Indentured Servant - Decline

Decline

Indentured servitude was a major element of colonial labor economics, from the 1620s until the American Revolution. Few indentures arrived during the revolutionary war, and the indenturing practice subsequently declined.

Several factors contributed to the decline of indentured servitude. The expansion of staple crop production in the colonies led to an increased demand for skilled workers, and the price of indentured agricultural labor increased. For example, the cost of indentured labor rose by nearly 60 percent throughout the 1680s in some colonial regions.

Relative labor costs changed, with an increase in real income in Europe and England. This, along with improved transportation productivity and efficiency with smaller crew sizes, and cheaper insurance rates reduced the cost of the voyage to the colonies, so immigrants could pay for it themselves and refrain from entering indentured contracts.

Rising prices for English servants made the rather elastic supply of Africans comparatively less expensive and more desirable. Colonial farmers preferred not to train adult slaves to do skilled labor, and chose to train younger Africans when they reached the colonies or to train the children of adult slaves already in British America. By the turn of the 17th century, unskilled labor positions were often filled by African slaves and skilled service positions were still filled by white indentured servants. Thereafter, Africans began to replace indentured servants in both skilled and unskilled positions.