because slaves were never freed :(
Virginia planters transitioned to using slaves over indentured servants because slaves were a more cost-effective and permanent source of labor. Slaves could be bought and sold as property, ensuring a steady workforce, while indentured servants eventually gained freedom and land after their terms of service ended. Additionally, the transatlantic slave trade provided a steady supply of enslaved Africans to the colonies, making them a more convenient labor source for planters.
Some planters viewed indentured servants as a source of cheap labor to help grow crops and increase profits. They preferred indentured servants over slaves as they were a more temporary and less expensive labor force.
Slaves
The colony with few slaves but many indentured servants was Virginia. In the early days of the colony, before the widespread use of African slaves, indentured servants from England were a significant source of labor.
The majority of indentured servants were in the northern colonies, such as New York and Pennsylvania, while the southern colonies, like Virginia and South Carolina, had more slaves due to their reliance on plantation agriculture. Of these, Virginia had the most indentured servants, while South Carolina had relatively fewer slaves compared to other southern colonies.
Some synonyms for indentured servants include apprentices, bondmen, and bonded laborers.
cotton
Some planters viewed indentured servants as a source of cheap labor to help grow crops and increase profits. They preferred indentured servants over slaves as they were a more temporary and less expensive labor force.
Using the headright system, people in England 100s of acres of land in America by becoming indentured servants for a period of time, usually 7 years. These indentured servants were most often used by the plantation owners in Virginia initially.
Slaves
Virginia's Indentured Servants' Plot happened in 1661.
Indentured servitude was necessary in Virginia as a source of labor for tobacco cultivation, which was a labor-intensive crop. Due to the high demand for labor and scarcity of workers, indentured servants provided a solution for Virginia planters in the early colonial period.
In its initial years as a colony, Virginia had indentured servants. They relied on these indentured servants for most of the labor in the early years.
The establishment of tobacco farming in Virginia led to the importation of indentured servants and African slaves to work on the plantations. The demand for labor increased rapidly as tobacco became a profitable crop, prompting planters to turn to indentured servants and later to African slaves to meet their labor needs.
declining death rates made slaves more profitable than indentured servants
Absolutely, hordes of them.
Because they were indentured.
In 1652, the Catholic colony of Rhode Island made slavery illegal, and the colony of Virginia had fewer than 500 slaves -- only three percent of its almost 17,000 colonists. The tobacco planters of Virginia were still dependent primarily on indentured servants for labor, the indentured servants not requiring an initial investment as did the buying of slaves.