Servants typically worked four to seven years in exchange for passage, room, board, lodging and freedom dues. While the life of an indentured servant was harsh and restrictive, it wasn't slavery. There were laws that protected some of their rights.
In the Caribbean, shift to slave labor was faster as supply of indentured servants was inadequate. Slaves were treated brutally using a code of Force and Terror.
In the Chesapeake, shift to slave labor was gradual and because English common law did not acknowledge chattel slavery, it was possible for some to be freed by Christian baptism, purchase freedom from owners, or win freedom in courts, etc. This changed with the collapse of the Tobacco boom. By 1671, Virginia House of Burgesses forbid Africans to own guns or join the militia, owning English servants even if baptized and free.
1. This intellectual movement helped to diminish the traditional authority of Monarchs and the Church
2. It also led to a heightened emphasis on education. Harvard and Yale eventually embraced this New Philosophy in their curriculum.
3. this intellectual movement heightened interest in politics and economics. The writings of
Enlightenment thinkers, such as Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, represented the culture of the American Enlightenment in its most established
form
By the eighteenth century indentured servants outnumbered African slaves in the North American colonies. Unlike the situation endured by slaves, however, the state was an impermanent one for indentured servants. Initially an attempt to alleviate severe labor shortages in New World settlements, the system of indenture comprised not only willing English women, children, and men, but also convicts, religious separatists, and political prisoners. Indentured servants labored a set number of years (usually four to seven, though the period for convicts could be considerably longer), during which time they were considered the personal property of their masters. Couples were often prevented from marrying, and women from having children. If a woman did become pregnant and was unable to work, an equivalent amount of time was added to her period of servitude. Upon their release, indentured servants were not only given clothing, tools, and, often, even land; they also were usually freed of the stigma of having been a servant at all. In 1665, half of Virginia's House of Burgesses was made up of former indentured servants.
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The historical developments that
fueled several Europeans were undermined by war, famine, and plague. Young and old men from Spain, Germany (states), France, Portugal, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, headed towards the western hemisphere with different desires. Some were fortune seekers lusting for gold, silver, and spices. Others were passionate Christians eager to create kingdoms of God in the New World, and there were others whom were adventurers, convicts, debtors, servants, that were simply seeking opportunities for a better
way of life.
At the same time, bitter rivalries among the Spanish, French, English, and Dutch triggered costly wars in Europe and around the world. The monarchs of Europe struggled to manage often-unruly colonists, many of whom displayed a feisty independence. Explorers such as Christopher Columbus, in particular set sail hoping to win glory and riches (especially gold) to spread Christianity the globe.