A History of White Slavery
The often-overlooked history of white servitude in early America was a brutal system akin to slavery and predated and influenced the later development of racial slavery of Africans. The discovery of a teenage boy's skeleton in Maryland from the 1660s, a European who died from hard labor and disease, was an indentured servant. 100s of thousands of men, women, and children were shipped from Britain to America and the Caribbean between 1620 and 1773 as indentured servants. These individuals, often considered "surplus" people (the rootless, unemployed, criminal, and dissident) in Britain, paid for passage by selling their labor for years, or were forcibly exiled and sold. Many died in bondage, enduring brutal punishments and being "marketed like cattle."
3 main groups of forced white migrants: children, vagrants and petty criminals, and the Irish. In 1618, London authorities began forcibly deporting "troublesome urchins" to Virginia, where half died within a year. Between 50,000 and 70,000 convicts were transported to the colonies before 1776, alongside other "undesirables" like beggars and prostitutes. Under Oliver Cromwell's policies, unknown numbers of Irish Catholics were forcibly transported. Moreover, "spirits" or kidnappers operated in British ports, snatching an estimated 10,000 whites annually (though likely an exaggeration) to be sold into servitude.
While many indentured servants volunteered, trading liberty for a chance at a better life, they often found themselves as "chattels" with few rights. The system of indentured servitude, driven by the need for a cheap labor force for cash crops like tobacco, evolved into slavery for both whites and later blacks. The "time limit" on white servitude doesn't negate its nature as slavery, as the experience of being property, subject to absolute obedience, whippings, and brandings, constituted enslavement. The number of whites subjected to such abuses is impossible to quantify precisely but was "considerable."
Figures like Humphrey Gilbert, who, despite his ruthless military career in Ireland (where he advocated for ethnic cleansing), envisioned transporting England's "needy people" to America. His plan, along with those of figures like Walter Raleigh and Richard Hakluyt, promoted the idea of America as a solution to England's burgeoning poor and lawless population, presenting it as a benevolent act while masking the underlying desire for profit and empire. Thomas Jefferson downplayed the role of convicts and indentured servants in America's founding, contributing to a "creation myth" of early American society as solely built by free individuals. The freedoms of modern American society evolved from this system of enforced labor and that millions of white Americans are descended from these "human chattels."
The term "indentured slaves" is often used to highlight the extreme similarities between indentured servitude and chattel slavery, particularly in historical contexts where indentured servants faced brutal conditions and exploitation. However, it's important to understand the technical and legal distinctions, even while acknowledging the severe abuses. Indentured servitude was a labor contract where an individual agreed to work without salary for a specific number of years (typically 4-7) in exchange for passage to a new country, food, lodging, and sometimes "freedom dues" (e.g., land, tools, or money) at the end of their term. This contract was called an "indenture."
In 1605-06, John Popham lobbied for American colonization, emphasizing England's desperate need to export its criminals rather than just the promise of riches. This led to the chartering of the Virginia Company with two divisions: the London Company (headed by Sir Thomas Smythe) and the Plymouth Company (headed by Sir John Popham). The charter, issued by King James I, ostensibly granted self-governance to the colonists, a provision later misinterpreted as a universal decree of emancipation. However, the reality was that both white and black slavery would exist in the colonies.
Upon receiving the charter for his Plymouth Company, Popham, leveraging his control over England's jails, began sending convicts to America. Contemporaries reported that he "stocked Virginia out of all the gaols of England," offering prisoners facing execution the choice of servitude in America or the gallows. This practice not only served to rid England of its "undesirables" but also aided Popham's financial endeavors, as he likely selected young and strong individuals for transportation. The Spanish Ambassador, Don Pedro de Zuniga, noted Popham's intent to "drive thieves out of England" by "drowning them in the Sea" in America.
Thomas Dale, followed by Sir Thomas Gates, and then Dale again, stepped in as acting Governors, implementing a ruthless legal code known as "Dale's Code" or the "Laws Divine, Moral, and Martial." This code, likely drafted by De La Warr, Gates, Dale, and Smythe, mandated unquestioning obedience and prescribed severe punishments, including whipping, galley servitude, and even death, for minor offenses like murmuring against authority, blasphemy, or missing church services. Theft of even a small item could result in execution. While communal living and work were enforced, a clear class distinction remained, with "extraordinary men" exempt from labor. Dale rigorously enforced these laws, often with extreme cruelty, as evidenced by his execution of deserters and his call for convict labor from England.
Dale's controversial proposal to send convicts to Virginia was met with opposition from figures like Francis Bacon, who feared the colony would be "infected" by "scum." However, others, including King James I, saw it as a solution to England's burgeoning population of vagrants and criminals, believing it would alleviate famine and pestilence. Sir Thomas Smythe initially explored sending convicts to South Africa, even sending ten men to the Cape of Good Hope, but this experiment failed due to the convicts' lack of protection and their subsequent rescue by a passing ship. Despite initial setbacks, the Privy Council eventually approved the transportation of convicts to the New World in 1615, framing it as an act of royal mercy, though the underlying intention was to subject them to "heavy and painful works."
After Thomas Smythe was replaced by Edwin Sandys as treasurer of the Virginia Company in 1619, Sandys continued the practice of child transportation. Despite initial resistance from the children and legal questions regarding forced deportation, Sandys secured a Privy Council decree in 1620, authorizing the forcible shipment of obstinate children to Virginia. This marked a significant shift, allowing children to be transported without their or their parents' consent. Concurrently, "bridal boats" full of women were sent to the colony, with planters offered "apprentices" (children) as a bonus for marrying them, highlighting the emerging economic incentives behind child labor. The transportation of children and indentured servants significantly impacted Jamestown. While some, like the poet John Donne, hailed it as a humanitarian effort to rid London of "idle persons," the reality for most was grim. Few of the children survived, with muster records showing only 12 out of the first 300 shipped between 1619 and 1622 were still alive in 1624.
In Virginia, After 1624, tobacco output per worker more than doubled repeatedly. By the end of the 17th century, it averaged 1,900 pounds per worker, up from 400 pounds in the 1620s. This fivefold increase was attributed to brutal pressure exerted on workers, setting a precedent for the violence of African slavery. Governor William Berkeley, who served from 1642-1652 and 1660-1676, viewed servants as "scum." The planter elite, like Richard Lee (ancestor of Robert E. Lee), accumulated vast landholdings and wealth through the headright system, which granted land for each person transported to the colony. These grandees exercised immense power and often subjected their servants to harsh treatment. For example, a Carter servant was sentenced to six extra years for killing three hogs, and another received fifteen months for a 22-day escape.
White Cargo: The Forgotten History of Britain's White Slaves in America, Don Jordan and Michael Walsh, 2008.