Many Scots arrived in America and the west Indies as indentured servants.  They were, in effect, slaves.

Sources:

1. Ruth Sparacio and Sam Sparacio, Order Book Abstracts of Northumberland County, Virginia 1674-1677 (McLean, Virginia: The Antient Press, 1998), 58, quoting Northumberland County, Virginia Orders 1666-1678, 260.

2. David Dobson, The Directory of Scottish Settlers in North America, 1625 to 1825.

3.  Tom Costa, Virginia Runaways, The Geography of Slavery in Virginia, accessed 13 March 2007, quoting Virginia Gazette [online image].

4.  Frank V. Walczyk, Northampton County, Virginia Orders & Wills 1689-1693 (Coram, New York: Peter’s Row, 2001), 100.

5.  "Indentured Servant and Apprenticeship Records," Chester County, Pennsylvania Archives & Records Services, accessed 1 May 2007, quoting Chester County, Pennsylvania Court of Quarter Sessions.

6.  Elizabeth French, “List of Emigrants to America from Liverpool,” The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vols. 64-65 (1910-1911), quoting Liverpool Town Books 1697-1707, Liverpool Record Office, Liverpool, England.

7.  Proceedings of the Provincial Court [of Maryland], 1681-1683, 169, Archives of Maryland Online, Vol. 70, http://www.mdarchives.state.md.us/megafile/msa/speccol/sc2900/sc2908/000001/000070/html/index.html.

8.  John Camden Hotten, The Original Lists of Persons of Quality; Emigrants; Religious Exiles; Political Rebels; Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years; Apprentices; Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed; and Others Who Went from Great Britain to the American Plantations, 1600-1700 (1874; reprint, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1983), 256, quoting Musters of the Inhabitants in Virginia, 1624/1625.

9.  E. Merton Coulter and Albert B. Saye, A List of the Early Settlers of Georgia (Athens: The University of Georgia Press, 1949), quoting A List of Persons Who Went from Europe to Georgia on Their Own Account, or at the Trustees' Charge, or who Joyned the Colony or were Born in It, Distinguishing Such as Had Grants there or were only Inmates, serial no. 14220, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia.

10. Ruth Sparacio & Sam Sparacio, Order Book Abstracts of Lancaster County, Virginia 1696-1702 (McLean, Virginia: The Antient Press, 1998), 43, quoting Lancaster County, Virginia Order Book 1696-1702, 101.

Notes:

1.  "The above James Douglas, if he goes past Philadelphia its thought will go to an Uncle's which he said lived between Norfolk and Williamsburg."

2. Ship master: Captain Obedience Johnson

3. Same as above?

4.  'A poor lad'

5. Year of Freedom: 1700; Court case regarding length of service.

6.  Ships masters: Mr John Gilchrist; Mr Mottrom Wright

An indentured servant is a labourer under contract of the employer for some period of time, usually three to seven years, in exchange for such things as ship's passage, food, land and accommodations.

Unlike a slave, an indentured servant was required to work only for a limited term specified in a signed contract.

A major problem with the system of indentured servitude was that in many cases, an indentured servant would become indebted to their employer, who would forgive the debt in exchange for an extension to the period of their indenture, which could thereby continue indefinitely. In other cases, indentured servants were subject to violence at the hands of their employers in the homes or fields in which they worked.

The labor-intensive cash crop of tobacco was farmed in the American South by indentured laborers in the 17th and 18th centuries.^[1] Indentured servitude was not the same as the apprenticeship system by which skilled trades were taught, but similarities do exist between the two mechanisms, in that both require a set period of work.

For more details, se The White Slave Trade