Indentured Servitude in Colonial America

What is an indenture?

• a contract for labor

• a certain amount of time

• a form of apprenticeship

• a form of coerced labor

As the colony became known for its high mortality rates, the Virginia Company of London began shipping servants to Virginia at its own expense and placing them on company-owned land.

• True

• False

Which cash crop increased demand for labor?

• Indigo

• Coffee

• Sugar

• Tobacco

The Virginia Company sold laborers directly to planters, and determined the servants’ years of service based on the individual's life expectancy.

• True

• False

Social mobility among indentured servants was

• Impossible

• Common, especially for those with some social status from their time in England

• Nearly impossible, except for those with marketable skills

What is a headright?

• land given to a person who would pay for transport of laborers

• lead investor in a joint stock company

• an inhabitant of a town or borough with full rights of citizenship

• the leader of the Virginia colonial assembly

Which of the following was NOT a factor that contributed the demand for more servants?

• Expanding tobacco market

• Lack of women to reproduce

• Work stoppages among servants

• High mortality rates among laborers

Terms of service were often ______ despite increased and efficient tobacco production

• Lengthy

• Brief

The House of Burgesses enacted a law requiring that servants carry certificates and punishing any master who hired a servant without proper papers.

• True

• False

Female servants were allowed to freely marry male servants.

• True

• False