1st Edition
Migrants, Servants and Slaves Unfree Labor in Colonial British America
Written by one of the leading economic historians of British America, the essays in Migrants, servants, and slaves (several of which have achieved the status of minor classics) address a series of topics of central importance to the field. The central theme is that of the transition from a labor force dominated by English indentured servants, to one composed largely of African slaves. In the enquiry the author examines the changing composition of the servant population in the British North American colonies, the determinants of the pace and volume of servant migration, and the opportunities available to servants who completed their terms. On the subject of slavery, he looks at how the initial investments were financed, and the ability of the slave population to reproduce itself.
Biography
Russell R. Menard
'Thanks to his intense archival research over the past three decades, displayed in this collection to great effect, Menard has done more to enable early American historians to talk thoughtfully and rigorously about labour in British America than almost any other historian..... demonstrates ... a consistently high standard of scholarship...' Slavery and Abolition 'Ashgate has done a major service by reprinting Menard's important essays in a single volume.' History