Colonists in bondage : white servitude and convict labor in America, 1607-1776 /
by Abbot Emerson Smith.
- Chapel Hill : Pub. for the Institute of Early American History and Culture at Williamsburg, Va., by the Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1947.
- viii, 435 pages ; 24 cm
Includes bibliographical references in "Notes" (pages 339-395) and "Bibliographical note" (pages 397-417) and index.
Part I, The trade in servants. indentured servants and redemptioners -- The trade in servants: two controlling factors -- Raising a cargo -- Kidnapping, Spiriting, and registry offices -- Part II, Penal transportation. convict transportation to 1718 -- Convict transportation after 1718 -- The transportation of rogues and vagabonds -- The transportation of political and military prisoners under the Commonwealth and Protectorate -- The transportation of political and military prisoners after 1660 -- Part III, The servant in the plantations. Voyage and srrival -- The custom of the country -- The servant on the plantations -- Freed servants -- Appendix: The number and distribution of indentured servants -- Notes -- Bibliographical note -- Index.
"This book is about those white people who went to the British colonies in North America and who, because they were unwilling or unable to pay the cost of their own passage, became bond servants for a period of years to some colonial master who paid it for them. They were variously known as indentured servants, redemptioners, or, in order to distinguish them from the Negroes, as Christian or white servants. Many of them were convicts from the jails, transported instead of being hanged; a few were political and military prisoners taken in war or rebellion."--Page 3.
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Indentured servants--History.--United States Household employees--History.--United States Penal colonies--History.--United States Criminals--History.--Great Britain Criminals. Household employees. Indentured servants. Penal colonies.