Indentured Servitude (22 Nov 1550 Jahr – 23 Aug 1650 Jahr)

Beschreibung:

model used by early colonies in order to provide labor, especially in the tobacco industry in Virginia and Maryland. The population of England had increased by 1 million people from 1500 to 1600, and feudal lords were “enclosing” their lands, forcing peasants into urban centers instead of in the fields. The economic depression in the late 1500s sent many people packing, mostly Puritans who distrusted the Church of England. This drifting population coupled with the primogeniture laws, which stated that only the eldest sons were eligible to inherit estates. With the advent of joint-stock companies, indentured servitude sent the “surplus” population and sons seeking their fortune to New World colonies founded by joint-stock companies. An indentured servant would be transported to the New World free of charges only if that person could then serve out a labor contract of any amount of time in order to pay the sponsor off.