Indentured Servant and the Company Town Essay

Words: 1737
Pages: 7
Open Document
A labourer under contract to work for an employer for a specific amount of time is a bonded labourer also known as a Indentured Servant. Typically the employer provided little or no monetary pay, but was responsible for accommodation, food, other essentials, training and when applicable passage to a new country. Upon completion of the term of the contract the labourer sometimes received a lump sum payment such as a parcel of land and was free to farm or take up trade of his own. In other words indentured servants are very poor people obligated to forced labor for a fixed number of years, often in exchange for passage to the New World or other benefits. The term comes from the medieval English "indenture of retainer" a contract written in …show more content…
When mines opened in isolated regions they needed to provide housing and other necessities to their employees. Thus in more settled regions, the proportion of miners living in company towns was less than in areas that were less settled. In the early 1920's the United States Coal Commission found that in Southern Appalachia (West Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, Tennessee, Maryland, Virginia, and Alabama) and in the Rocky Mountains 65 to 80 percent of miners lived in company towns. In most of the Midwest only 10 to 20 percent of miners lived in company towns. In Ohio 25 percent lived in company towns, while in Pennsylvania 50 percent lived in company towns.
Property Rights in Company Towns
The leases for company houses that miners rented to a certain extent governed property rights in these company towns. These leases were also something like "tied" contracts in that miners rented their homes so long as they were employed by the company, or at least, had a good relationship with it. Leases generally allowed for a quick termination, usually five days, rather than longer notices. Many leases prevented non-employees from living in or trespassing on company housing. In some leases companies reserved the right of entry into the property and the right to make and enforce regulations on the roads leading into the property.
These rights were commonly enforced during strikes when strikers were evicted
Show More

Related Documents: Indentured Servant and the Company Town Essay

Indentured Servants In The 21st Century

relevance to the current state of affairs, even in the 21st Century. Indentured servitude is one of these things, and was used as a means to cultivate and work the fields in the Southern portion of the United States. Leaders of the colonies (as they were known centuries ago) understood how important it was to have labor readily available; human labor, which made amends to get people working as often as they could (Indentured servants, 2014). Without this, the country would not have been able to develop…

Words 963 - Pages 4

Chesapeake Colonies Dbq

Colonies were created to collect valuable natural resources The relative goals of the founding of the New England and Chesapeake colonies shaped the colonists’ actions and experiences between 1580 and 1763 significantly. While early Chesapeake colonists hoped to make a quick profit leading over time for their individual gains, early colonists in New England hoped to create a community based on God’s will in an effort to settle and create a home that is to be looked upon as an example to others…

Words 1084 - Pages 5

The Southern Colonies In The 17th And 18th Centuries

plantation economy: tobacco & rice
B. Slavery in all colonies (even Georgia after 1750); mostly indentured servants for until 1676 in Virginia and Maryland -- increasingly black slavery thereafter.
C. Large land holdings in the hands of the favored few = aristocratic atmosphere (except N. Carolina and parts of Georgia)
D. Sparsely populated: churches & schools too expensive for very small towns. E. All practiced some form of religious toleration -- Church of England (Anglican Church) most…

Words 4366 - Pages 18

Ap Us History Ch.2 Essay

colonization strategy emphasized commerce over religious conversion. | | | 3. | In 1621, the West India Company created a trade monopoly in West Africa, Indonesia, and Brazil, giving the Dutch control of the Atlantic slave trade. | | | 4. | In 1624, the company founded the town of New Amsterdam on Manhattan Island as the capital of New Netherland. | | | 5. | To encourage migration, the company granted huge estates along the Hudson River to wealthy…

Words 2970 - Pages 12

Essay about Thirteen Colonies and New England

5. Chapter 1: New World Beginnings: 33,000 B.C.-A.D. 1769 A. True-False: Where the statement is true, circle T; where it is false, circle F. 1. T F The geography of the North American continent was fundamentally shaped by the glaciers of the Great Ice Age. 6. 2. T F North America was first settled by people who came by boat across the waters of the Pacific Strait from Japan to Alaska. The early Indian civilizations of Mexico & Peru were built on the economic foundations of cattle & wheat growing…

Words 7378 - Pages 30

Essay Compare And Contrast Jamestown And Plymouth

to bring lots of people over to get big plantations. They had a self-government with the Mayflower Compact, which they agreed to obey all laws. Also, they had self- governing towns ran by white male church members. In their community, people lived in towns. Their towns had to have a church and often a school. In their town, everyone had to help in some way and by the mid-1600s, the average life expectancy was 60. Overall, starting a colony was very difficult for many reasons such as, dealing with…

Words 619 - Pages 3

Essay about Chp 4 5 Vocabulary 1

Nathaniel Bacon (pg 68): a twenty-nine-year-old planter that led an uprising in 1676 that was known as Bacon’s Rebellion. By 1670, there were many discontented and impoverished wandering laborers in the Chesapeake region, many of whom were former indentured servants. There personal struggles were coupled with attacks from the Indians in the region, attacks that Governor William Berkeley refused to retaliate against because he favored friendly relations with the natives, who greatly aided him in his mission…

Words 5286 - Pages 22

Us History Essay

parentage who had been born in the New World Why did English colonists enjoy a greater degree of freedom from government interference English colonizing efforts were supported by private rather than government funds Joint-Stock Companies What is the oldest city in North American St. Augustine, Florida What colony was founded by Sir Walter Raleigh? What happened to the Colony? Roanoke Island The colony was deserted No one knows what happened…

Words 2483 - Pages 10

Differences Between England And Chesapeake Colonies

largely by people of English origin. England was dealing with problem internally and was “late” to colonize. England’s 1st attempt at colonization fails. Also there are factors of colonization such as Enclosure acts, Primogeniture Laws and Joint-Stock Companies. However, by 1700’s both England and Chesapeake regions had evolved into two distinct societies. These major difference from these regions were reasons for immigrating, economy, and government. One major difference between these regions was reasons…

Words 479 - Pages 2

Colonial America

These individuals would ultimately come to be known as Puritan separatists and would inhabit much of the northern colonies of the new world. In Voices in the American Past , the leaders of Massachusetts Bay Company wrote their motives behind immigration to New England, “First it will be a service to the Church of great Consequence, to carry Gospel into these parts of the world….Secondly, all other churches of Europe are brought into desolation, and it may be…

Words 1431 - Pages 6