Richard Frethorne’s “Our Plantation is Very Weak” provides the most accurate depiction of indentured servitude in North America’s colonies. George Alsop’s account of indentured servitude seems a little too good to be true supported by the following evidence – his account is written about conditions in Chesapeake, how his account is portrayed in a third person point of view, and comparisons of working conditions for indentured servants. Conditions in the Chesapeake Bay area were not the cleanliest – it was riddled with a high mortality rate from diseases such as malaria, dysentery, and typhoid. Not only did disease slow economic progression in the Chesapeake colonies, but an economic depression hit the colonies hard in 1660, and lasted till …show more content…
Alsop was an indentured servant himself, but why present his account in third person? It makes quotes such as when Alsop stated, “…that they are no sooner free, but they are ready to set up for themselves, and when once entred, they live passingly well.” (Alsop, 52-61), and, “… they live well in the time of their Service, and by their restrainment in that time, they are made capable of living much better when they come to be free…” (Alsop, 52-61). Why didn’t Alsop write a detailed account of his own indentured servitude? Did he live “passingly well” after he completed his term of obligation, or faced any hardships of his own like Frethorne’s account of his servitude as he stated, “… for I do protest unto you that I have eaten more in [one] day at home than I have allowed me here for a week.” (Frethorne, 58-62), and, “And I have nothing to comfort me, nor is there nothing to be gotten here but sickness and death…” (Frethorne, 58-62). Frethorne’s quotes of hardships seem to portray servitude more realistically, especially for working …show more content…
When compared to Alsop’s account, indentured servants would work during the summer (only three months) for five and a half days, but have little work during the winter months as he stated, “… they do little or no work or imployment, save cutting of wood to make good fires to sit by, unless their Ingenuity will prompt them to hunt the Deer, or Boar, or recreate themselves in Fowling, to slaughter the Swans, Geese, and Turkeys…” (Alsop, 52-61). Alsop’s account of work seems a little too good to be true.
Alsop’s passage is intriguing to compare to Frethorne’s, but dare say that Alsop’s written account of indentured servitude is a bittersweet façade. Truly, indentured servitude in the North American colonies was a hard and rigorous life, with only a little chance of actual