About 1 1/2 decades ago archeologists found skeletal remains under the basement floor in a very old home in Annapolis, MD. The body via an extensive autopsy showed it to be horrible mistreated when alive. It was said at time that it was thought to be a that of a slave and it was said to be Irish. I was shocked.
Went to Williamsburg shortly there after and start asking questions and sure enough, found out that the first wave of slaves to the colony were the Irish and the Scots. They said some were called indentured servants but they were still bound, treated like cattle and most were never freed.
Won’t argue that the DOE has dumb downed Americans but I went to school prior and had no idea what so ever this was our history.
There is a bit of a difference between the indentured workers and the slaves discussed above.
Indentured servants certainly had a hard time, they worked hard and were treated badly, but they weren’t slaves. They left their homes voluntarily, they owned their own bodies and could not be bought and sold, they were paid pittances until they paid off their indentures but they were paid, they had rights and could appeal to the courts, they could get married to the spouse of their choice and eventually own property.
They had a hard life but they were not slaves.
The people described above were slaves, pure and simple, they were captured and taken in chains to work as slaves and had zero rights, they were treated as animals and could be bought and sold or killed with impunity.
Indentured service and slavery were two very different things.