Life in Early Jamestown
-----------------------
Wolran Kim (Sep 2010)
In 1607, a band of adventurers backed by an investment company in England landed on the banks of the James River on the Chesapeake Bay and established the first enduring English settlement in the New World: Jamestown. The colony’s survival was, at best tenuous, until tobacco gave it a reason to hang on. Tobacco cultivation was very labor intensive and the immediate demand for laborers led the colony to develop a plan for indentured servitude. Over the next half century, thousands of individuals came to the region to find a new life, and most of them came as indentured servants. This arrangement shaped the history of the region in important ways, and of course, dramatically changed the lives of all those individuals who participated in it.
The Jamestown settlement of 1607 began the practice of owning indentured servants. Indentured servants were workers and tradesmen--both men and women--who willingly entered into an agreement to work for a set number of years in exchange for passage to the New World.
Like slaves, indentured servants were considered the property of their masters. In order to maintain governance of the servants, the colonies enacted a number of laws regarding the lifestyle, behavior and obligations of indentured servants. There were Runaway Laws, Pregnancy Laws, Trade Laws, and Race classification. Punishment was public display and the source of control over their servants’ lives for keeping high labor power. The law wasn’t equal treatment at all and the contract created a new society system those days. Laws are important sources because they accompany compelling force and kinds of contracts in countries and society. We must abide by the law without choice because we receive a punishment when we break the law. Laws are standards of conducting society and measures of control while morality is choice for conscience. If we have no laws, we would be in danger in an uncontrolled lawless world. Laws tell us conditions and problems of society.
Labor recruiters established Virginia as a land of hope and an open society where laborers were expect to become landholders. Yet in 1623, Richard Frethorne, writing from Martin's Hundred, a settlement about ten miles from Jamestown, begged his parents to redeem him or send him food in his letter. He wrote in the immediate result of one of the bloodiest Indian attack in a series of revenge assaults on settlements along the James River. Frethorne provided testimony of the settlers' fears of leaving the fort to seek food, having become virtual hostages of local Indians who were angry over broken promises, infiltrate upon their economy, and threats to their culture. Frethorne made the painful claim that many Englishmen would give one of their limbs to be back in England. Granted this was a low point in the history of the colony; indentured servants were far from realizing the dream of a better life in the Chesapeake Bay region, the dream that tempted many to secure their futures.
Indentured servants differed from slaves. An indentured servant was a worker, typically a laborer or tradesman or contract an employer for a fixed period of time (three to seven years). But they had to fight with drought, disaster, hunger, disease, injury, war, mutiny, Indian attacks, severe weather, abandonment, power struggles, and the hardship they stressed the most, no food. There was no civic assistance and no freedom. They lived in poor and unhealthy surroundings, with nothing to comfort them but sickness and death. They were just like slaves. For servants, they had no freedom of independence, and treatment for any unhealthy conditions. Epidemics, starvation, disease from poor conditions, death and injury from combat with Indians, not enough resettlement funds and fixture were endured by the whole population.
This source's strengths are it tells us the hardship and misery of early servants in those days with personal feelings. It shows untouched actual circumstances with the gruesome scene of an infringement of human rights. It was a prelude to slavery. The weaknesses of this source are that described only the personal situation not the social level. So we can't accurately grasp general conditions of indenture servants of those days. Granted this was a low point in the history of the whole colony; nevertheless, it is a reminder that after a decade and a half of settlement, indentured servants were far from realizing the dream of a better life in the Chesapeake Bay region, the dream that tempted many to secure their futures.
Richard Frethorne’s letter is a description of private conditions as an indentured servant but George Alsop tells us much more about Baltimore's plans for the feudal system with labor performed by tenant farmers, the tobacco boom and offers of free land to Protestant and Catholic alike which drew thousands of English immigrants to Virginia and Maryland in those days. Over three quarters of the migrants to the seventeenth-century Chesapeake arrived as indentured servants or contracts, for certain periods. George Alsop was one of the indentured servants, and he tells us about the favorable situation for servants, especially women. He said he was not enslaved. As a craftsman, he never worked in the fields, worked proper time for seasons (summer and winter), and enjoyed holidays and leasurable times, not much different form handicrafts in London. Every servant had a gun, and there were no uncomfortable things and tools to work. They were not actually free but lived passing well. Frethorne lived as animal without any security for minimum livelihood in contrast to George who lived asserting his rights as an employee under a legal contract. Frethorne was just like a slave but George was a general worker who went to a new land for his future dream.
George Alsop was a strong supporter of the King and was not happy when Puritan ruler rose to power. For that reason, Alsop immigrated to Maryland. He trained and signed a contract of indenture, so he agreed to be a servant for four years after arriving in Maryland. He enjoyed living in Maryland as an idealistic view of life in Maryland. Alsop had lived in Maryland during a period of peace following the religious conflicts that took place during the English Civil War. And he did not witness hostilities between Indians and the English. So he tells us only about living in plenty of indenture servants and these are the weaknesses of this source. But the strengths are Alsop recorded how indentured servants lived and worked under contract, so we can see Maryland was a place which indenture servants could expect for their future better lives. And he shows us seventeenth-century life and actives in Maryland. He doesn't provide us information about employer's exploitation or poor surroundings but he tells us that the indenture servant system was good enough for a new settlement with respect for civil liberties.
The Chesapeake Region was controlled by Royal Governors appointed by the King. These governors took after the King and kept order throughout the colonies. New laws were passed along with the Navigation Acts, which also forced the colonies to change the way they managed their government and economy. The governor had the most power of any. His duties included judicial, religious, and military duties, appointing officials, leading the legislature, but no power over public funds. The council generally consisted of 12 upper class residents of their colony. The assembly was the only branch with the power over funds and taxation, and it used this power as leverage over the governor to occasionally steal his power between the colonies and their mother country. The largest social class in the south and Chesapeake regions were the merchants, vendors and small farmers of the colonies. These people were the citizens, moderately educated and skilled, but willing to work hard and create the America they needed. Much like the old world, colonial America was divided into a rigid social structure, Pedigree mattered more than anything, and wealthy English families stood at the top of the social ladder. These families often controlled vast amounts of African Slaves, were the lowliest of those living in the colonies, standing below even the indentured workers. Next, predictably, was these same indentured servants who wished to crumb out a new life in the new world. These people were criminals, waifs, and convicts, and sent to the new land as punishment.
Some historians argue that indentured servitude paved the way for the acceptance of chattel slavery. I agree that indentured servitude paved the way for the acceptance of chattel slavery. From the first, Black people weren’t slaves but they were there for indentured servitude just like Whites. So they became free after finishing their periods of contract and some of them could own the land and gather wealth. But owners of the plantations wanted efficient labor power after finishing their contract, and they needed import new workers at expense. With the lapse of time, Blacks were separated from White and created a legislative bill to enslave Blacks. After a slavery bill passed in 1670 and emigrants in seventeen-century imported slaves from Africa. White indentured servants grew to capitalists or farmers after they finished their contract but Black indentured servants degraded to slaves. This means that American slavery is totally different from ancient slavery because the reason was economics.
.
For most of the seventeenth century the lives of white indentured servants and enslaved blacks were similar. They worked, ate, slept together in the same places. The changes in day by day conditions really came after Nathaniel Bacon's rebellion in 1676. But indentured servitude differed from slavery in one very substantial way. Bondage in perpetuity carried with it (after 1662 in Virginia) the condition of inheritance for every child born of a slave mother. This set slavery apart from indentured servitude however similar were the physical conditions of their lives. Indenture was contractual and consensual; slavery was forced and involuntary, usually from capture and sale. In the practice of indenture, owners treated servants like slaves. They provided the minimum of food, clothing and shelter. Historians have noted how such abuse and degradation was bound to shape attitudes of young servants who, as they grew older, helped set later patterns of labor exploitation. The reason emigrants could settle down was secured labor power through indentured contract. It was impossible to meet demand for labor those days in a new land. Until now, numerous emigrants move countries for better life, and most early indentured servants were the people who couldn’t live normal position in mainland society. So, indentured contracts were worth it the price for the economic world in reclaimed land for settlers even though Black slavery remains in history.
-----------------------
Wolran Kim (Sep 2010)
In 1607, a band of adventurers backed by an investment company in England landed on the banks of the James River on the Chesapeake Bay and established the first enduring English settlement in the New World: Jamestown. The colony’s survival was, at best tenuous, until tobacco gave it a reason to hang on. Tobacco cultivation was very labor intensive and the immediate demand for laborers led the colony to develop a plan for indentured servitude. Over the next half century, thousands of individuals came to the region to find a new life, and most of them came as indentured servants. This arrangement shaped the history of the region in important ways, and of course, dramatically changed the lives of all those individuals who participated in it.
The Jamestown settlement of 1607 began the practice of owning indentured servants. Indentured servants were workers and tradesmen--both men and women--who willingly entered into an agreement to work for a set number of years in exchange for passage to the New World.
Like slaves, indentured servants were considered the property of their masters. In order to maintain governance of the servants, the colonies enacted a number of laws regarding the lifestyle, behavior and obligations of indentured servants. There were Runaway Laws, Pregnancy Laws, Trade Laws, and Race classification. Punishment was public display and the source of control over their servants’ lives for keeping high labor power. The law wasn’t equal treatment at all and the contract created a new society system those days. Laws are important sources because they accompany compelling force and kinds of contracts in countries and society. We must abide by the law without choice because we receive a punishment when we break the law. Laws are standards of conducting society and measures of control while morality is choice for conscience. If we have no laws, we would be in danger in an uncontrolled lawless world. Laws tell us conditions and problems of society.
Labor recruiters established Virginia as a land of hope and an open society where laborers were expect to become landholders. Yet in 1623, Richard Frethorne, writing from Martin's Hundred, a settlement about ten miles from Jamestown, begged his parents to redeem him or send him food in his letter. He wrote in the immediate result of one of the bloodiest Indian attack in a series of revenge assaults on settlements along the James River. Frethorne provided testimony of the settlers' fears of leaving the fort to seek food, having become virtual hostages of local Indians who were angry over broken promises, infiltrate upon their economy, and threats to their culture. Frethorne made the painful claim that many Englishmen would give one of their limbs to be back in England. Granted this was a low point in the history of the colony; indentured servants were far from realizing the dream of a better life in the Chesapeake Bay region, the dream that tempted many to secure their futures.
Indentured servants differed from slaves. An indentured servant was a worker, typically a laborer or tradesman or contract an employer for a fixed period of time (three to seven years). But they had to fight with drought, disaster, hunger, disease, injury, war, mutiny, Indian attacks, severe weather, abandonment, power struggles, and the hardship they stressed the most, no food. There was no civic assistance and no freedom. They lived in poor and unhealthy surroundings, with nothing to comfort them but sickness and death. They were just like slaves. For servants, they had no freedom of independence, and treatment for any unhealthy conditions. Epidemics, starvation, disease from poor conditions, death and injury from combat with Indians, not enough resettlement funds and fixture were endured by the whole population.
This source's strengths are it tells us the hardship and misery of early servants in those days with personal feelings. It shows untouched actual circumstances with the gruesome scene of an infringement of human rights. It was a prelude to slavery. The weaknesses of this source are that described only the personal situation not the social level. So we can't accurately grasp general conditions of indenture servants of those days. Granted this was a low point in the history of the whole colony; nevertheless, it is a reminder that after a decade and a half of settlement, indentured servants were far from realizing the dream of a better life in the Chesapeake Bay region, the dream that tempted many to secure their futures.
Richard Frethorne’s letter is a description of private conditions as an indentured servant but George Alsop tells us much more about Baltimore's plans for the feudal system with labor performed by tenant farmers, the tobacco boom and offers of free land to Protestant and Catholic alike which drew thousands of English immigrants to Virginia and Maryland in those days. Over three quarters of the migrants to the seventeenth-century Chesapeake arrived as indentured servants or contracts, for certain periods. George Alsop was one of the indentured servants, and he tells us about the favorable situation for servants, especially women. He said he was not enslaved. As a craftsman, he never worked in the fields, worked proper time for seasons (summer and winter), and enjoyed holidays and leasurable times, not much different form handicrafts in London. Every servant had a gun, and there were no uncomfortable things and tools to work. They were not actually free but lived passing well. Frethorne lived as animal without any security for minimum livelihood in contrast to George who lived asserting his rights as an employee under a legal contract. Frethorne was just like a slave but George was a general worker who went to a new land for his future dream.
George Alsop was a strong supporter of the King and was not happy when Puritan ruler rose to power. For that reason, Alsop immigrated to Maryland. He trained and signed a contract of indenture, so he agreed to be a servant for four years after arriving in Maryland. He enjoyed living in Maryland as an idealistic view of life in Maryland. Alsop had lived in Maryland during a period of peace following the religious conflicts that took place during the English Civil War. And he did not witness hostilities between Indians and the English. So he tells us only about living in plenty of indenture servants and these are the weaknesses of this source. But the strengths are Alsop recorded how indentured servants lived and worked under contract, so we can see Maryland was a place which indenture servants could expect for their future better lives. And he shows us seventeenth-century life and actives in Maryland. He doesn't provide us information about employer's exploitation or poor surroundings but he tells us that the indenture servant system was good enough for a new settlement with respect for civil liberties.
The Chesapeake Region was controlled by Royal Governors appointed by the King. These governors took after the King and kept order throughout the colonies. New laws were passed along with the Navigation Acts, which also forced the colonies to change the way they managed their government and economy. The governor had the most power of any. His duties included judicial, religious, and military duties, appointing officials, leading the legislature, but no power over public funds. The council generally consisted of 12 upper class residents of their colony. The assembly was the only branch with the power over funds and taxation, and it used this power as leverage over the governor to occasionally steal his power between the colonies and their mother country. The largest social class in the south and Chesapeake regions were the merchants, vendors and small farmers of the colonies. These people were the citizens, moderately educated and skilled, but willing to work hard and create the America they needed. Much like the old world, colonial America was divided into a rigid social structure, Pedigree mattered more than anything, and wealthy English families stood at the top of the social ladder. These families often controlled vast amounts of African Slaves, were the lowliest of those living in the colonies, standing below even the indentured workers. Next, predictably, was these same indentured servants who wished to crumb out a new life in the new world. These people were criminals, waifs, and convicts, and sent to the new land as punishment.
Some historians argue that indentured servitude paved the way for the acceptance of chattel slavery. I agree that indentured servitude paved the way for the acceptance of chattel slavery. From the first, Black people weren’t slaves but they were there for indentured servitude just like Whites. So they became free after finishing their periods of contract and some of them could own the land and gather wealth. But owners of the plantations wanted efficient labor power after finishing their contract, and they needed import new workers at expense. With the lapse of time, Blacks were separated from White and created a legislative bill to enslave Blacks. After a slavery bill passed in 1670 and emigrants in seventeen-century imported slaves from Africa. White indentured servants grew to capitalists or farmers after they finished their contract but Black indentured servants degraded to slaves. This means that American slavery is totally different from ancient slavery because the reason was economics.
.
For most of the seventeenth century the lives of white indentured servants and enslaved blacks were similar. They worked, ate, slept together in the same places. The changes in day by day conditions really came after Nathaniel Bacon's rebellion in 1676. But indentured servitude differed from slavery in one very substantial way. Bondage in perpetuity carried with it (after 1662 in Virginia) the condition of inheritance for every child born of a slave mother. This set slavery apart from indentured servitude however similar were the physical conditions of their lives. Indenture was contractual and consensual; slavery was forced and involuntary, usually from capture and sale. In the practice of indenture, owners treated servants like slaves. They provided the minimum of food, clothing and shelter. Historians have noted how such abuse and degradation was bound to shape attitudes of young servants who, as they grew older, helped set later patterns of labor exploitation. The reason emigrants could settle down was secured labor power through indentured contract. It was impossible to meet demand for labor those days in a new land. Until now, numerous emigrants move countries for better life, and most early indentured servants were the people who couldn’t live normal position in mainland society. So, indentured contracts were worth it the price for the economic world in reclaimed land for settlers even though Black slavery remains in history.