02+02

2. Interpretations in United States History, //Issue 4: Were the First colonists in **the Chesapeake Region** Ignorant, Lazy, and Unambitious?// NOOOOO!!!!!! by Chris Whoooooooo first post!!!!!! At least for group 2 ** · Miles Gibson arrived Maryland as an indentured servant, at the time of his death he owned 9 slaves, two thousand acres of land, and a personal estate appraised at over 600 pounds sterling · Gibson was an exception, most indentured servants were poor with many dying · Most indentures who acquired land only received a little bit of land, they were small planters who held tracts of land ranging from 50-400 acres · Former servants were allowed but were given little participation in the government of Maryland · The careers of indentured servants reveal that they had little formal education ·  A servant’s life was not easy, they worked 10-14 hour days 6 days a week, they could be sold and there were severe penalties for running away, and they were subject to the rules of their masters · They were worked long and hard but they were seldom abused · Though servants were promised at least 50 acres of land, in practice if he wished to receive land he had to acquire a tact and pay the surveyor’s and clerk’s fees himself · On achieving freedom there were 3 options open to servants, hire out for wages, lease land to grow tobacco, or work on another man’s plantation · The 50 acres practice was impracticable · Wage labor, sharecropping, and lease holding all offered men a chance to accumulate the capitol needed for starting a plantation · Servitude could be used as an avenue but most founded providing labor for plantation owners as servants then as tenants as their permanent fate To sum up Maryland, servants had a high mortality rate, those who survived had to work hard before their freedom, then those with freedom either died or had to work some more never truly being free. If they could acquire enough capitol working then they would be wealthy, however the path to doing this was long and hard, but nevertheless they did it and their efforts failure or not prove that they were not lazy. __ Sarah: First Settlers: __ __ Life of a Servant: __ __ Freedom __ __ Mobility __ __ Freedom and Acquiring Land __ __ Freedom and Farming __ __ Effects of a Growing Population __
 * Chapter 2 Study Guide:**
 * No. (Russell R. Menard)
 * 275 slaves entered Maryland in 1642; 158 survived
 * Indentured servants for 4-5 years before freedom
 * Usually young men in their late teen
 * Long work days
 * 10-14 hours a day/6 days a week
 * Subject to discipline
 * Yet, provided with shelter, meals, and clothing
 * Those who overcame slavery had great opportunity in Chesapeake Region
 * 50% of the original 158 survivors acquired land quickly à became small farmers
 * Many of the survivors went on to owning large estates
 * Many former servants went on to working as militia officers, sheriffs, justices of the peace, jurors or working in political office
 * Survivors quickly would hold these jobs after their term finished as being a slave
 * Other jobs included becoming lawyers, book-keepers, carpenters, blacksmiths, tailors, or barbers.
 * Former servants needed a variety of things to begin their own lives as farmers
 * Money to pay a surveyor
 * Land had to be cleared and a home needed to be built
 * Crops had to be harvested
 * Tools, seed, livestock necessary
 * Often times after servants were free, they had no money to begin their own farm. In order to maintain a farm they had four options
 * Hire Out (work under someone else to make a smooth transition from slave à freeman)
 * Lend Land
 * Raise Tobacco
 * Sharecropping
 * More competitive to hold a political office à most former servants were uneducated, leaving them with no hope to hold a political office
 * Decrease in tobacco prices due to overproduction à difficult to purchase land
 * These changes made it difficult to obtain, manage, and efficiently run a farm