Slavery vs. Indentured Servitude

Slavery spread in the early 1600s. Europeans knew early on that discovering America

would increase riches. They could buy and sell enslaved Africans. Slave labor on plantations was

another technique of profiting from enslaved people. Increasing demand for slave labor in the

fields necessitated additional enslaved people to produce for others. Among the enslaved

people’s cash crops was tobacco, a significant income crop.

To put it another way, enslavers saw them as a source of profit and exploited them. Blacks were

seen as property rather than human beings by those born and raised during slavery’s peak. Slave

demand continued to grow throughout the 17th Century. Slavery would continue to exist as long

as there was a need.

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, enslaved people were stolen from Africa and

sold into slavery in America. They were forced to work as enslaved people to grow tobacco and

cotton “. Slavery flourished in the early American colonies due to economic need. Then there’s

the distinction between indentured servants and enslaved people. Indentured servants would vow

to work for months or even years to gain admittance into the United States. Indentured servants