or the West Indies a stock of new goods which he would sell for cash; that the Charming Nancy would sail in a few weeks for Londonderry in Ireland, or for Barbados, or for Amsterdam in Holland, and wanted a cargo; that a tract of land or a plantation would be sold “at vendue,” or, as we say, at auction; that a reward of five pistoles would be paid for the arrest of “a lusty negroe man” or an “indented servant” or an “apprentice lad,” who had run away from his owner or master.  Very rarely is a call made for a mechanic or a workman of any sort.

[Illustration:  From a Philadelphia newspaper]

The reason for this was two fold.  In the first place, negro slavery existed in all the thirteen colonies.  In the second place, there were thousands of whites in many of the colonies in a state of temporary servitude, which was sometimes voluntary and sometimes involuntary.

Those who served against their will were convicts and felons, not only men and women who had been guilty of stealing, cheating, and the like, but also forgers, counterfeiters, and murderers, who were transported by thousands from the English prisons to the colonies and sold into slavery or service for seven or fourteen years.[1] Advertisements are extant in which the masters from whom such servants have run away warn the people to beware of them.

[Footnote 1:  One act of Parliament, for instance, provided that persons sentenced to be whipped or branded might, if they wished, escape the punishment by serving seven years in the colonies, and never returning to England.  Another allowed convicts sentenced to death to commute the sentence by serving fourteen years.]

But all “indented” or bond servants were not criminals.  Many were reputable persons who sold themselves into service for a term of years in return for transportation to America.  Others, generally boys and young women, had been kidnaped and sold by the persons who stole them.

%94.  Indentured Servants.%—­In the case of such as came voluntarily, carefully drawn agreements called indentures would be made in writing.  The captain of the ship would agree to bring the emigrant to America.  The emigrant would agree in return to serve the captain three or five years.  When the ship reached port, the captain would advertise the fact that he had carpenters, tailors, farmers, shoemakers, etc., for sale, and whoever wanted such labor would go on board the ship and for perhaps fifty dollars buy a man bound to serve him for several years in return for food, clothes, and lodging.  Not only men, but also women and children, were sold in this way, and were known as “indented servants,” or “redemptioners,” because they redeemed their time of service with labor.  Their lot seems to have been a hard one; for the young men were constantly running away, and the newspapers are full of advertisements offering rewards for their arrest.

What we call the workingman, the day laborer, the mechanic, the mill hand, had no existence as classes.  The great corporations, railroads, express companies, mills, factories of every sort, which now cover our land and give employment to five times as many men and women as lived in all the colonies in 1763, are the creatures of our own time.