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# diseases # source of labor # what would bring money in America # relations with the local Indians # indentured servants
Elbe and Rhone
The emancipation of slaves or indentured servants who joined the British army.
The Indians from India, were bought over by the British as indentured servants. The Chinese were there to establish businesses.
You may live in a British colony in the 17th or 18th century, such as Virginia or Maryland in America. These colonies relied heavily on indentured servants for labor, usually for a set period of time in exchange for passage to the New World. Slavery was less prevalent in these colonies during that time period.
Indentured servitude began in the early 17th century in the British colonies in North America. Indentured servants were individuals who worked for a specific period of time, typically 4-7 years, in exchange for their passage to the new world. This practice was a way for people to seek economic opportunities in the colonies.
You may live in one of the British colonies in North America during the 17th to 18th centuries, such as Virginia or Maryland. These colonies relied heavily on indentured servants, who worked for a set period of time to pay off their passage to the New World, rather than on slaves.
The colonists originally used indentured servants, people who had a landowner pay for their passage to America in exchange for the poor to work on the rich person's land for a certain number of years. However, indentured servants couldn't be sold and bought, and they were eventually granted land and set free. The number of indentured servants coming from Europe started to decrease over the years, and the amount of labor started to increase. With nothing else to do, the British carted African slaves to be used as a labor source, even though slaves were more expensive.
There were very few slaves during the colonial period in British North America. Indentured servants, on the other hand, were much more common. The employers that indentured servants worked for grew financially stable, and they increased the price of labor over time, which made it difficult for servants to pay off their debt. Slavery became favored for the potential financial increases slaves produced through hard labor work. Eventually, though, the north and south states developed opposite opinions on the necessity of slaves.
The Chesapeake region of the United States became the colony of Maryland. It was primarily settled by European Catholics who came to America in an attempt to flee religious persecution in England.
When America was still a British colony, there was a great need for workers, to help with the farms and plantations. While the southern part of the country would soon become known for using African slaves, in those early years of Colonial America, there were a large number of "indentured servants": these were young men and women from poor parts of Europe (mostly from England and Germany) who wanted to start a new (and what they hoped would be better) life in the New World. They had no money to pay for passage to America, so they indentured themselves: that is, they agreed to hire themselves out as servants to wealthy landowners in America, in exchange for passage to this country, food, clothing, and the possibility of learning some new skills. Indentured servants worked for a period of three to seven years, at which time they had (theoretically) worked off their debt and could be free to live an independent life. Unfortunately, not all of them got the new life they had hoped for, as not every landowner was a compassionate or ethical boss. Many of the European immigrants found their time in America to be quite a disappointment. On the other hand, some did manage to repay their debt and become independent farmers or tradesmen.
To colonist america.