Movement of People:
Transport of Labor
John Muller
Franklin Sammons
Teacher, Alameda Unified School District
Graduate Student, University of California, Berkeley
A multi-day lesson created under the direction of the UC Berkeley History-Social Science Project.
2016 © UC Regents
Find online: ucbhssp.berkeley.edu
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Lesson Overview
This lesson was created for the second session of the Movement of People in Global History series, cosponsored by the Institute for South Asia Studies. Through collaboration between a classroom teacher
and graduate student of history, we endeavored to develop a lesson that served as a historic case study to
a contemporary phenomenon – the movement of workers from South Asia to the Middle East. This
lesson uses advertisements to explore the role of indentured servants in the American colonial economy.
The lesson is envisioned as one, among several, that would explore why people made the decision to
travel from Europe to the colonies. It was built as part of an overview unit for an 8th grade course but
could be easily modified for 5th grade students.
The 2016 global history seminar series aims to provide classroom teachers with background knowledge
to contextualize contemporary issues, model lessons that explore those issues in a distinct historical
context, and learning strategies to help students access and analyze primary and secondary sources as
they study the past. This series is supported through a grant from the UC Berkeley Area Studies
Programs.
-----------------------------------------------LESSON OVERVIEW
Unit Topic: Colonial America
Lesson Topic: Transport of Labor – Indentured Servants
Lesson Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of the English
colonies in America?
Lesson Teaching Thesis: The English colonies in America were rich in land, resources, and potential,
but lacking in labor. Indentured servants are the first source of labor and continued to be an important
source throughout the colonial period. Indentured servants helped populate the colonies; estimates
suggest that between 50 and 75% of European migrants to America came as indentured servants. As
with enslaved Africans, the market for indentured servants was a profitable aspect of colonial trade.
However, unlike slavery, the indenture system generally benefitted both parties. Masters found the labor
they needed, and, though the experience was often hazardous and harsh, indentures offered some
Europeans the chance to become the farmers and craftspeople who would contribute to the building of
the new nation.
Note: Please provide UCBHSSP with feedback about your experience teaching this lesson at:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1fo7YKXvTYRBCuiEvbPBIK9EXxRsniYaHO42NtB_K7DQ/viewform
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Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Lesson Overview
Lesson Components
Part 1: Building Context

Background Information on Indentured Labor (Secondary Text)
o Writing Strategy: Headings & Highlights
o Notetaking Guide
Part 2: Historical Advertisements




Mini Lesson: Using Advertisements as Evidence
o Discussion Questions
Primary Sources: Using Advertisements as Evidence
o Recruiting English Workers (Recruitment Ads)
o The Business of Indentures (Sale Ads)
o Servants and Masters (Runaway Ads)
Notetaking Chart
Writing Assessment: Using Evidence to Support a Claim
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Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Lesson Overview
History-Social Science Content Standards:
Fifth Grade 5.4 Students understand the political, religious, social, and economic institutions that
evolved in the colonial era.
K-5 Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills
Research, Evidence, and Point of View
1. Students differentiate between primary and secondary sources.
2. Students pose relevant questions about events they encounter in historical documents,
eyewitness accounts, oral histories, letters, diaries, artifacts, photographs, maps, artworks, and
architecture.
Common Core Standards: Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Grade 5:
RH.8 Explain how an author uses reasons and evidence to support particular points in a text, identifying
which reasons and evidence support which point(s).
RH.9 Integrate information from several texts on the same topic in order to write or speak about the
subject knowledgeably
Common Core Standards: Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Grade 5:
W.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas and information clearly.
b. Develop the topic with facts, definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and
examples related to the topic.
Eighth Grade 8.1 Students understand the major events preceding the founding of the nation and relate
their significance to the development of American constitutional democracy. (Include as part of
introductory/review unit.)
6-8 Historical and Social Sciences Analysis Skills
Research, Evidence, and Point of View
4. Students assess the credibility of primary and secondary sources and draw sound conclusions
from them.
5. Students detect the different historical points of view on historical events and determine the
context in which the historical statements were made (the questions asked, sources used,
author’s perspectives).
Common Core Standards: Reading Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Grades 6-8:
RH.1 1. Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources,
connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
Common Core Standards: Writing Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Grades 6-8:
WHST.1.b. Support claim(s) with logical reasoning and relevant, accurate data and evidence that
demonstrate an understanding of the topic or text, using credible sources.
3
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Lesson Overview
INCLUDED SOURCES
Secondary Text
“Indentured Servants in Colonial America,” Franklin Sammons, Graduate Student, UC Berkeley
(2016).
Primary Sources
Recruitment Advertisements
Advertisement 1: “Advert, servants to go to Maryland,” PortCities Bristol.
http://discoveringbristol.org.uk/browse/slavery/advert-servants-to-go-to-maryland/.
Accessed 17 February 2016.
Advertisement 2: The Glasgow Story, Burrell Collection Photo Library.
http://www.theglasgowstory.com/image/?inum=TGSE00606
Accessed 17 February 2016.
Sale Advertisements
Advertisement 1: “New Tastes, New Trades,” American History, Smithsonian
Institution. http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/1_3.html
Accessed 17 February 2016.
Advertisement 2: “Indentured Servant Advertisement,” America’s Black Holocaust
Museum. http://abhmuseum.org/indentured-servant-advertisement/
Accessed 17 February 2016
Runaway Advertisements
Advertisement 1: “Advertisements for Runaway Indentured Servants,” Maryland
Gazette, May 22, 1775, Gilder Lehrman Collection.
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/thirteen-colonies/resources/indentureagreement-1742
Accessed 17 February 2016.
4
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Unit Map
5
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Lesson Map
6
6
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 1: Heading & Highlights
Headings & Highlights: Reading a Secondary Text for Evidence
Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of the English colonies in
America?
Directions: Read the paragraph and highlight evidence that helps to answer the focus question. Then
create a heading for each section of text based on the evidence you highlighted.
Source: Franklin Sammons, “Indentured Servitude in the English Colonies,” UC Berkeley, 2016.
Indentured Servitude in the English Colonies
____________________________________________________
During British colonization, indentured servitude was a voluntary labor system in which a person signed
a contract, an indenture, to become the servant of a master typically for 5 to 7 years. Recruiters searched
English cities for willing workers, often posting advertisements in newspapers. People desiring to go to
the British colonies but too poor to pay the high cost of transatlantic passage would sign a contract with
a ship captain or merchant that determined how many years they would be a servant. In exchange, the
ship captain or merchant would pay for the servant’s passage across the Atlantic. Once servants arrived
in the New World, their contract would be sold to masters who needed people to work on their farms or
in their workshops. Indentured servants were not paid while they belonged to their masters, but they
were given basic food, clothing, and shelter. After serving the length of the contract, the masters would
provide their newly freed servants with “freedom dues” that included a new set of clothes, tools, and
food to help them get started on their own. During the first half of the 1600s, in Virginia and Maryland
freed servants were also provided with fifty acres of land. At its best, the system worked to satisfy the
needs of New World masters wanting a steady supply of labor and poor people in England who sought
to improve their lives in the colonies.
________________________________________________
Most indentured servants arriving in the Chesapeake during the 1600s were poor single young males in
their late teens or early twenties. They could be farm laborers who did not own land or skilled workers
who owned tools but no shop. During this period in England, a growing population and a shrinking
amount of available farmland meant that many people were unemployed and impoverished. Many
future servants would have been born in small country villages before roving throughout the countryside
and into cities like London and Liverpool in search of work. Without a guarantee of employment, or
even food and shelter, many of these young men saw becoming an indentured servant as a chance to
improve their situation and to own land—something that would be far less likely to happen in England.
A much smaller number of poor single women also became indentured servants. If a small farmer
purchased her contract, she would be put to work in the tobacco fields like the men. But if she were
purchased by a wealthy family that already employed many male servants in the fields, she might find
herself cooking, washing, nursing, and doing other household chores. As they did for men, the colonies
offered female servants opportunities unavailable in England. And because of the male-to-female ratio
in the colonies tilted so heavily toward men, women in the New World would have a much easier time
finding a husband, even one who owned land.
7
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 1: Heading & Highlights
___________________________________________________
Although the desire for a better life encouraged people to indenture themselves as servants, becoming
one was difficult and dangerous. Servants were uprooted from friends and family and transported to an
entirely unfamiliar place. The journey across the ocean was miserable and terrifying for those who had
never been to sea. One eyewitness described the ship as full of “smells, fumes, horrors, vomiting,
various kinds of sea sickness, fever, dysentery, headaches, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer,
mouth-rot and similar afflictions, all of them caused by the age and the highly-salted state of the food,
especially the meat, as well as the very bad and filthy water, which brings about the miserable
destruction and death of many.” After arriving, many missed their families and complained about the
bad food, unpleasant weather, and mistreatment of their masters. More importantly, during this early
period of colonization about half the time servants died before completing their contacts and obtaining
their freedom because of unfamiliar diseases and the grueling work of tobacco cultivation in the hot and
humid climate of the Chesapeake. They also faced harsh discipline. Because servants became the
property of their masters, masters could beat them or sell them to others if they did not work or behave
as the master desired. Running away often provided the only relief for many servants.
________________________________________________________
Although slaves first were introduced into Virginia in 1619, enslaved men and women from Africa did
not become the most important part of the Chesapeake’s labor force until around the 1670s. Instead,
indentured servitude was dominant. Indeed, 80% of all British immigrants to the Chesapeake between
the 1620s and 1670s came as indentured servants. During this earlier period, planters might employ a
combination of indentured servants and slaves on their tobacco farms. Gradually planters shifted to
using enslaved Africans as their primary source of labor.
Indentured servitude continued as an important source of colonial labor during the 1700s. Although the
number of servants from England declined, there was a rise in numbers from Ireland, Scotland, and
Germany, and in the number of females. Some would continue to be put to work on farms and
plantations, while others might be employed in various trades in growing cities like Philadelphia.
Although indentured servitude was flourishing during the 1770s, the disruptions to immigration patterns
caused by the American Revolution combined with emerging ideas that were hostile to traditional forms
of social hierarchy led its swift decline after the Revolution.
___________________________________________________________
Overall, indentured servants were crucial to the development of the British colonies. During the 1600s,
approximately 250,000 servants were brought to the Chesapeake and West Indies, and made up almost
80% of all British immigrants to the Chesapeake between the 1620s and 1670s. Between 1700-1775,
another 100,000 Europeans were brought to the mainland colonies as indentured servants. The system
provided a workable solution to the colonies that had abundant land but needed labor, and immigrants
who could provide their labor with the hopes of acquiring land. By providing transport to the New
World for people otherwise unable to afford it, the system created a much larger stream of people to
work on the farms and plantations, and in the households and workshops of the British colonies. In this
way, the system significantly contributed to the peopling of British America, facilitating the social and
economic development of the colonies that would eventually become the United States.
8
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 1: Heading & Highlights
TEACHER KEY
Headings & Highlights: Reading a Secondary Text for Evidence
Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of the English colonies in
America?
Directions: Read the paragraph and highlight evidence that helps to answer the focus question. Then
create a heading for each section of text based on the evidence you highlighted.
Source: Franklin Sammons, “Indentured Servitude in the English Colonies,” UC Berkeley, 2016.
Indentured Servitude in the English Colonies
The Indenture System
During British colonization, indentured servitude was a voluntary labor system in which a person signed
a contract, an indenture, to become the servant of a master typically for 5 to 7 years. Recruiters searched
English cities for willing workers, often posting advertisements in newspapers. People desiring to go to
the British colonies but too poor to pay the high cost of transatlantic passage would sign a contract with
a ship captain or merchant that determined how many years they would be a servant. In exchange, the
ship captain or merchant would pay for the servant’s passage across the Atlantic. Once servants arrived
in the New World, their contract would be sold to masters who needed people to work on their farms or
in their workshops. Indentured servants were not paid while they belonged to their masters, but they
were given basic food, clothing, and shelter. After serving the length of the contract, the masters would
provide their newly freed servants with “freedom dues” that included a new set of clothes, tools, and
food to help them get started on their own. During the first half of the 1600s, in Virginia and Maryland
freed servants were also provided with fifty acres of land. At its best, the system worked to satisfy the
needs of New World masters wanting a steady supply of labor and poor people in England who sought
to improve their lives in the colonies.
Who Came
Most indentured servants arriving in the Chesapeake during the 1600s were poor single young males in
their late teens or early twenties. They could be farm laborers who did not own land or skilled workers
who owned tools but no shop. During this period in England, a growing population and a shrinking
amount of available farmland meant that many people were unemployed and impoverished. Many
future servants would have been born in small country villages before roving throughout the countryside
and into cities like London and Liverpool in search of work. Without a guarantee of employment, or
even food and shelter, many of these young men saw becoming an indentured servant as a chance to
improve their situation and to own land—something that would be far less likely to happen in England.
A much smaller number of poor single women also became indentured servants. If a small farmer
purchased her contract, she would be put to work in the tobacco fields like the men. But if she were
purchased by a wealthy family that already employed many male servants in the fields, she might find
herself cooking, washing, nursing, and doing other household chores. As they did for men, the colonies
offered female servants opportunities unavailable in England. And because of the male-to-female ratio
in the colonies tilted so heavily toward men, women in the New World would have a much easier time
finding a husband, even one who owned land.
9
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 1: Heading & Highlights
TEACHER KEY
The Indentured Experience
Although the desire for a better life encouraged people to indenture themselves as servants, becoming
one was difficult and dangerous. Servants were uprooted from friends and family and transported to an
entirely unfamiliar place. The journey across the ocean was miserable and terrifying for those who had
never been to sea. One eyewitness described the ship as full of “smells, fumes, horrors, vomiting,
various kinds of sea sickness, fever, dysentery, headaches, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer,
mouth-rot and similar afflictions, all of them caused by the age and the highly-salted state of the food,
especially the meat, as well as the very bad and filthy water, which brings about the miserable
destruction and death of many.” After arriving, many missed their families and complained about the
bad food, unpleasant weather, and mistreatment by their masters. More importantly, during this early
period of colonization about half the time servants died before completing their contacts and obtaining
their freedom because of unfamiliar diseases and the grueling work of tobacco cultivation in the hot and
humid climate of the Chesapeake. They also faced harsh discipline. Because servants became the
property of their masters, masters could beat them or sell them to others if they did not work or behave
as the master desired. Running away often provided the only relief for many servants.
The Labor Force
Although slaves first were introduced into Virginia in 1619, enslaved men and women from Africa did
not become the most important part of the Chesapeake’s labor force until around the 1670s. Instead,
indentured servitude was dominant. Indeed, 80% of all British immigrants to the Chesapeake between
the 1620s and 1670s came as indentured servants. During this earlier period, planters might employ a
combination of indentured servants and slaves on their tobacco farms. Gradually planters shifted to
using enslaved Africans as their primary source of labor.
Indentured servitude continued as an important source of colonial labor during the 1700s. Although the
number of servants from England declined, there was a rise in numbers from Ireland, Scotland, and
Germany, and in the number of females. Some would continue to be put to work on farms and
plantations, while others might be employed in various trades in growing cities like Philadelphia..
Although indentured servitude was flourishing during the 1770s, the disruptions to immigration patterns
caused by the American Revolution combined with emerging ideas that were hostile to traditional forms
of social hierarchy led its swift decline after the Revolution.
Role in Colonial Development
Overall, indentured servants were crucial to the development of the British colonies. During the 1600s,
approximately 250,000 servants were brought to the Chesapeake and West Indies, and made up almost
80% of all British immigrants to the Chesapeake between the 1620s and 1670s. Between 1700-1775,
another 100,000 Europeans were brought to the mainland colonies as indentured servants. The system
provided a workable solution to the colonies that had abundant land but needed labor, and immigrants
who could provide their labor with the hopes of acquiring land. By providing transport to the New
World for people otherwise unable to afford it, the system created a much larger stream of people to
work on the farms and plantations, and in the households and workshops of the British colonies. In this
way, the system significantly contributed to the peopling of British America, facilitating the social and
economic development of the colonies that would eventually become the United States.
10
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 1: Notetaking Guide
Indentured Servants Reading (Secondary Text) -- Notetaking
Lesson Focus: What role did indentured servants play in the development of the English colonies in
America?
Directions: Sort evidence from the reading according to the three categories listed below.
Who came as indentured servants and why they came
The business of indentured servitude
The relationship between masters and servants in the colonies
11
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 1: Notetaking Guide
TEACHER KEY
Indentured Servants Reading (Secondary Text) -- Notetaking
Lesson Focus: What role did indentured servants play in the development of the English colonies in
America?
Directions: Sort evidence from the reading according to the three categories listed below.
Who came as indentured servants and why they came
who came as indentured servants and why
mostly poor single young males (teens and twenties)
farm laborers, craftspeople w/o land or workshops facing poverty & unemployment in England
for chance to improve lives—acquire land, own a workshop
fewer women—chance to find a husband—possibly one who owned land
later (1700s) servants from Ireland, Scotland, Germany
farmers, but also tradesmen going to growing cities
The business of indentured servitude
middlemen—ship captains, merchants
recruited servants in England and elsewhere
signed servants to contracts, paid transport, sold contracts in America
servants seen as property that could be bought and sold
an important source of labor in the colonies
The relationship between masters and servants in the colonies
needed a steady supply of labor
desired good behavior and hard work
labor used on farms, plantations, and trades in cities
Plantation agriculture in deep South—shift to slavery in late 1600s
but indentured servants still a significant source of labor in Chesapeake and middle colonies
12
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 2: Advertisements as Evidence
Advertisements as Evidence
Directions: Because this lesson is based on an evidence set consisting of three types of advertisements
(recruitment, sale, and wanted), it is important to discuss advertisements as a particular type of text.
Contemporary Advertisement:
Insert contemporary advertisement of your choice here.
1. What is the purpose of this advertisements?
2. How does this advertisement try to accomplish its goal?
3. How does this advertisement use specific language or images to accomplish its goal?
4. How is it effective in accomplishing its goal?
5. How is this ad similar or different than other advertisements you have seen recently?
13
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 2: Advertisements as Evidence
Indentured Servant Advertisements -- Notetaking
Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of the English colonies in
America?
Set 1: Servants Wanted
What is the purpose of
this set of ads?
How does the language of
the ads help accomplish
this purpose?
(Cite specific evidence.)
Who might respond to this
type of ad? Why?
How do these ads help us
understand who became
an indentured servant?
Set 2: Servants for Sale
What is the purpose of
this set of ads?
How does the language of
the ads help accomplish
this purpose?
(Cite specific evidence.)
Who might respond to this
type of ad? Why?
How do these ads help us
understand the business of
indentured servitude?
14
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 2: Advertisements as Evidence
Set 3: Runaway Servants
What is the purpose of
this set of ads?
How does the language of
the ads help accomplish
this purpose?
(Cite specific evidence.)
Who might respond to this
type of ad? Why?
How do these ads help us
understand the
relationship between the
servant and master?
15
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 2: Advertisements as Evidence
TEACHER KEY
Indentured Servant Advertisements -- Notetaking
Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of the English colonies in
America?
Set 1: Servants Wanted
What is the purpose of
this set of ads?
How does the language of
the ads help accomplish
this purpose?
Recruit servants to go to America
Promising a “flourishing” colony,
good encouragement, and kind treatment
(Cite specific evidence.)
Who might respond to this People in need of employment, farm workers without land,
type of ad? Why?
craftsmen without workshops
How do these ads help us
understand who became
an indentured servant?
They were people in need of land or work in England
--hopeful of finding a better life and economic opportunity in the
colonies
--with the possibility of owning land
Set 2: Servants for Sale
What is the purpose of
this set of ads?
How does the language of
the ads help accomplish
this purpose?
Sell indentured servants
Promising healthy servants, with various skills, at a cheap price
(Cite specific evidence.)
Land owners in need of labor
Who might respond to this People in need of skilled work, especially construction skills
type of ad? Why?
Servants were sold just like any other trade goods
How do these ads help us --servants filled the demand for labor in the colonies
understand the business of --merchants and shippers made a profit
indentured servitude?
16
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 2: Advertisements as Evidence
TEACHER KEY
Set 3: Runaway Servants
What is the purpose of
this set of ads?
How does the language of
the ads help accomplish
this purpose?
Get back runaway servants
Describing in detail the runaways for identification
and by offering a reward
(Cite specific evidence.)
Who might respond to this People seeking the reward
type of ad? Why?
People concerned with maintaining the indentured servitude system
and upholding the law
How do these ads help us
understand the
relationship between the
servant and master?
Masters had invested in their servants.
They needed the labor to operate their own farms and businesses
and wanted it back.
Servants were sometimes treated harshly and running away offered
the possibility of freedom.
17
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Part 2: Advertisements as Evidence
Indentured Servant Advertisements -- Analysis
Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of the English colonies in
America?
Directions: Use evidence from the ads to support the following claims.
Indentured servitude brought much needed labor to the colonies.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Indentured servitude represented a key feature of colonial trade.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Indentured servitude depended on the relationship between servant and master.
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
18
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Ads
TEACHER KEY
Indentured Servant Advertisements -- Analysis
Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of the English colonies in
America?
Directions: Use evidence from the ads to support the following claims.
Thesis 1: Indentured servitude brought much needed labor to the colonies.
Farm workers and crafts people lacking opportunity in England responded to recruitment ads for_____
needed labor in the colonies, hoping for a more economic opportunity and the chance to own land of___
their own. ___________________________________________________________________________
Thesis 2: Indentured servitude represented a key feature of colonial trade.
Merchants and shippers addressed the labor shortage in the colonies by recruiting potential servants,_
signing them to contracts, and transporting them to America. There, they were sold along with the other
cargo aboard ships. Servants provided some of the labor required to build and populate the colonies in
America. ___________________________________________________________________________
Thesis 3: Indentured servitude depended on the relationship between servant and master.
While many indentured servants were treated with kindness and “good encouragement” as promised in
the ads, others found harsh treatment at the hands of masters and ran away as a result. Indentured_____
servitude could benefit both parties, but runaways could be a problem for land and business__________
owners._____________________________________________________________________________
19
Appendix Table of Contents
Set 1: Recruiting English Workers ………….… pg. 21
Set 2: The Business of Indenture ……………… pg. 23
Set 3: Servants and Masters ................................ pg. 25
20
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Set 1- Recruiting English Workers
Lesson Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of
the English colonies in America?
Directions: Read the advertisement. Pay particular attention to how specific words and
phrases are used. Complete the notetaking guide.
Source: Bonner and Middleton’s Bristol Journal, Feb 18th 1775.
WANTED
To go to the flourishing Province of Maryland as Indentured or Redemption Servants,
Six healthy MEN that understand Farming and Husbandry Business; they must be sober,
and accustomed to labor: If one of them has a Wife that is industrious and used to a
Dairy, ‘twill be more agreeable, as ‘tis to serve a Gentleman on his own private Estate—
Likewise wanted, several Carpenters, Joiners, Bricklayers, and all sorts of Handicraft
Tradesmen, who will meet with good encouragement and kind Treatment, by applying to
Capt. Peter Young and Mr. Hooper’s Block maker, on the Quay; or to Mr. Richard
Champion, in Castle-Green.
21
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Set 1- Recruiting English Workers
Lesson Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of
the English colonies in America?
Directions: Read the advertisement. Pay particular attention to how specific words and
phrases are used. Complete the notetaking guide.
Source: Glasgow Courant, Sept. 4, 1760.
WANTED,
To go to Virginia, under indenture for a few years:
A Young Man, who understands LATIN, GREEK, and MATHEMATICS, to
serve as a Tutor in a gentleman’s family.
A Lad who has served as an apprentice as a surgeon, to live with one of his own
profession.
Two Gardeners, who understand their business well, particularly the work in a
garden.
These, properly recommended, will meet with suitable encouragement, on
applying to Buchanan and Simson, merchants of Glasgow.
22
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Set 2- The Business of Indenture
Lesson Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of
the English colonies in America?
Directions: Read the advertisement. Pay particular attention to how specific words and
phrases are used. Complete the notetaking guide.
Source: Virginia Gazette, May 19,1774
HANOVER Town, May 12, 1774.
JUST arrived in York River, The Brilliant, Captain Miller from London, with a Cargo of
choice healthy INDENTURED SERVANTS, the Sale of which will begin at Richmond
Town on Wednesday the 25th of May, among which are the following Tradesmen, viz.
Blacksmiths, Brasiers, Edgetool Makers, Bricklayers and Plasterers, Shoemakers, Stone
Masons, Carpenters, Joiners and Cabinet Makers, Cloth Weavers, Stocking Weavers,
Barbers and Peruke makers, Gardeners, Farmers, Labourers, and Husbandmen, Bookkeepers, and Schoolmasters, Tailors, Silk Dyers, Bakers, Painters, Leather Dressers,
Sawyers, Butchers, a steward, Groom Surgeon etc. I will sell them very cheap, for ready
money, or tobacco; and for those on Credit, Bond and Security will be required.
THOMAS SMITH.
23
Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Set 2- The Business of Indenture
Lesson Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of
the English colonies in America?
Directions: Read the advertisement. Pay particular attention to how specific words and
phrases are used. Complete the notetaking guide.
Source: Virginia Gazette, Mar. 28, 1771.
Just ARRIVED at LEEDS Town the Ship JUSTITIA, with about one Hundred healthy
SERVANTS,
Men, Women, and Boys, among them are many tradesmen, viz. Blacksmiths,
Shoemakers, Tailors, House Carpenters and Joiners, a Cooper, a Bricklayer and Plasterer,
a Painter, a Watchmaker and Glazier, several Silversmiths, Weavers, a Jeweler, and
Many others.
The sale will commence on Tuesday the 2nd of April, at Leeds Town, on
Rappahannock River. A reasonable Credit will be allowed, giving Bond with approved
Security, to THOMAS HODGE.
I have an assorted Cargo of GOODS from London, suitable for the Season (about
two Thousand Pounds Sterling worth), which I will lump off, on reasonable Terms, at a
Credit with good Security.
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Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Set 3- Servants & Masters
Lesson Focus Question: What role did indentured servants play in the development of
the English colonies in America?
Directions: Read the advertisement. Pay particular attention to how specific words and
phrases are used. Complete the notetaking guide.
Source: Maryland Gazette, May 22, 1755.
1. Ran away from the Subscriber, living at Benedict, on the 2nd of February last, a hired
Irish Servant Man, named Patrick Smith, about 5 Feet 4 Inches high, and pretty thick set.
He had on when he ran away, a black Everlasting Waistcoat, a light Fustian Jacket with
white Metal Buttons, a grey Sagathy Coat with blue Lining, a pair of blue Half-thick
Breeches, and a cut Grizzel Wig.
Whoever shall secure the said Patrick Smith, or convey him to the Subscriber,
shall receive Ten Shillings, besides what the law allows. Paid by Basil Brooke.
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Movement of People: Transport of Labor
Set 3- Servants & Masters
2. Ran away on the 2ist of April, from the Subscriber living in the Borough of Lancaster,
an Apprentice Lad, named William Kenley, about 15 Years of Age, of a fresh
complexion, and has brown Hair: Had on when he went away, a Felt Hat, half worn
Bearskin Coat, Green Napt Jacket, Buckskin Breeches, white shirt, Worsted Stockings,
and good shoes. Whoever takes him up and secures said Apprentice, so that his Master
may have him again, shall have forty Shillings Reward, and reasonable Charges paid by
William Dunlap
3.Ran away on the 13th of April last, from the subscriber living near Blandensburg, in
Prince George’s County, a servant Man named Nathaniel Sherlard (but may probably
change his Name), by Trade a Carpenter and Joiner, a well set, clean limbed Man, about
5 Feet 10 Inches high, of swarthy complexion, has black Eyes, and a sly Look. He has
taken many Clothes with him, both Men and Women’s, some new Linen and Money, a
Blanket and coarse sheet, also some Carpenter’s and Joiner’s Tools, such as Chisels,
Saws, Broad Axe, a Smoothing Plane, etc. and a large man’s Saddle and Bridle; but as no
horse is missing, it is supposed he has some Companion to help him to one.
Whoever apprehends said servant, and brings him to the subscriber, shall receive
four pistols Reward, if taken within Forty Miles from Home; if taken at a greater
Distance, Five Pistols Reward and reasonable Charges paid by Andrew Beall.
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