“Punch tried to escape indentured servitude”
He agreed to work to pay off the cost of him coming here. He tried to run and get out so it makes him a liar. That is how he is tied to the current generation I guess.
He is also not the “first enslaved man” - that goes centuries before him but, he is not the last, slavery is alive and well in Africa, Asia and Middle-East.
Slavery is when someone else receives 100% of the fruits of your labor. Total freedom is when you receive 100% of the fruits of your labor. Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness is when you get to keep, say, approximately, 70% of the fruits of your labor (the value of which is up for discussion), 30% used to allow you to keep the other 70% in relative safety.
Federal cut: 25%+
State cut: 5.1% (MA; others vary)
Local cut: ~5% (may be tied to real estate, etc)
SS: 12% (6.25% you, 6.25% employer)
HI: 1.5%
Sales: ? 2% (hard to say, but trying to estimate as % of gross pay)
Oh wow, we're all the way up to 50%!
What were we saying about slavery????
He was convicted of trying to run out on an obligation--indenture was a contract exchanging future servitude for passage here.
He was, to be frank, a convict, a crook.
Considering the apple often falls close to the tree, they just might be related.
...that goes centuries before him but, he is not the last, slavery is alive and well in Africa, Asia and Middle-East.
Also true.
It’s alive here as well. We work 1/3rd of the year for our Massa govment.
He was an indentured servant. That doesn't necessarily mean he contracted to come over here and was paying off his passage.
That may have been true of many who came from Britain, but you'll have to provide some evidence that it was true in this case -- or that Africans, as Punch is assumed to be, were clamouring to get passage to New World plantations.
Punch may have been brought to America against his will and essentially sold as a slave for a limited time period without his consent. He ran away, and was told he was bound to his master for life.