Plantation owners needed large amounts of manual labor to grow tobacco, rice, and indigo. They had their passage paid for to America from their origin countries.
Landowners were rewarded with additional land for bringing more laborers to work their land. This enabled them to plant more crops, which made colonial leaders more money.
You were promised room and board while you worked for your master. You were given passage to the New World and promised land when your period of service was over.
Life was very hard. Only about 40 percent of servants lived to the end of their contract. Female servants were often mistreated and punished for pregnancy. Travel to the New World was hard and dangerous.
Early servants were able to get land but as the century progressed, most of the good land was taken by plantation owners. Freed servants were left to settle farther west in the mountains and unsettled territory.
After Bacon’s Rebellions, planters were less inclined to hire indentured servants and instead began hiring slaves.