""Work and Labor in This New and Wild Land Are Very Hard": A German Migrant in Philadelphia, 1750."

""Work and Labor in This New and Wild Land Are Very Hard": A German Migrant in Philadelphia, 1750."

migration, north, colonies, migration, diversity, indentured servitude, labor

This primary document is a first-hand account of indentured servants in the market and describes how some people’s hands were forced by threat of incarceration. Some people took desperate measures to avoid indentured contracts, such as selling their children, thus showing the undesirability and harshness of indentured servitude. This also draws several parallels between indentured servitude and slavery, such as harshness of labor, and economical value. It also displays the overall helplessness shown in both situations. It also draws several differences, as indentured servants had slightly more liberty than the enslaved.

Gottlieb Mittelberger

Gottlieb Mittelberger, Journey to Pennsylvania in the Year 1750, trans. Carl Theo Eben (Philadelphia, John Jos McVey, 1898), 25–31

University of Memphis

1750

Carl Theo Eben

John JosMcvey