The Shift Of Slavery Servitude And Its Impacts On Colonial...

BALOGUN TEMITOPE HISTORY 1510 FIRST ANALYTICAL ESSAY PROFESSOR KOREY BROWN OCTOBER 28, 2015 THE SHIFT IN INDENTURES SERVITUDE AND ITS IMPACTS TO COLONIAL INHIBITANTS Indentured services went on for a very long time at various periods. It was most prominent in the West Indies, Chesapeake, South Carolina. The change from indentured servants to slave labor took place gradually. There are different reasons for the shift from indentured servitude to slave labor. There are various reasons for the shift like changing patterns of immigration, law against bound servitude, and the rise of wage labor, increase in demand of cash crops. The change for servitude to slave took place from three different time periods. The shift from indentured servitude to racial slavery in the British North American colonies didn t occur all at once. Instead, the transition was much more uneven, spreading across different colonies at different times, and triggered by various unique historical incidents. However, two themes show up consistently in the transition from indentured servitude to race-based slav ery. First, as more and more indentured servants became free, the wealthy planter class began to perceive these newly freed men as a threat. Indentured servants acquired land at the end of their term, and were able to compete economically with their former masters. To quell this economic threat, the wealthy class began to prefer a system of lifelong servitude, e.g. slavery.