=154#1