Note (return) — Chapter II

The first Negroes brought to the colonies were technically servants, and generally as Negro slavery advanced white servitude declined. James II, in fact, did whatever he could to hasten the end of servitude in order that slavery might become more profitable. Economic forces were with him, for while a slave varied in price from £10 to £50, the mere cost of transporting a servant was from £6 to £10. "Servitude became slavery when to such incidents as alienation, disfranchisement, whipping, and limited marriage were added those of perpetual service and a denial of civil, juridical, marital and property rights as well as the denial of the possession of children."24 Even after slavery was well established, however, white men and women were frequently retained as domestic servants, and the system of servitude did not finally pass in all of its phases before the beginning of the Revolutionary War.