s were essential to the growth of the
plant--abundance of land and labor. The first of these could be had
almost for the asking. Around the colony was a vast expanse of
territory that needed only the woodman's axe to transform it into
fertile fields, and the poorest man could own a plantation that in
England would have been esteemed a rich estate. Labor, on the other
hand, was exceedingly scarce. The colony itself could furnish but a
limited supply, for few were willing to work for hire when they could
easily own farms of their own. The native Americans of this region
could not be made to toil in the fields for the white man, as the
aborigines of Mexico and the West Indies were made to toil for the
Spanish, for they were of too warlike and bold a spirit. Destruction
would have been more grateful to them than slavery. Their haughtiness
and pride were such that in their intercourse with the English they
would not brook the idea of inferiority. No thought could be
entertained of making them work in the fields. So the planters were
forced to turn to the mother country. As early as 1620 they sent
urgent requests for a supply of laborers, which they needed much more
than artisans or tradesmen. The Company, although it did not
relinquish its plan of establishing manufactures, was obliged to yield
somewhat to this demand, and sent to the planters a number of
indentured servants.[160] Thus early began that great stream of
laborers, flowing from England to Virginia, that kept up without
interruption for more than a century.

From the first the indenture system was in vogue. Circumstances made
this necessary, for had no obligations been put upon the immigrants to
work for a certain number of years in servitude, they would have
secured tracts of ground for themselves and set themselves up as
independent planters, as soon as they arrived in the country. It was
found to be impossible to establish a class of free laborers. Also the
system had its advantages for the immigrant. The voyage to the colony,
so long and so expensive, was the chief drawback to immigration.
Thousands of poor Englishmen, who could hardly earn enough money at
home to keep life in their bodies, would eagerly have gone to the New
World, had they been able to pay for their passage. Under the
indenture system this difficulty was removed, for anyone could secure
free transportation provided he were willing to sacrifice, for a few
years, his personal freedom.

And,