Key Concepts in Colonial Labor Systems and Slavery (1600s–1800s)

Indentured Servitude

Contract labor (4-7 years) for passage to colonies; 1600s-early 1800s, Virginia/Chesapeake; major labor system before slavery; Harrower's diary shows experience.

Headright System

Policy (1618, Virginia) granting 50 acres for each person's passage paid; incentivized flow of European labor; displaced Native peoples.

Bacon's Rebellion (1676)

Virginia revolt led by Nathaniel Bacon with servants and frontier settlers; exposed instability of indenture; elites turned to slavery.

Transatlantic Slave Trade / Middle Passage

Forced transport of ~12.5m Africans (1500s-1808 US ban); 1 in 7 died; foundation of slavery in Americas.

First vs. Second Middle Passage

First (1500s-1808): Africa→Americas; Second (1790s-1860s): internal U.S. trade moving enslaved South; shows slavery's evolution.

Cotton Gin (1793)

Machine by Eli Whitney; revolutionized cotton production; fueled expansion of slavery and Second Middle Passage.

King Cotton

Term for U.S. cotton's dominance (1800-1860); central to slavery's survival and global economy.