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  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Indentured Servitude: Unfree Labour and Citizenship in the British Colonies

Indentured Servitude: Unfree Labour and Citizenship in the British Colonies

Suranyi, Anna

Hardcover

Series: States, People, and the History of Social Change, Book 4

General World HistoryImmigration & Refugees

Currently unavailable to order

ISBN10: 0228006678
ISBN13: 9780228006671
Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
Published: Jul 1 2021
Pages: 288
Weight: 1.15
Height: 1.00 Width: 6.20 Depth: 9.10
Language: English

Hundreds of thousands of British and Irish men, women, and children crossed the Atlantic during the seventeenth century as indentured servants. Many had agreed to serve for four years, but large numbers had been trafficked or spirited away or were sent forcibly by government agencies as criminals, political rebels, or destitute vagrants.

In Indentured Servitude Anna Suranyi provides new insight into the lives of these people. The British government, Suranyi argues, profited by supplying labour for the colonies, removing unwanted populations, and reducing incarceration costs within Britain. In addition, it was believed that indigents, especially destitute children, benefited morally from being placed in indenture. Capitalist entrepreneurs who were influential at the highest levels of government made their fortunes from Atlantic trade in goods, indentured servants, and slaves, and their participation in the servant trade contributed to the commercialization of criminal justice. Suranyi breaks new ground in showing how indentured servitude was challenged: once in the colonies, indentured servants adapted resourcefully to their circumstances and rebelled against unfair conditions and abuse by suing their masters, by running away, or through outright revolt.

Emerging ideas about race and citizenship led to vehement public debate about the conditions of indentured servants and the ethics of indenture itself, prompting legislation that aimed to curb the worst excesses while slavery continued to expand unchecked.

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