Indentured Servants Vs. Slaves

 

I had an interesting conversation with a friend recently. We amicably talked about politics - neither pushing the other to accept their opinion. Then the conversation took a weird turn. 

“Did you know that [Irish] indentured servants were killed to avoid paying them in the property they were promised? They were slaves.”

I was at once confused. Yes, many Irish immigrants came to America in the 1800s as indentured servants. But, they weren’t slaves. I had to Google it. Had I missed something in all the years I taught U.S. History?

Indentured servants were NOT forced into indentureship, they signed a CONTRACT. The terms varied greatly depending on the circumstances. Indentured servants were compensated for their work in some fashion.

What I found in my research was that indentured servants fell into one of two categories.

1. A person could indenture themselves to a master craftsman to learn a trade (think college intern). At the end of the CONTRACT they would have repaid the debt and were released from their obligation.

2. A person could indenture themselves for paid passage to America. As part of their CONTRACT they agreed to work, usually for seven years, at which time they were released from their obligation.

Did all contracts end in a “happily-ever-after” scenario? Of course not. Many of these contracts were sold to other parties, which reminded me of pro-athletes...their contracts are owned by the team they play for, and they are traded, sold, and released by mutual consent (for the most part). I’ve never heard pro-athletes referred to as slaves.

So, back to my conversation. The overall gist, I believe, of my friend’s point was that blacks were not the only slaves to suffer in the United States. I cannot for the life of me connect the dots here. One group of people knowingly entered into a legal binding contract. The other group of people were taken forcibly from their homeland to work without pay or compensation of any kind. 

Now, with this off my chest, will I ever confront my friend with my righteous true account of history? Probably not. Unfortunately, this rewriting of history to fit one's thinking is nothing new. No amount of fact checking is going to persuade my friend that his version of history is warped in some way. But, if we continue to allow people to muddy the waters with alternate versions of history, without challenging their facts - the very foundation of our nation may find itself on shaky ground.