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Indentured Servants In The Southern Colonies

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As the American colonies, mostly the Southern colonies, became more rich and appealing than the motherland of England, several men, and women and even children sought to live there. However, most of them could not afford the passage to the colonies, so they agreed to work for a time to pay off the debt and get started in their new life. In order to do this, they meet with an English representative to sign an indenture, or contract, that included housing and food in exchange for labor. The time these people worked was from 4 to 7 years, but children would have worked longer. In other cases, indentured servants were not free people, but prisoners and sinners sent to the colonies as punishment. Nevertheless, they had the following liberties while working.
Even though indentured servants had to work tirelessly, they were not slaves. They had a few rights granted to them in the contract. While working, the household or plantation that …show more content…
Most indentured servants worked on the plantations in the Southern colonies, especially Virginia along with the Virginia Company passage there. Since there were no machinery tending and harvesting tobacco and other cash crops was very tedious. Also, life working 10-hour shifts in the humid climate of the Southern colony plantations was difficult, especially with little food or water. The food they ate included meager amounts of dried cracked corn and occasional meat, some cider or beer, and little fresh water. Meanwhile, the clothes they wore barely let them survive the winter in comfort with ill-fitting clothing and worn shoes. If the labor was too intensive, the indentured servants had the occasional opportunity to go to Jamestown for more supplies. Moreover, the indentured servants suffered even more through not having the right to vote, endless abuse and punishment, extended sentences, illegal interracial marriage,

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