The Primary Forms of Labor in the English American Colonies

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English-American Colonies: The Primary Forms of Labor
Unlike other European invaders, the British colonies in North America were permanent settlements of emigrants seeking economic, political, and religious freedom. After the occupation of Jamestown in 1607, its harsh climate and barren soil forced the invaders to use cheap labor for harsh work and later for profitable business (Clark et al. 40). The growth of farming activities necessitated the need for labor and different forms of labor, including family labor. In some areas like Hudson River Valley, landlords used tenants as labor. Moreover, in many places, low-income families signed indentured servitude. Finally, the slave trade from Africa fulfilled the growing requirement of labor, and later on, they used defeated natives to work as labor for the rich white families (Anonymous 48). Since the British used a wide range of labor types, the following paragraphs provide a substantial description of the forms of labor and their effectiveness in fulfilling the needs of the invaders.
The English colonies of North America were a great attraction to emigrants from Britain that comprised a wide array of people, including puritans, laborers, and farmers. Within the period of twenty years (1620 to 1640), more than 40,000 people migrated to North America (Clark et al. 36). The early settlements in Jamestown turned out to be a nightmare as harsh weather conditions and barren soil forced them to use strict rules for laborers. According to John Smith, one of the earliest settlers, Jamestown was "a miserie, a ruine, a death, a hell." During this time, the laborers faced harsh and strict laws, and men spent the day working in the field while women were engaged in sewing clothes and other household manual labor. Later on, the Virginia Company changed the labor form, the earliest invaders of the land, as they used laborers to cultivate tobacco (Clark et al. 39-40). These were the earliest form of labor that the English settlers adopted in North America.
British settlers formed many stable colonies in Virginia and Maryland and cultivated a profitable tobacco crop by the end of the seventeenth century. Although many tobacco farmers were independent men and only a few were tenants and servants, the landlords used all means to acquire labor from them. For this purpose, they introduced the profession of indentured servitude (Clark et al. 64). The concept of indentured servitude was taken from the Virginia Company that benefited significantly from tobacco cultivation enticed skilled labor from England to come to Jamestown by offering them lucrative benefits. According to these conditions, every skilled labor received four acres of land and a house. Additionally, a person willing to work for land cultivation was to be given fifty acres of land, and he would be given fifty acres more if he brought a new skilled laborer (Clark et al. 41). These lucrative offers greatly enticed the laborers to migrate to Jamestown; consequently, the company earned great profit from this venture, as indicated by the manifold increase in tobacco production within fifteen years.
The British settlers of Virginia and Maryland also followed the practice of indentur...