American History: Governing the Nation and Numerous Immigrants

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Overview

An indentured servant was an employee, a typical manual worker or tradesman under an agreed contract with an owner. Usually the contract lasted for a given fixed period ranging from three to seven years. Numerous immigrants turned up in the colonial America as indentured servants; this entailed their new employer paying the cost of their voyage to the captains of ships that were transporting them. Most of these indentured servants were young men and women whose services as indentured servants were negotiated by their parents before they were taken away. Besides, they were around 21 years old and mainly came from Germany and Britain (Applebaum, 1998).

How the Philosophical Ideals Embodied By the Declaration of Independence Affects the Indentured Servant

The process of indentured servanthood was difficult to distinguish from slavery even though the indentured servants served their master after freely and willingly agreeing to work in order to pay for their passage to America. In most cases, the indentured servants were violently mistreated and about 60 percent never survived to be set free after their terms of service would expire. One of the philosophical ideals of the declaration of independence is that all men are created equal. This declaration of independence was also signed by one of the former indentured servant who was set free after completing his terms of service, George Taylor. This philosophical ideal was supposed to set all slaves and indentured servants free and those who were still working had the right to be set free as contained in the Bill of Rights. However, emphases were mainly placed on barring further importation of slaves and indentured servants, leaving those already working to continue to be in the service of their masters. Up todate, elements of indentured servanthood still exist amongst the top American elites (Russell, 2000).

The Similarities And Differences Of The Philosophies In The Articles Of

Confederation And The Constitution And How Each Of Them Affects The Selected Character

There are no much similarities between the two documents. However, in both documents, the United States of America had representative government. All the states would elect their representatives to the president-headed Congress. The other similarity is that both documents were drawn by the same people.

The difference between the two documents is evident in the fact that the constitution announced the declaration of the American independence from the England while the Article of confederation defined the relationship that would exist amongst the states as a singular entity. The Article of Confederation provided the basis of post-independent governance of all the independent states as a unit.

Moreover, the constitution gave sovereignty to the American government while the Article of Confederation gave sovereignty to each of the independent states. Again, in the Constitution, the three government entities had established checks and balances, the congress was given authority to levy taxes and the president was given sufficient powers to give balance to both the legislative and the judicial branches. While in the Article of Confederacy, the president was just treated as a mere leader in the government.

The Article of Confederation provided that the indentured servants and fugitive criminals be transported back to their original employers or owners. However, it never defined whether they should be set free or not. However, the constitution believed in the freedom and equality of men. It therefore spelt out that slavery and any form of servitude should be abolished (Powell, 2008).

Major Argument for the Ratification of the Constitution That the Selected Character Would Support and One Major Argument against the Ratification That the Selected Character Would Support

The selected character would support the Thirteenth Amendment that officially brought an end to slavery and any form of involuntary servitude in the United States of America. However, the amendment never ended all forms of slavery as it made exceptions to the certain situations in which slavery and forced indenture servitude could still exist in America. The selected character would not support this because criminality could be imposed unjustifiably due to racism and hence subject innocent people to servitudes and slavery.

Based on the two arguments above, the selected character would still support the ratification of the constitution because by and large, the abolishment of the slavery and any form of forced indenture servitude would set the majority free from slavery and indentured servanthood (Powell, 2008).

Conclusion

Indentured servants migrated from other parts of the world, especially Britain, to work in America under a master for a period of between three and seven years after which they would be set free to go their business. The constitution of America and the declaration of independence gave hope to the slaves and indentured servants, even though slavery continued to exist in small scale. Nonetheless, the indentured servants were affected in one way or another by both the Article of Confederation and the Constitution that was used in the declaration of independence. Even so, there were some differences between both documents that differently affected the slaves and Indentured servants (Applebaum, 1998).

Reference List

Applebaum, H. (1998). The American work ethic and the changing work force: an historical perspective. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group.
Powell, T. (2008). Analysis of American Law. New York: The Lawbook Exchange, Ltd.
Russell, D. (2000). The American Revolution in the Southern colonies. New York: McFarland.

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