Life In Colonial America

Most settlers who came to the New World envisioned themselves to have a life full of prosperity, freedom, and happiness but this was far from the truth. Life in the colonies was in fact quite miserable for majority of people due to slavery, indentured servitude, religious intolerance, and epidemic diseases. Only the wealthy upper class elites were able to prosper and feel true freedom from obtaining large acres of land and from growing cash crops. Majority of the settlers who came to the New World were either indentured servants or slaves, and thus they were forced into harsh labor while being bounded to their master for several years or even a lifetime. Overall, life in the colonies was filled with brutal labor, diseases, death, conflicts,
Majority of the people who came to the New World during the eighteenth century were either indentured servants or slaves and they were subject to harsh laborious days. During the voyage from Europe to British North America many indentured servants experienced “terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting...cancer, mouth rot” and etc.(60) “Children from 1 to 7 years rarely survived the voyage”(61) and those who actually reached the colonies were not “permitted to leave...except those who pay for their passage or can give good security”(61). Once in the colonies, an indentured servant such as “adult persons bind themselves in writing to serve 3, 4, 5 or 6 years”.(62) During the period of their serving many servants are forced to do back breaking labor and work in miserable conditions. Many indentured servants were not capable getting themselves out of the contract because they themselves were in a continuous debt to their masters. Eventually from the tension between the wealthy landowners and the poor indentured servants grew a rebellion, also known as the Bacon’s Rebellion. During this rebellion the leader, Nathaniel Bacon, stated that the rich elites were like “juggling parasites whose tottering fortunes have been repaired and supported at the public charge”.(51) In other words the elite upper class were sucking up all the wealth while the poor were oppressed and lived painful lives.
After rebellions such as Bacon’s Rebellion occurred many people decided to shift from indentured servants to African slaves thus beginning the long period of slavery. Between 1492 and 1820 over 7.7 million Africans were transported to the New World. During the voyages from Africa to the colonies many of the slaves died due to unsanitary conditions upon the ship, malnourishment, and etcetera. The slave trade also separated families and friends which can be exemplified by the quote “several brothers, who in the sale, were sold in different lots”.(69) To make matters worse many slaves were sold to cruel masters who punished the slaves by whipping them or hurting them in other painful manner. The Africans who survived the voyage were forced to work in the fields under the hot sun and many of them died due to the harsh conditions or from the punishment that their master inflicted on them. Overall, life in the colonies for African slaves was far from pleasant and many of them did not obtain freedom or