The discussion addresses the following outcomes:
-
-
-
-
- Compare and contrast the early labor systems in the New World and explain the creation of a racial hierarchy over time (CO#1, CO#2)
-
-
-
Early settlers did not all come to the New World as wealthy adventurers. The majority of early European settlers came as indentured servants, who signed contracts of indenture for years of service in the New World, knowing that it might bring opportunities unavailable to them at home, and after their years of service they would be entitled to freedom dues to start a new life. Many others, however, were forcibly transported from Africa across the Atlantic for lifetime terms of slavery.
In addition to the Module Notes and Takaki, make sure to read the following primary and second sources for this discussion: Our Plantation is Very Weak, We Unfortunate English People Suffer Here, New World Labor Systems: European Indentured Servants, and New World Labor Systems: African Slavery.
In a post of at least 250 words consider the following:
- What were the biggest motivations for people leave England and Ireland and indenture themselves for years of servitude in the New World?
- Compare and contrast the systems of indentured servitude and slavery in the early era of European settlement.
- What accounted for the demise of indentured servitude and the rise of the system of slavery over time? How did this sharpen the color line in the New World?
