About Jobs During Colonial Times
- American colonists worked every day except one. From Saturday evening until Sunday evening, they didn't work for religious reasons. Everyone had jobs to do. The females made soap, candles and clothes while keeping up with other household chores. The males had jobs outside the home that filled the people's needs. Since people walked a great deal, there were cobblers who repaired shoes. The blacksmiths made shoes for horses as well as made pots and tools. The blacksmith would pull the teeth of people with toothaches also. The tanner kept busy making leather. Leather was used for saddles, buckets and in the winter for caps, boots and breeches for men. Since there were no banks, the silversmith, such as Paul Revere, would take people's coins and melt them down to make silverware. One of the more important jobs in colonial times was the cooper. The cooper made the barrels to store food and liquids in. Making these barrels was a needed skill since people had limited methods of storing rations. A cooper was always on the ships to protect the food supply on the long journeys. The barber not only cut hair and made wigs, but also acted as the doctor as well. And the woodworker made everything from furniture to coffins.
Indentured servants did the hard labor so that the colonists could focus on skilled jobs. Male children who were indentured servants learned the skills of their master by working as their apprentice. This hands on education allowed them to go on using the skills they had learned when their contract was done. Some boys were given tools to help them get started at the end of their contract. Some indentured servants died before their contract expired due to the hard work. Abuse was common and female indentured servants were treated the worst as women in this society had few rights to begin with. - Unless colonists who were more affluent lived in more populated areas where they could buy goods, they would have to make what they needed themselves. All the American colonists from the candle-maker to the blacksmith took pride in what they made. Since everything made was basic necessities, they had to be done well so that things would last as long as possible. They were also strong believers in not wasting time, so they felt that it was important to be working whenever possible.
- The Library of Congress defines Colonial America as being between 1492 when Columbus first discovered America until 1763. There was a shortage of labor by the 1600 and 1700s. The Virginia Company's solution to the shortage was using indentured servants. They decided to pay for people from England to come to America in exchange for an agreed upon time of work. The contracts varied depending on local laws and the master who paid for their passage. Slaves began to replace indentured servants in the 1680s.
- The colonies were all along the eastern coast of what is now the United States. The people that settled in America had to travel by ship across the Atlantic Ocean for five months. By the 1600 and 1700s there were colonies that had small towns and those that still were in rural areas. There were big towns such as Boston that offered opportunities that smaller ones could not. A tailor could be found making people's clothing in larger communities. And by the end of the 17th century an architect could design a house for people who could afford it in Boston. North Carolina was one of the colonies that continued to be rural. By 1690 there were no towns, everyone had farms, and lived in log cabins. To make money during this time they grew tobacco. The colonies of North Carolina also made turpentine out of pine trees that were used to build ships. They sold both to England. Unlike North Carolina, South Carolina had one of the wealthiest towns of all the colonies. Charleston, South Carolina by 1760 had a newspaper, bookstore and musical concerts. The harbor in Charleston was used often to ship out rice and indigo plants used for blue die that they sold to England. These were two crops that grew well in the swamp lands in South Carolina.
- The decisions of the founding colonies helped to shape our country today. Up to half of all immigrants that came to Colonial America were indentured servants. The diversity of America began with indentured servants and continued with slavery. Modern America would be different if it were not for these two decisions that were a direct result of labor shortages.
