Colonial Labor

be VI

Gottlieb Mittelberger, The Passage of Indentured Servants (1750)

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Gottlieb Mittelberger was an indentured servant from Germany who worked in Pennsylvania, where he served as a schoolmaster and organist. After only four years, he returned to Germany. The following is a detailed and graphic account of the trans-Atlantic journey and the fate that awaited indentured servants upon arrival in North America..

Both in Rotterdam and in Amsterdam the people are packed densely, like herrings so to say, in the large sea-vessels. One person receives a place of scarcely 2 feet width and 6 feet length in the bedstead, while many a ship carries four to six hundred souls; not to mention the innumerable implements, tools, provisions, water-barrels and other things which likewise occupy such space.

On account of contrary winds it takes the ships sometimes 2, 3, and 4 weeks to make the trip from Holland to . . . England.But when the wind is good, they get there in 8 days or even sooner. Everything is examined there and the custom-duties paid, whence it comes that the ships ride there 8, 10 or 14 days and even longer at anchor, till they have taken in their full cargoes. During that time every one is compelled to spend his last remaining money and to consume his little stock of provisions which had been reserved for the sea; so that most passengers, fmding themselves on the ocean where they would be in greater need of them, must greatly suffer from hunger and want. Many suffer want already on the water between Holland and Old England.

When the ships have for the last time weighed their anchors near the city of Kaupp [Cbwes] in Old England, the real misery begins with the long voyage. For from there the ships, unless they have good wind, must often sail 8, 9, 10 to 12 weeks before they reach Philadelphia. But even with the best wind the voyage lasts 7 weeks.

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From Gottlieb Mittleberger, Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750 and Return to Germany in the Year 1754, trans. Carl Theo Eben (Philadelphia: John Jos. McVey, n.d.). .

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But during the voyage there is on board these ships terrible misery, stench, fumes, horror, vomiting, many kinds of sea-sickness, fever, dysentery, headache, heat, constipation, boils, scurvy, cancer, mouth rot, and the like, all of which come from old and sharply salted food and meat, also from very bad and foul water, so that many die miserably.

Add to this want of provisions, hunger, thirst, frost, heat, dampness, anxiety, want, aftlictions and lamentations, together with other trouble, as . . . the lice abound so frightfully, especially on sick people, that they can be scraped off the body. The misery reaches the climax when a gale rages for 2 or 3 nights and days, so that every one believes that the ship will go to the bottom with all human beings on board. In such a visitation the people cry and pray most piteously.

Children from 1 to 7 years rarely survive the voyage. I witnessed. . . misery in no less than 32 children in our ship, all of whom were thrown into the sea. The parents grieve all the more since their children fmd no resting-place in the earth, but are devoured by the monsters of the sea.

That most of the people get sick is not surprising, because, in addition to all other trials and hardships, warm food is served only three times a week, the rations being very poor and very little. Such meals can hardly be eaten, on account of being so unclean. The water which is served out of the ships is often very black, thick and full of worms, so that one cannot drink it without loathing, even with the greatest thirst.

Toward the end we were compelled to eat the ship's biscuit which had been spoiled long ago; though in a whole biscuit there was scarcely a piece the size of a dollar that had not been full of red worms and spiders' nests. . . .

At length, when, after a long and tedious voyage, the ships come in sight of land, so that the promontories can be seen, which the people were so eager and anxious to see, all creep from below on deck to see the land from afar, and they weep for joy, and pray and sing, thanking and praising God. The sight of the land makes the people on board the ship, especially the sick and the ;half dead, alive again, so that their hearts leap within them; they shout and rejoice, and are content to bear their misery in patience, in the hope that they may soon rc!achthe land in safety. But alas!

When the ships have landed at Philadelphia after their long voyage, no one is permitted to leave them except those who pay for their passage or can give good security; the others, who cannot pay, must remain on board the ships till they are purchased, and are released from the ships by their purchasers. The sick always fare the worst, for the healthy are naturally preferred and purchased first; and so the sick - and wretched must often remain on board in front of the city for 2 or 3 weeks, and frequently die, whereas many a one, if he could pay his debt and were permitted' to leave the ship immediately, might recover and remain alive.

The sale of human beings in the market on board the ship is carried out thus: Every day Englishmen, Dutchmen and. High-German people come from the city of Philadelphia and other places, in part from a great distance, ~ay 20, 30, or 40 hours away, and go on board the newly arrived ship that has'brought and offers for sale. passengers from Europe, and select among the healthy persons such as they deem suitable for their business, and bargain with them how long they will serve for their passage money, which most of them are still in debt for. When they have come to an

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AMERICA THROUGH THE EYES OF ITS PEOPLE

agreement, it happens that adult persons bind themselves in writing to serve 3,4,5 or 6 years for the amount due by them, according to their age and strength. But very young people, from 10 to 15 years, must serve till they are 21 years old.

Many parents must sell and trade away their children like so many head of cattle; for if their children take the debt upon themselves, the parents can leave the ship free and unrestrained; but as the parents often do not know where and to what people their children are going, it often happens that such parents and children, after leaving the ship, do not see each other again for many years, perhaps no more in all their lives. . . .

It often happens that whole families, husband, wife and children, are separated by being sold to different purchasers, especially when they have not 'paid any part of their passage money.

When a husband or wife has died a sea, when the ship has made more than half of her trip, the survivor must payor serve not only for himself or herself but also for the

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deceased

When both parents have died over half-way at sea, their children, especially when they are young and have nothing to pawn or pay, must stand for their own and their parents' passage, and serve till they are 21 years old. When one has served his or her term, he or she is entitled to a new suit of clothes at parting; and if it has been so stipulated, a man gets in addition a horse, a woman, a cow. When a serf has an opportunity to marry in this country, he or she must pay for each year which he or she would have yet to serve, 5 or 6 pounds.

Richard Frethorne, Letter to His Parents (1623)

This is a letter written by Richard Frethorne, an indentured servant in Virginia, to his parents in England..By 1623, Jamestown was well established. Frethorne lived about ten miles from Jamestown, in Martin's Hundred. Whatever their contract promised, most indentured servants could expect poor food, scant clothing, and overwork. Many did not live out their period of service..

Loveing and kind father and mother my most humble duty remembered to you hopeing in God of your good health, as I my selfe am at the makeing hereof, this is to let you understand that I your Child am in a most heavie Case by reason of the nature of the Country is such that it Causeth much sicknes [including scurvy and "the bloody flux"] . . . and when wee are sicke there is nothing to comfort us; for since I came out of the ship, I never at anie thing but pease, and loblollie (that is water gruell)[.] as for

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Richard Frethorne, "Letter to his Parents, March 20, April 2, 3, 1623," in The Records

of the Virginia

Company of London, vol. IV, ed. Susan M. Kingsbury.

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deare or venison I never saw anie since I came into this land there is indeed some foule, but Wee are not allowed to goe, and get yt, but must Worke hard both earelie, and late for a messe of water gruell, and a mouthfull of bread, and beife[.] a mouthfull of bread for a pennie loafe must serve for 4 men which is most pitifull if you did. knowe as much as I, when people crie out day, and night, Oh that they were in England without their lymbes and would not care to loose anie lymbe to bee in England againe, yea though they beg from doore to doore. . . . I have nothing at all, no not a shirt to my backe, but two Ragges nor no Clothes, but one poore suite, nor but one paire of shooes, but one paire of stockins, but one Capp, but two bands, my Cloke is stollen by one of my owne fellowes, and to his dying hower would not tell mee what he did with it [although some friends saw the "fellowe" buy butter and beef from a ship, probably purchased with Frethorne's cloak]. . . . but I am not halfe a quarter so strong as I was in England, and all is for want of victualls, for I doe protest unto you, that I have eaten more in a day at home than I have allowed me here for a Weeke. . . . a that you did see may daylie and hourelie sighes, grones, and teares, and thumpes that I afford mine owne brest, and rue and Curse the time of my birth with holy Job. I thought no head had beene able to hold so much water as hath and doth dailie flow from mine eyes.

Elizabeth Sprigs, Letter to Her Father (1756)

This letter was written by Elizabeth Sprigs, an indentured servant in Maryland, to her father in England., It is clear than conditions for indentured servants had not improved much in the more than 100 years since Richard Freethorne wrote from Virginia to his parents.

Note how Sprigs compares her treatment to that of "Negroes.'"

Maryland, Sept'r22'd 1756 Moored Father My being for ever banished from your sight, will I hope pardon the Boldness I now take of troubling you with these, my long silence has been purely owning to my undutifullness to you, and well knowing I had offended in the highest Degree, put a tie to my tongue and pen, for fear I should be extinct from your good Graces and add a further Trouble to you, but too well knowing your care and tenderness for me so long as I retain'd my Duty to you, induced me once again to endeavor if possible, to kindle

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From Elizabeth Sprigs, "Letter to Mr. John Sprigs in White Cross Street near Cripple Gate, London," September 22, 1756. Reprinted by permission of the Connecticut Chapter of the National Society of Colonial Dames of America.

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AMERICA DIROUGH THE EYES OF ITS PEOPLE

up that flame again. 0 Dear Father, believe what I am going to relate the words of truth and sincerity, and Balance my former bad Conduct my sufferings here, and then I am sure you'll pity your Destress Daughter, What we unfortunate English People suffer here is beyond the probability of you in England to Conceive, let it suffice that lone of the unhappy Number, am toiling almost Day and Night, and very often in the Horses drudgery, with only this comfort that you Bitch you do not halfe enough, and then tied up and whipp'd to that Degree that you'd not serve an Animal, scarce any thing but Indian Com and Salt to eat and that even begrudged nay many Negroes are better used, almost naked no shoes nor stockings to wear, and the comfort after slaving during Masters pleasure, what rest we can get is to rap ourselves up in a Blanket and ly upon the Ground, this is the deplorable Condition your poor Betty endures, and now I beg if you have any Bowels of Compassion left show it by sending me some Relief, Clothing is the principal thing wanting, which if you should condiscend to, may easily send them to me by any of the ships bouna to Baltimore Town Patapsco River Maryland, and give me leave to conclude in Duty to you and Uncles and Aunts, and Respect to all Friends Honored Father Your undutifull and Disobedient Child Elizabeth Sprigs

Olaudah Equiano, The Middle Passage (1788)

This is a selection from the autobiography of Olaudah Equiano (or Gustavus Yassa), who was brought to Barbados, Virginia, and, later, England from his home West Africa in the early eighteenth century. He was able to purchase his freedom in England and became an abolitionist. His autobiography was written to describe the inhumanity of slavery as part of his abolitionist activities. These passages describe the middle passage and Equiano's experiences as a slave in Virginia.. ~

. . . The ftrst object which saluted my eyes when I arrived on the coast was the sea, and a slave ship, which was then riding at anchor, and waiting for its cargo. These ftlled me with astonishment, which was soon converted into terror when I was carried on board.

I was immediately handled and tossed up to see if I were sound by some of the crew;

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From The Interesting

Narrative

by Himse/f(New York, 1791).

of the Life ofOlaudah

Equiano,

or Gustavus

Vossa the African:

Written

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nod I was now persuaded that I had gotten into a world of bad spirits, and that they were going to kill me. Their complexions too differing so much from ours, their long hair, and the language they spoke, (which was very different from any I had ever heard) united to confmn me in this belief. Indeed such were the horrors of my views and fears at the moment, that, if ten thousand worlds had been my own, I would have freely parted with them all to have exchanged my condition with that of the meanest slave in my own country. When I looked round the ship too and saw a large furnace of copper boiling, and a multitude of black people of every description chained together, every one of their countenances expressing dejection and sorrow, I no longer doubted of my fate; and, quite overpowered with horror and anguish, I fell motionless on the deck and fainted. When I recovered a little I found some black people about me, who I believe were some of those who brought me on board, and had been receiving their pay; they talked to me in order to cheer me, but all in vain. I asked them if we were not to be eaten by those white men with horrible looks, red faces, and loose hair. They told me I was not; and one of the crew brought me a small portion of spirituous liquor in a wine glass; but, being afraid of him, I would not take it out of his hand. One of the blacks therefore took it from him and gave it to me, and I took a little down my palate, which, instead of reviving me, as they thought it would, threw me into the greatest consternation at the strange feeling it produced, having never tasted any such liquor before. Soon after this the blacks who brought me on board went off, and left me abandoned to despair. I now saw myself deprived of all chance or returning to my native country or even the least glimpe of hope of gaining the shore, which I now considered as friendly; and I even wished for my former slavery in preference to my present situation, which was filled with horrors of every kind, still heightened by my ignorance of what I was to undergo. I was not long suffered to indulge my grief; I was soon put down under the decks, and there I received such a salutation in my nostrils as

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I had neverexperiencedin my life:so that, with the loathsomenessof the stench,and crying together, I became so sick and low that I was not able to eat, nor had I the least desire to taste anything. I now wished for the last friend, death, to relieve me; but soon, to my grief, two of the white men offered me eatables; and, on my refusing to eat, one of them held me fast by the hands, and laid me across I think the windlass, and tied my feet, while the other flogged me severely. I had never experienced anything of this kind before; and although, not being used to the water, I naturally feared that element the first time I saw it, yet nevertheless, could I have got over the nettings, I would have jumped over the side, but I could not; and, besides, the crew used to watch us very clos~ly who were not chained down to the decks, lest we should leap into the water: and I have seen some of these poor African prisoners most severely cut for attempting to do so, and hourly whipped for not eating. This indeed was often the case with myself. In a little time after, amongst the poor chained men, I found some of my own nation, which in a small degree gave ease to my mind. I inquired of these what was to be done with us; they gave me to understand we were to be carried to these white people's country to work for them. I then was a little revived, and thought, if it were no worse than working, my situation was not so desperate: but still I feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruellty; and this not

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AMERJCA THROUGH THE EVES OF ITS PEOPLE

only shewn towards us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves. One white man in particular I saw when we were permitted to be on deck, flogged so unmercifully with a large rope near the foremast, that he died in consequence of it; and they tossed him over the side as they would have done a brute. This made me fear these people the more; and I expected nothing less than to be treated in the same manner. I could not help expressing my fears and apprehensions to some of my countrymen: I asked them if these people had no country, but lived in this hollow place (the ship): they told me they did not, but came fToma distant one. "Then," said I, "how comes it in all our country we never heard of them?" They told me because they lived so. very far off. I then asked where were their women? had they any like themselves? "and why," said I; "do we not see them?" they answered, because they were left behind. . . .

The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any ti~, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fTeshair; but now that the whole ship's cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential. The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us. This produced copious perspirations, so that the air soon became unfit for respiration, fTom a variety of loathsome smells, and brought on a sickness among the slaves, of which many died, thus falling victims to the improvident avarice, as I may call it, of their purchasers.

This wretched situation was again aggravated by the galling of the chains, now become insupportable; and the filth of the necessary tubs, into which the children often fell, and were almost suffocated. The shrieks of the women, and the groans of the dying, rendered the whole a scene of horror almost inconceivable. Happily perhaps for myself I was soon reduced so low here that it was thought necessary to keep me almost always on deck; and fTom my extreme youth I was not put in fetters. In this situation I expected every hour to share the fate of my companions, some of whom were almost daily brought upon deck at the point of death, which I began to hope would soon put an end to my miseries. Often did I think many of the inhabitants of the deep much more happy than myself. I envied them the fTeedomthey enjoyed, and as often wished I could change my condition for theirs. Every circumstance I met with served only to render my state more painful, and heighten my apprehensions, and my opinion of the cruelty of the whites. One day they had taken a number of fishes; and when they had killed and satisfied themselves with as many as they thought fit, to our astonishment who were on the deck, rather than give any of them to us to eat as we expected, they tossed the remaining fish into the sea again, although we begged and prayed for some as well as we could, but in vain; and some of my countrymen, being pressed by hunger, took an opportunity, when they thought no one saw them, of trying to get a little privately; but they were discovered, and the attempt procured them some very severe floggings. . . . . . . I and some few more slaves, that were not saleable amongst the rest, fTomvery much fTetting,were shipped off in a sloop for North America. . . . While I was in this plantation [in Virginia] the gentleman, to whom I suppose the estate belonged, being unwell, I was one day sent for to his dwelling house to fan him; when I came into the

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I,"Jillwhere he was I was very much affrighted at some things I saw, and the more so .1-,

I had seena blackwoman slaveas I camethroughthe house,who was cookingthe

dJllllcr,and the poor creature was cruelly loaded with various kinds of iron machines; -,lie

had one particularlyon her head,which lockedher mouth so fast that she could

-l;lrcely speak; and could not eat nor drink. I was much astonished and shocked at this , ,'nlrivance, which I afterwards learned was called the iron muzzle. . .

Alexander

Falconbridge, The African Slave Trade (1788)

An Account of the African Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa by Alexander Falconbridge gives a precise description of the inhumanity of the middle passage to the New World. Falconbridge served as a surgeon on slave ships at the end of the eighteenth century. Note his description of the relationships between the white sailors and African women.'

AS soon as the wretched Africans, purchased at the fairs, fall into the hands of the hlack traders, they experience an earnest of those dreadful sufferings which they are doomed in future to undergo. And there is not the least room to doubt, but that even hcfore they can reach the fairs, great numbers perish from cruel usage, want of food, Iravelling through inhospitable deserts, etc. They are brought from the places where [hey are purchased to Bonny, etc. in canoes; at the bottom of which they lie, having their hands tied with a kind of willow twigs, and a strict watch is kept over them. Their llsage in other respects, during the time of passage, which generally lasts several days, is equally cruel. Their allowance of food is so scanty, that it is barely sufficient to support nature. They are, besides, much exposed to the violent rains which frequently I"allhere, being covered only with mats that afford but a slight defense; and as there is usually water at the bottom of the canoes, from their leaking, they are scarcely every dry.

Nor do these unhappying beings, after they become the property of the Europeans (from-whom as a more civilized people, more humanity might naturally be expected), find their situation in the least amended. Their treatment is no less rigorous. The men Negroes, on being brought aboard the ship, are immediately fastened together, two and two, by handcuffs on their wrists, and irons riveted on their legs. They are then sent down between the decks, and placed in an apartment partitioned off for that purpose.

The women likewise are placed in a separate room, on the same deck, but without being ironed. And an adjoining room, on the same deck is besides appointed for the boys. Thus are they placed in different apartments.

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From Alexander

Falconbridge,

An Account of the Slave Trade on the Coast of Africa (London:

1788).

AMERICA THROUGH THE EYES OF ITS PEOPLE

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rough and the rain heavy, it becomes necessary to shut these, and every other conveyance by which the air is admitted. The fresh air being thus excluded, the Negroes' rooms very soon grow intolerably hot. The confined air, rendered noxious by the effluvia exhaled from their bodies, and by being repeatedly breathed, soon produces fevers and fluxes, which generally carries off great numbers of them. . . . One morning, upon examining the place allotted for the sick Negroes, I perceived that one of them, who was so emaciated as scarcely to be able to walk, was missing, and was convinced that he must have gone overboard in the night, probably to put a more expeditious period to his sufferings. And, to conclude on this subject, I could not help being sensibly affected, on a former voyage, at observing with what apparent eagerness a black woman seized some dirt from off an African yam, and put it into her mouth, seeming to rejoice at the opportunity of possessing some of her native earth.

From these instances I think it may have been clearly deduced that the unhappy Africans are not bereft of the fmer feelings, but have a strong attachment to their native country, together with a just sense of the value of liberty. And the situation of the miserable beings above described, more forcibly urges the necessity of abolishing a trade which is the source of such evils, than the most eloquent harangue, or persuasive arguments could do.

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I pcrhaps they will themselvc5 make up I he Nomber (or their owne safetie.!

Theis I doubr are the Cogiradons q( rme o( our worthier men.

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tom to the richer planters at th,e ~opl indicates that all along !he ~~e labor had become a valuabl~ and ide~perately sought commodity. S t. tiers who were not in a position to ~rotect themselves found that t e economy put constant pressure on. th~m. Their status as free men las always in danger of debasemeilt:i planters bought, sold, and trad~d servants without their consent, and' od occasion they even used them las stakes in gambling games. There. hdd been "many complaints," ~~cknowledged John Rolfe, "against the \Governors, Captaines, and O~cers in Virginia: for buying and selling' men arid boies," something that "was held in Englarid a thing ",ost i~tolerable:' One Englishman p~t a the indignity quite succinctly: "MY f\1aster Atkins hath sold me for : ÂŁ 150 sterling like a damnd slav~." ' Indeed, quite a few of the ingredient of slavery are there: the feveri~h ~ economic boom that sparked an insatia, Ie demand for human labor, t~e mortality rate that encouraged survivors to become callous about hum,n life, the servants who were being bo 1ht and sold, treated as property; treat~d, almost, as sl~ves. If we werÂŤ1' king, in the ab.stract, to construtt a socIety where sOCIaland economic 1.Iressures co~bl?e.d to encoura~e the development of human slav~ry" boom-town VIfglnla would fit tHe model neatly . Yet the actual recotds dol not quite confirm the hypothesi~.

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The first record of blacks being im~rted to Virginia wasJohn Rolfe!s offhand report in 1619 that" About ,the last of August came in a dutch man o( warre that sold us twenty N,egJrs." Sold, yes. But sold as slavJs or as servants? Rolfe doesn't say. Hi~torians have combed the spar~~ records of early Virginia, looking at c~urt records, inventories, letters, wills, church records-anything that ,might shed light on the way blac~s were treated. Before 1640, ther~ is,virtually nothing in the surviving records; before 1660, bits and pieces of evidence do' indicate that some blacks were held as slaves for life, but some definitely as servants. Other blacks were either given their freedom or were able to purchase it. Only during the 1660s did the Virginia assembly begin to pass legislation that separated blacks from whites, that defined slavery, legally, as an institution. Blacks, in other words, lived with white Virginians for over forty

....

..Abour rhe last o( Augu5t came in a dutch man of warre that sold us twent Nellars." So wrote Joh:n Rolfe in 1619. Yet the status of these and other earl blacksremainsundearf Court records indicate that in the 1640Sat least sorno blackshadbeenfreed a'ndwere purchasing their own land. One black, Anthon Johnson, even owned his own slave. The illustration is by Howard Pyle, Popular nineteenth.century artist whose meticulous research made his scene accu . rale In terms o( costume and setting. "i

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profitablecommodity, would lawscome to be passed formally establishing their chattel status. Whatever the reasons may have been, one thing : seemsclear: Slavery did not flourish markedly along with the boom of

the records force us to turn the initial questio,naround. If the 1620S

~ith its boom economy was such an appro~riate ~imefor slavery to have developed,

why didn', it?

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flere the talents of historians are stretched t thear hmns. They can expect ~o obvious explanations from con:tem raries like John Rolfe, Captain Smith, or William Capps. The devc:tlo~m nt of slavery was something that snuck up on Virginians. It was 'pa~t f the "inner dynamic" of the society, as sociologists would say-t1idd~ from the awareness of the social actors in the situation. Even the reco ds left by the c;lerks of society are scant help. Th~ best that can be ~o~~ i intelligent conj~cture, based on the kind of soclet~ that has ~ee?,. r~c nstructed. " Was it a matter of the simple avallabl'l,ny 0 slaves? Yerh~ps. The African slave trade was still in its infancy, ~~~~ ,n if V~rginians.wanted slaves, they may have found them hard to cc;>mey. During the tune that Virginia was experiencing its boom of the 162,9S the West Indian islands like Barbadoes and St. Kius were bein~ sett,I,ed:1Jhere, where the cultivation of sugar demanded even more Intensiv~ Ijabor thlln tobacco, the demand for slaves was extremely high, and slavery developed more rapidly. If traders sailing from Africa could <:arrv only so many slaves, and if the market for them were better in the a~r~adoes than in Virginia, why sail all the way up to Chesapeake Bay? ThF slave traders may not have found the effort worth it. That is the conjFcture of one historian,

Sometime betWeen 1629 and 1630, the economic bubble popped.

The price of tobacco plummeted from 3 shillings to 1 penny a pound.

Virginianstried desperately to prop it up again, either by limiting productionor by simple edict, but they did not succeed. Tobacco prices in the 1630Soccasionallyfloated as high as sixpence, but more often they stayedat three. That meant planters still could make money, but the chance for a quick fortune had vanished-Uinto smoke," as Sandys or one of his disillusioned investors would no doubt have remarked. The VirginiaCompany's experiment in social reconstruction had failed, but the records of their investments, their wranglings, and the fortune' hunting survived them. Not all the records survived, by any means.

Manyof them were lost, many more burned with the capture of Richmond during the Civil War. But enough survived in Richmond, in London,in the estates of English lords and 'gentry to piece together the storyof the early Virginians, rich and poor, and the social structUrethat bound them together. It is much to the credit of historians that the feverish world of the ChesaPeake has nOt, like its cash crop, entirely vanishedinto smoke.

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Richard

Dunn.

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Edmund Morgan has suggested another possi ility, based on the continuing mortality rate in Virginia. Put yourself i the place of the planter 'searching for labor. You can buy either serv.ants r slaves. Servants come " I I cheaper than slaves, of course, but you only get to work them fpr seven years before they receive their freedom. Slav~s re more expensive, but you get their labor for the rest of their liv~s, as well as the labor 'of any offspring. In the long run, the more expensl'\oe slave would h~v~ been the better buy. But in Virginia? Everyone is dyi g anyw~y. What are the chances that either servants or slaves are, goin to liv~ for m{>rethan seven, five, even three years? The chanct!s ar not particularlY good.

Wouldn't it make more sense to pay le~s an1 buy shvants; on the assu~ptio~ tha~ whoev~r is bought. may ~ie s,h?rdy anyway?' I j It ISan ingenious conjecture, but n musuem~1n that~for the present at least. No plantation records or letters have',been found indicating that planters actually thought that way. Availab!e evi'dence does suggest that, the high death rate in Virginia began to drop only in the 1650s. If that were the r"se, it makes sense that only then, when slaves became a ,

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rears before their status had become fully ~nd lefally debased. The facts ,

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