economic forces in american history indentured servitude: the market for moving people adapted from...
TRANSCRIPT
Economic Forces in American History
Indentured Servitude: The Market for Moving People
Adapted from a Lecture by Prof. Lee Alston
Economic Forces in American History
What is an indentured contract?
A fixed term labor contract-servants exchange labor for transportation
Important: during colonial period (1650-1780)- 50-75% of free immigrants came as indentured servants: 300,000-450,000 people
Origins in America– Jamestown (1619) -Young women financed by Virginia
Company for purposes on entering into marriage; (1620) First regular shipment of indentures
Economic Forces in American History
What did labor know?Destination and length of contract
How did this differ from slavery?Entered voluntarilyFixed termA “person” in the eyes of the law
To whom did indentured servants sell their labor?Captains of ships
Who bought indentured contracts?Colonists
Economic Forces in American History
Economic Forces in American History
The economics of free migration: investment decision
People needed to first determine the pros and cons of going to the New World under an indentured contract
Benefits: higher wages; escape from war, famine, persecution; opportunities for childrenCosts: enduring the passage, adjustment in the colonies
Implication: Migrants would be young, without ties or job opportunities in England
Economic Forces in American History
Economic Forces in American History
Evidence of a Market
1. Men were more likely to go to the Caribbean-agricultural labor shortage2. Women were more likely to go to the mainland-bride shortage3. Length of service varied with characteristicsBase: time of indenture for 20 year old illiterate male with no recorded occupation bound for Pennsylvania over the period 1718-1759 was 4 years and 8 months
Economic Forces in American History
Differential value (in months) of market characteristics
Economic Forces in American History
Could a prospective migrant self-finance his/her trip?– Wages in England (for agricultural workers) during
colonial period : 6-7 £ – Cost of Passage during peacetime: 1st half of 18th
Century-5 £ – Cost of Passage during wartime: 2nd half of 18th
Century:8-10 £
How long would it take someone to save a year’s gross income?
Economic Forces in American History
Market over time
Mid-17th century until the 1760s the most common length of contract was 4 years– After the 1760s the most common length of a
contract fell to 3 years
Why the fall in the length of contract?
Economic Forces in American History
Possible Explanations
Cost of Passage?– No, if anything the cost increased
Did wages in England increase?– No, they essentially stayed constant…over the long haul
Supply of laborers in England fluctuated with wartime demands
Demand in colonies for ISs most likely increased1. Rise in African Slave prices in the 1760s (price of a substitute)2. Abolitionist movement, especially in Pennsylvania3. Rising wage levels in the colonies (price of a substitute)
for a fall in the length of indentured servants’ contracts
Economic Forces in American History
“From Servitude to Slavery in the Chesapeake”
Between 1650-1700 the number of indentured servants coming to the Chesapeake fell…– Population in England declined– Wages (temporarily) in England increased– War…
• Made some less likely to risk sea voyage• Others joined the military as a source of income• Merchants were less likely to invest in the colonies
during a time of war
As a result, the price of indentured servants rose (i.e. the length of their contracts decreased)This led to the purchase of more slaves since the cost of slaves was relatively less expensive…
Economic Forces in American History
When did the market completely disappear?
The numbers dropped significantly during and after the Revolutionary War– After the revolution, the British discouraged
Irish and English indentures from coming to the U.S.
– Cost of passage fell; made self-financing possible, coupled with improved familial and ethnic credit
Virtually disappeared after 1815, formally outlawed at the federal level in 1885– PS: Were many of these indentured servants
convicts? Only about 10%...