Labor-Jamestown

Labor-Jamestown

6.1.12.C.1.b Determine the extent to which natural resources, labor systems (use of indentured servants, Africans, immigrant labor) and entrepreneurship contributed to economic development in the American colonies.

Open Ended

Which do you think was more popular with the wealthy, indentured servitude or slavery? Why?

​Indentured Servitude

• ​Journey was paid for

• ​ Contract with a time limit

• ​Could be punished by overseer

• ​ Freedom dues

Multiple Select

How long was an indentured servants contract?

• 5 years

• 7 years

• Lifelong 

• 4 years

Poll

Which do you think happened to an indentured servant?

• Their contracts could be sold

• They could be beaten as punishment

• They would be sent home at the end of their contract for free

• Some would not live to see the end of their contract

• Some would not get their freedom dues

​Enslavement in Virginia

Multiple Select

What are the major differences between how Indentured servants arrived versus how enslaved people arrived?

• Indentured servants signed a contract

• Enslaved people signed contracts for servitude

• Enslaved people did consent to arrival in Virginia

• Indentured servants were sent via plane

• Enslaved people did not consent to their service

Open Ended

Do you think you're free?

​Freedom? or not

​Four hundred years ago, there were many people, in  Europe and the colonies, who were not really free. 

• Indentured servants were bound by contracts, and only  earned their freedom after several years of labor. 

• Apprentices worked for free as they learned a skill. 

• People were captured in warfare, and made into slaves,  and then they would regain their freedom if they ran  away or were freed by their own people.

• People of every  skin color could become slaves. The name “slave”  actually came from a group of people with very light  skin - the Slavs.

Open Ended

Why weren't people really free in the 1600s?

​Jamestown

• ​When the Jamestown colony was established in Virginia in 1609, the settlers needed a stable labor force to grow tobacco in the colonies.

• Both indentured servants and African people were brought to the colonies to be enslaved on the plantations

Multiple Choice

True or False: Both indentured servants and Enslaved people were brought to Jamestown to be enslaved on tobacco plantations

• True

• False

​Indentured Servitude in the decline

• ​As time progress the Economy in England gets better

• ​More people were less willing to make the dangerous journey to become an indentured servant in the colonies

• ​Indentured servants eventually proved to be unreliable

Open Ended

Why would indentured servants be less willing to go to the colonies?

​Why were indentured servants less reliable

• ​ran away

• ​resisted difficult work

• ​temporary workers (contracts ended)

• ​"promised" land after their servitude

• ​Few were actually given land

• ​Most indentured servants died before their contracts ended

• ​Eventually indentured servants would begin to survive but still would not be given land

​African Enslavement

• ​When African enslaved people were initially brought to  Jamestown, they were treated much like indentured servants. 

• They too could be freed and given land of their own. For many  years, indentured servants and enslaved African people could  both be seen in the plantation fields, working side by side.

​Labor Changes

• Indentured Servant labor became more expensive for those sponsoring their trips

• ​Due to labor shortages they relied more heavenly on Enslaved people from Africa

Open Ended

Why wasn't indentured servitude the best form of labor in Jamestown?

​Focus on African Enslavement

• ​The primary reason for enslavement of African people was economic

• ​It was cheaper for the plantation owner to purchase and provide for an enslaved person for life then it was to pay for a servant's ticket, housing and land at the end of service

Multiple Choice

The reason for more reliance on African enslaved labor was due to

• political reasons

• geographical reasons

• economic reasons

• social reasons

​Reliable and Stable workforce

​

• ​More difficult for Enslaved people to run away due to not knowing the geography

• Difficult for people to find those who spoke their language​

• ​Less likely to die (then Natives) from European disease

• ​No choice in whether they came to the colonies

Open Ended

What is one reason the enslaved people became the primary source of labor in the colony?

​So how does it change...

​In order to explain slavery, English colonies used the bible. The argument was:

• ​Africans were meant to be enslaved because it gave them the opportunity to be introduced to Christianity

• ​Laws in Virginia would begin to separate enslaved Africans and restrict their movement

• ​Enslaved people were treated harshly by the laws

• ​Laws created made it more difficult for them to legally escape from slavery

• ​"Whites" were then treated differently then African Enslaved people

Poll

How do you think they will determine who would be "enslaved"

• race

• lineage

• home country

• ability to speak English