Forced Labor In The Fourteenth Century Essay

The common agreement to what happened at Jamestown is the near Native American tribe, the Powhatans, were cruel, vial, and refused to help the struggling English who would almost die out because of malnourishment. Though the Powhatans refused to feed the malnourished English people, even with the English leader John Smith begging for help, the Indians felt threatened by the English because of their presence, weapons, and John Smiths threats. Therefore, the Powhatans cut off ties with the English for the fear of starting violence (Doc G). The “starving time” had nothing to do with Powhatans lack of help and originated in the lack of skill the English people had and the violent treatment to the Powhatans. The English were left with little experience

Once they set sail for this business venture the people had many hardships including harsh winters, lack of fresh water, the spread of diseases, and they were constantly being attacked by the Algonquin Indians. “But now was all our provisions spent, the sturgeon gone, all help abandoned, each hour expecting the fury of the savages.” (John Smith 5) In this quote you can get a sense of frustration and anger the people from Jamestown experienced after being on this voyage for so long and getting surprise attacks and generally everything that they were going through. After leaving Jamestown they never

Although the rebellion begins on a racist fight against the natives for land, it becomes an outward class struggle originating from the disgruntled and poor (Lecture, Hacker). To top it off, in 1682 an English law was passed to keep “spirits” from sending English citizens to the Americas as indentured servants for their own profit (p.57, Chapter 3). The struggles between the Virginian class system, and the horrendous types of work the indentured servants were being forced to complete resulted in less of the English population willingly immigrating to the Americas. After the law was passed, servants did not come unwillingly either. The lack of indentured servants

In the 17th & 18th century, when sailing overseas to living in America; life for most English civilians, was a tremendous suffering. Johannes Hänner and the Hundreds of Indentured Servants are, the treatment of indentured servants varied according to the master, the location the indentured served, and the German immigrants were able to pay for their passage to the American colonies, which was much easier than those who came as indentured servants. In 1619, the first indentured servants were introduced by the Virginia company. Since arriving, many indentures had to work from dusk to dawn out in the tobacco fields of Virginia and Maryland with no pay.

As once said by the great W.E.B Du Bois, “All art is propaganda and ever must be, despite the wailing of the purist… I do not care a damn for any art that is not used for propaganda.” During the time of the Gilded Age, there was a massive amount of unfairness, mistreatment, and inhumane acts being committed. However, there was people known as Muckrakers that sought to expose the companies committing these acts through photography, and more popular, socialist novels. Unlike any other socialist novel, The Jungle used journey of an immigrant family to reach the public about the problems that Immigrants faced the theme of “Waged Slavery” and the basis of Social Darwinism to raise awareness of the Socialist Movement in America

The Unjust Treatment of Indentured Servants and Slaves in the 17th Century Life as an indentured servant or slave during the 17th century was probably the most devastating situation to be in. During the 17th century, the unjust treatment of indentured servants and slaves was a crucial and reoccurring theme within the readings done for this class. Both indentured servants and slaves during this time were restricted by many cruel laws and various laws were made to extend their serving time, and they were also often put in front of life and death situations. In “The Experiences of an Indentured Servant, 1623”, in which is a letter written by Richard Frethorne, living in Martin’s Hundred at the time, he describes the harsh conditions he was striving through and how the servants were crying and lived in so much fear throughout the days that they would not hesitate to lose their limbs in order to gain their freedom and return to England (Frethorne, 1).

At the beginning of the colonial period in America, there was a great need for workers that could help make a profit for the foreign companies who invested in colonies in the Americas. While these workers originally came from several backgrounds and countries, it soon became clear that African slavery dominated all forms of forced labor. Nowhere was this clearer than in the Lower Mississippi Valley. Starting off as a French colony the Lower Mississippi Valley’s primary work force was from European workers and Native American enslaved people. However, as the manipulation of African slavery in the French colony of Saint Domingue, today known as Haiti, began to turn a huge profit.

In an effort to discourage allyship, captains encouraged sailors to use force to control slaves which later bred the invention of race. All the while captains reaped the enormous benefits of the capitalist system that was the slave trade. While it’s history may be still be a bit of a mystery, Marcus Rediker shows us the massive social and economic aftermath of the slave

However, some regularity does exist in these events. Although very difficult, information following the impact of high mortality on early farming economies could be estimated. The effect of these outbreaks is highlighted through the observation of some familiar developments in the economy of medieval Europe. It is estimated that in the 14th century 25 million people died as a result of Black Death (Martin, 2008). In simple economic perspective, we understand that productivity diminishes as a result of a shortage of labor force.

They stripped the natives of their responsibility, “Colonialism’s greatest misdeed was to have tried to strip us of our responsibility in conducting our own affairs and convince us that our civilization was nothing less than savagery,” (document 2). They also mistreated the natives greatly. They would force them to conduct labor, separate families, and often murder people. “The White Man killed my father…” (document 5). The atmosphere of violence and turbulence became a part of the colony’s living environment.

In the Americas, the main exports were silver and cash crops, both of which required work that was terribly tedious and exhausting. This led to the overwhelming predominance of slavery in the Americas, since the Europeans were not willing to carry out the hard work themselves. When the Europeans found they lacked a workforce, the sought slaves elsewhere. While the people who were called slaves changed, the institution never did. The same mistreatment, torture, and horrible conditions were evident in American slavery until it was abolished centuries later.

Before the plague, the population in Europe was increasing dramatically; however, agriculture was not able to keep up with this. The population in England was slow to recover, especially since the plague would hit European countries again every couple of years (Cropper, 2018).The decreased population allowed agricultural advances to occur independently from population and ultimately decreased famine in these countries. Additionally, many laborers fled London to avoid the plague and other died from illness. This led to a major shortage in laborers, the backbone of the system. During this time, servants began to gain a bit of power because landlords were completely desperate for people to work their land.

In the 1700-1800’s, the use of African American slaves for backbreaking, unpaid work was at its prime. Despite the terrible conditions that slaves were forced to deal with, slave owners managed to convince themselves and others that it was not the abhorrent work it was thought to be. However, in the mid-1800’s, Northern and southern Americans were becoming more aware of the trauma that slaves were facing in the South. Soon, an abolitionist group began in protest, but still people doubted and questioned it.

There have been plenty of encounters with Native Americans being forced from their land but this is one of the most significant. Native Americans had three options when settlers first came: they could assimilate with the encroaching European population, they could be relocated, or they could genocide. While being relocated there was major death count. To stop the death count from theses relocations Congress attempted to create a separate Homestead Act for the Natives called the Dawes Act but it failed. So instead of helping the Native Americans they decided to turn them into European Natives and change their ways.

Unfree Labor The labour as a general category refers to those who do some kind of work by themselves or under some other person (employer) in most cases with the expectation of some form of remuneration. This labour done by people serves as the basis for the fulfillment of the livelihood requirements of the people. Thus, the ‘labour’ is a very important aspect of people’s lives as it is a means through which reproduction takes place. The importance of labour is particularly fundamental for those who lack assets like land and capital or any other source of income. In the contemporary times and due to the advent of capitalism a large number of people have become dependent on selling their labor power to earn a livelihood.