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%...