Indentured Servants and Slaves
The settlers of a debt By:Joseph Lewis
Intro.
Many people believe that our colonies were built by Thomas Jefferson, John Adams William Penn, and others. But they were wrong. These unpayed souls, these beaten bodies, these hard driven men, these slaves built up the colonies brick by solitaire brick. They were treated terribly, harshly made fun of. The indentured servants who tried to work off a debt were cruelly punished. But not all. The life of any servant or slave was pretty much planned out for themselves as soon as they became part of the Headwright System. Imagine walking into the man who would control your future.
Payment
Money
Many rich men desired money
Gold
Gold was priced very highly
Gold
Many people wanted gold, and many slaves spent years mining for it
Detail #1
The payment of any indentured servant or slave was completely different. The slaves were not payed AT ALL, not even in gratitude. On the other side of the coin, the indentured servants were trying to work off a payment. Whoever they were working for is whom they owed money but were too poor to pay so they worked off their debts by working for whoever they owed money. The master had very good payment. For every servant he had imported he would get 50 acres of land. This was called the Headwright System. Some system.
Treatment
Detail #2
If the payment was bad for slaves, treatment was worse. The slaves were made fun of and were called names. slavery was common in the Revolution times and in the time of the civil war. That is quite a ways a way in time. Even in the 1900's, blacks were made fun of in magazines and in newspapers. This just goes to show how cruel some men are.
The Life
Detail #3
The life of an indentured servant was hard but it was worth it. You see, there are two types of indentured servants. There are the servants who work of a debt at a person's house. And there are servants who work in the town who work at shops or offices. Indentured servant did the hard labor so that the colonists could focus on skilled jobs. Male children that were indentured servants learned the skills of there master by working as their apprentice. This hands on education allowed them to go on using the skills taught to them after there contract was over. Back to the debts. After an indentured servant filled his or her debt he or she would get a couple of acres of land. Many people thought of this as starting over and obliged quickly.
The Conclusion
We've encountered the payment, the treatment, and the life of a servant. We've been to farms were slaves roam and plantations were servants roam. The payment is bad, the treatment terrible. But somehow these men, these hard working men, built up the colonies brick by brick. I've restated this so as to show how these men, these indentured servants, lived in the colonies of The New World.