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The indenture, or contract, between a servant and master in Virginia, circa 1766. The servant agreed to work for seven years to pay off the debt incurred by his transportation to the colony.

except people of African descent. Thus plantation owners were required to provide weapons for their white indentured servants, but not for their black servants. This law may have reflected fear that the black servants were more likely to rise up against their white masters. But it also effectively meant that blacks were unable to defend themselves. In 1640, three indentured servants ran away from a plantation owned by Hugh Gwyn, a wealthy Virginia landowner and member of the colonial government. Two of the men were white, and one of them, John Punch, was black. The three servants had planned and executed their escape together. However, they were captured and brought before a Virginia court for punishment. The judge sentenced all three men to be whipped. The two white men were given an additional year on their indenture with Gwyn, and then

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Origins of Slavery in America