Graduation Semester and Year
Spring 2024
Language
English
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in History
Department
History
First Advisor
Stephanie Cole
Second Advisor
David Narrett
Third Advisor
Christopher Morris
Fourth Advisor
David Baillargeon
Abstract
This dissertation examines colonial child servants from the British Isles between the years 1618-1776, illustrating how economic demands, colonial ambitions, and capitalistic drives combined with ethnic and class prejudices to perpetuate the indenture of children irrespective of individual or parental consent. An examination of legislative actions, legal enforcement, and governmental complicity reveals both direct and indirect government involvement in perpetuating involuntary child labor across the British Isles. In fact, the volume of this human trafficking required some level of awareness and support from legislators and officials at both the local and national levels. In some cases, officials removed children from impoverished families and utilized them for labor to promote overseas expansion. In others, the socioeconomic status of their families meant that policymakers and enforcers too often turned a blind eye to merchants’ and planters’ use of them for economic gain. This work also scrutinizes those who profited from child labor, revealing the networks of profit and power supporting these practices. Analysis of the varying impacts of ethnicity, class, religion, and political conflict over time and across regions provides insights into the broader implications of child labor practices in the context of English, and later British, expansion. Despite the passing of legislation to prevent abuses in the servant trade, the lax enforcement of these laws, the minimal penalties for violators, and the disregard shown towards those deemed socially and politically undesirable suggest that these legislative efforts were often superficial, and that economic and political priorities ultimately outweighed concerns for the personal agency and liberties of child servants. Though stricter regulations effectively curbed the issue within England by the early eighteenth century, patterns observed in Scotland, Ireland, and the North American colonies imply that the kidnapping industry was not eradicated but merely displaced, shifting its operation to areas with less stringent regulations.
Keywords
children, indenture, apprenticeship, colonial, labor, England, Ireland, Scotland, sevants, youth
Disciplines
European History | History | Labor History | United States History
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Austin, Angela, "CAPITALISM, COLONIAL EXPANSION, AND FORCED CHILD INDENTURE IN THE BRITISH ATLANTIC, 1618-1776" (2024). History Dissertations. 1.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/history_dissertations/1