Early Jamestown Summary

William Gunnell, Jr. travelled with his parents from their home in Great Britain to Virginia sometime before his tenth birthday in 1715. In Virginia, they became indentured servants for a man named Richard Lee. Following his master’s death, William’s indenture was inherited by Richard’s son. William worked for the Lee family for six years as a clerk, running errands and keeping the books. At the age of sixteen, William’s contract ended, and he became a free man (“Indentured Servants,” n.d., para. 4). This is one of the better examples of indentured servitude in the colonies, since most servants did not live to see the end of their contracts. In the colonies, indentured servitude acted as a kind of contract-based slavery in which free people were turned into property for a term of four to seven years, on average. Their owners paid for their food, clothing, and shelter on arrival in the colonies until the servants had completed their contract, upon which they were paid “freedom dues” which could be anything from tools, land, or even guns (“Indentured Servants,” n.d., para. 1).

The Indian Massacre of 1622 took place in the English Colony of Virginia on Friday, March 22nd, 1622. Statements claim that the Indians walked into town unarmed, or even stayed the night at their intended victim’s houses. No weapons meant that they were coming in peace and showed good faith. Later on that morning, the Powhatans had grabbed whatever weapons or tools were lying nearby to slaughter the settlers. Many of the English settlers were found and killed, this included men, women, and children of all ages. Chief Opechancanough had compiled a serious of attacks that were to be sent to different settlements; nearly 350 people were reported dead. Equaling around a quarter of Jamestown population. Thankfully, Jamestown was spared due to an early warning was given to them by an Indian informant. However, the other settlements were not as lucky as they were practically torn apart. In addition to killing the settlers, the Powhatan returned to burn down houses and crops. Those that survived the onslaught abandoned many of the smaller settlements along the James River after the attacks.

George Alsop’s memoir of his service as an indentured servant in the colony of Maryland provides an insightful look into the lives of indentured servants in Maryland during the middle of the 17th Century. Throughout this period of colonial America the British were notorious in their use of propaganda to attract young British men into indentured servitude as the use of slaves was not yet perpetual, and would not be until 1670. Alsop depicts an idealistic view of indenture servitude in Maryland during his own time of service, which may have been the case, however this view can be contested by Nathaniel

For a long time, Jamestown, VA took in many indentured servants—a worker who is under contract of an employer for up to seven years in exchange for transportation and many necessities (clothing, food, drink, and lodging)—in order to fulfill the duties that the owners couldn’t. Though employers made Jamestown seem like a loving and welcoming place, it was just the opposite. These indentured servants were treated equally to slaves, but many were willing to risk their lives in order to gain their own land. Once they obtained land of their own, they could grow their own tobacco and become extremely wealthy.

During 1607,1608,1609,and 1610 there were lots of indian attacks. Throughout those years 173 colonist died from Indian attacks. The relationship between the indians and the colonist got worse. In the biginnig the indians trusted the colonist but they would kill the indians and take their food. The colonist died from the indians because they would fight each other for food,water,and other resources.

As Colonial Virginia entered into the 17th century, it was a land marked with opportunity to make a new and also, most importantly, profitable life in the New World. (Cutter Lecture) When the century began, however, it was not the citizens as a whole hoping to make a profit from this new land but rather a small group of greedy landowners profiting off of the work of their indentured servants. (CL) Sure the indentured servants were given a chance to fulfill their contract and one day become free to pursue their own dreams, but the likelihood of this in the beginning was next to none due to harsh living conditions. (CL) According to Richard Frethorne in 1623, "nor is there nothing to be gotten here

The Virginia Colony’s conflict is known as The Uprising of 1622 and was started once the Powhatan Confederation realized that the English wanted to permanently settle, not just make trading posts. Opechancanough, the brother of Chief Powhatan, led a single-day surprise attack on the settlers. Three-hundred and fifty of the Englishmen were killed, which represented one-fourth of the total. The nine-hundred or so that remained massacred Indians and their villages in retaliation. The war was one of the final damaging blows to the Virginia

• Class system, those that were upper class or a minister received better land and status in community.

Possibly ensures work for the next harvest season if both the guest worker and the farmer

Whileas New England continued to manifest through religion and began to grow increasingly, Chesapeake Bay was forced to hire indentured servants, mostly men, and convicts which worked up to six years, soon causing the population only to decrease. To cultivate tobacco, planters in Chesapeake brought in large numbers of English workers, mostly young men who came as indentured servants. Each indentured servant meant more land for his sponsor under the headright system, which lead to rather larger scale farming. The society and community within New England wanted to allow the citizens with education, (mostly boys who would become ministers)but this way of life would lead to creating the first universities. The overall work ethic and mindset of the peoples in each region would lead them to define themselves and shape for their economy and

Indentured servants first arrived in the American colonies in the decade following the settlement of Jamestown. Although the prospect of coming to America held images of hope and opportunities for many indentured servants, the life that they endured during travel and upon arrival was harsh and unfair. The difficulties of seeking out a new life in the colonies are exemplified in “The Infortunate”, a memoir written by William Moraley that describes his voyage as a poor European emigrant seeking out prosperity in the colonies as an indentured servant. Moraley’s account illustrates the everyday hardships faced by those who traveled to the colonies under the bond of indentured servitude. His stories of his recruitment into servitude, journey to

Before the 1680's, indentured servitude was the primary source of labor in the newly developed colonies. There were

Life in England during the early 1600’s was harsh for a multitude of the poor. The country was just coming out of the Thirties Year’s War with a flood of citizens and laborers displaced. In fact, PBS (2015) indicated that “the timing of the Virginia colony was ideal.” The Thirty Year 's War had left Europe 's economy depressed, and many skilled and unskilled laborers were without work. A new life in the New World offered a glimmer of hope; this explains how one-half to two-thirds of the immigrants who came to the American colonies arrived as indentured servants” (para. 3). This opportunity for those willing to receive free passage to the New World and start a new life was enticing. Granted, the work was difficult it was not without reward.

Consequently, when Maryland, the second colony, was founded, the king at the time gave them an ally, Cecilius Calvert, who was the second Lord Baltimore. He was a Roman Catholic himself, and he promised "refuge for his fellow Roman Catholics," as well as Protestants to set a model for toleration. (Alan Taylor page 58) Not everyone was able to travel to the colonies, so there were two classes the free men and the indentured servants. The free men and women that travelled did so because they would have "an immense head start in the race for wealth and political influence." (Alan Taylor page 59) The indentured servants however did not have to pay rather sell themselves for about four to seven years to work, then be released and given freedom dues which are "a new set of clothes, tools, and food," sometimes they are even given fifty acres of land. (Alan Taylor page 59) Some did not survive their terms, and died of either too much labor or the numerous diseases.

Most indentured servants did not outlive their contracts so their masters did not have to pay their servants any sort of freedom due – clothing, tools, or money. However, towards the middle of the seventeenth century, more and more indentured servants were outliving their contracts, so their masters had to start paying them their freedom dues. Costing masters and plantation owners more money and creating more competition in the new world for tobacco sales and exports. Most of the time they were robbed of their freedom dues because their plantation owner did not want to pay for it nor have the income to pay for the increasing amount of freedom dues that were needed.