Compare and contrast the lives of slaves and indentured servants.

In many ways, the lives of indentured servants and slaves
were very similar to one another.  The indentured servants, of course, had more hope for
the future, but slaves could in some cases actually have better conditions in the
present.

Indentured servants and slaves were treated in
broadly similar ways.  They were both brought to the New World in horrible conditions
with many dying along the way.  They were both subject to physical punishment from their
masters.  They both worked for no pay and with no control over their working
lives.

However, indentured servants had a light at the end
of the tunnel, so to speak.  They would, after a given term, become free.  This was
surely a great comfort to them as they had to deal with the bad conditions of their
daily lives.  On the other hand, slaves were worth more to their masters than indentured
servants.  Slaves could sometimes expect better treatment because their masters had more
money tied up in them.  Indentured servants, especially those reaching the end of their
terms, were of little value to the masters and did not need to be treated as carefully
so as to protect their master's investment.

Overall, then,
there were many similarities between the lives of these two classes of unfree
labor.