Indentured Servants
and Enslaved People

More than three quarters of the people who came to Maryland in the 17th century came as indentured servants. Most were in their late teens or early twenties, most were men, and most were unskilled. In exchange for transportation to Maryland, they were bound to a master for an average of four to five years. They were entitled to adequate food, clothing, and shelter and were expected to work from ten to fourteen hours a day, six days a week. The law allowed a master to use physical punishment if he believed he had cause. Punishments for running away were severe. At the conclusion of the contract, by law, an indentured servant received a new suit of clothes, one axe, two hoes, three barrels of corn, and the rights to fifty acres of land. This land would have to be surveyed and patented and both services needed to be paid for. Many former servants had to hire out for wages, become a tenant farmers, or lease land from a large planter to raise tobacco until they had enough money to own their own land.

In the early years of the colony, there were few enslaved people. The financial investment was greater than contracting for an indentured servant but the risk of an early death was the same for both. Consequently, it seemed wiser to use indentured servants-as long as a sufficient supply of labor was available from England and Europe. Later in the century, as that labor pool shrank, the investment in enslaved labor from Africa and the Caribbean became more common, and by the 18th century, enslaved workers outnumbered indentured servants.