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Each indentured servant would have their fare across the Atlantic paid in full by their master. A contract was written that stipulated the length of service typically five years. ... Upon completion of the contract, the servant would receive "freedom dues," a pre-arranged termination bonus.

The idea of indentured servitude was born of a need for cheap labor. ... With passage to the Colonies expensive for all but the wealthy, the Virginia Company developed the system of indentured servitude to attract workers. Indentured servants became vital to the colonial economy.

He told them that if they didn't work, they wouldn't eat. If you pay for your own passage to America, you are granted 50 acres of land. For every indentured servant you pay for, you get their share of land. Tribal leader of the Indians near the area around Jamestown.

Indentured servitude differed from slavery in that it was a form of debt bondage, meaning it was an agreed upon term of unpaid labor that usually paid off the costs of the servant's immigration to America. Indentured servants were not paid wages but they were generally housed, clothed, and fed.

African slaves were brought into the Chesapeake region in 1619, but they were more expensive than an indentured servant. By 1680, African slaves made up less than 7% of the population in the region. 75% of English immigrants to the colonies came as indentured servants.

Servants typically worked four to seven years in exchange for passage, room, board, lodging and freedom dues. While the life of an indentured servant was harsh and restrictive, it wasn't slavery. There were laws that protected some of their rights.

Many white immigrants arrived in colonial America as indentured servants, usually as young men and women from Britain or Germany, under the age of 21. Typically, the father of a teenager would sign the legal papers, and work out an arrangement with a ship captain, who would not charge the father any money.

By 1675 slavery was well established, and by 1700 slaves had almost entirely replaced indentured servants. With plentiful land and slave labor available to grow a lucrative crop, southern planters prospered, and family-based tobacco plantations became the economic and social norm.

The Work of Indentured Servants Some indentured servants served as cooks, gardeners, housekeepers, field workers or general laborers; others learned specific trades such as blacksmithing, plastering, and bricklaying, which they could choose to turn into careers later.