Slavery Vs. Indentured Servitude - 1038 Words

Slavery vs. Indentured Servitude Sandra McIntire HIS110 April 27, 2015 Jelena Popov Slavery vs. Indentured Servitude Slavery. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, it is the condition in which one human being was owned by another. A slave was considered by law as property, and was deprived of the rights held by free people. Slavery was viewed as a way that undeveloped people, such as Black African men and women, could receive the physical and moral discipline and training necessary to attain civilized virtues. In Colonial America, slaves aged up to 12 were generally considered to be ‘children’, and those between 12 and 18 to be youths. Such definitions were important when considering the treatment of slave children. In western†¦show more content†¦Children brought from West Africa were forcibly captured, kidnapped or tricked into slavery, although some were sold by relatives, and re-sold to merchants on the coast. Recent research shows that slave-produced commodities, especially sugar, coffee, tobacco, and cotton helped create a mass consumer market in the metropolitan. In early American history, labor migration from Europe is identified with the phenomenon of indentured servitude. Indentured servitude was an early solution to the shortage of labor in many parts of the English colonies. It became a central institution in the economy in many parts of colonial British America. In the Southern colonies, indentured servants furnished most of the labor until slavery began to take over. Indentured servitude was a contract committing one party to make a series of payments to or on behalf of the other. The payments included the settlement of transportation to the colonies, room and board over the contractual term, and final payment in kind or, less usually, cash at the conclusion of the term. In exchange the servant agreed to be completely at the disposal of the payor, to work for an agreed upon term agreed, usually four to seven years. From the master s point of view, indentured servitude was to supply labor. For prospective servants, it was to provide individuals, who were without economic resources, transportation to the New World and the hope that serving a master for a specified