There were two major systems of forced labor that took
hold in the Chesapeake colonies. These were indentured servitude and
slavery.
In both systems, people were forced to work for
others for no pay and had their lives completely controlled by those who owned their
labor. The major difference was that indentured servitude was a contractual agreement
that lasted a specific amount of time. After that, the servant became free. By
contrast, a slave was enslaved for life and (eventually) the law came to say that the
offspring of a slave would also be enslaved for life.
These
were the two major systems of forced labor in the Chesapeake.
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