I think that indentured service could sometimes, like apprenticeship, be a
kind of "foster care" (or, very rarely, adoption). The expectation of
labor should, of course, not be forgotten--though it was also present in
biological families.

I would disagree with Jim Watkinson's last assertion that "servants had
little more rights than slaves." Whatever the similarities in their
experiences, fundamental differences of race, status, and rights remained.
Servitude was voluntary, contractual, and temporary; slavery was
involuntary, lifelong, and hereditary. In county courts, servants could
complain about mistreatment or breach of contract (and occasionally get
justice), and they could testify in all manner of cases; slaves could not
complain and could not testify against whites, by and large.


Douglas Deal
Professor of History and Director of General Education
State University of New York at Oswego
Oswego, NY 13126
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(315)-312-5631 (voice mail)
(315)-312-3577 (FAX)

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