columbia sc april 1970 univ of south carolina press (1 risultati)

orange hardcover 8vo. (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in near fine cond., spine sunfaded, 1cm tear on front, not price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. second printing. ix+151p. b&w frontis. map. 4 appendices. bibliography. index. american history. british empire. world history. ~ During the time between the initial selection of "White Servitude in Colonial South Carolina" as a subject for a doctoral thesis in 1911 and the publication of the first edition in 1961, Warren B. Smith became a successful businessman, as well as an historian and educator. That his ultimate completion of this study filled important gaps in our knowledge of American Colonial history is attested by the continuing demand from scholars that has led to this new printing of his controversial treatment of a neglected subject. What happened to the thousands of settlers who passed through South Carolina, from the ports of Europe to the shores of oblivion ~ leaving little history, few records, and a rare descendant or two? They were the numerous white indentured servants, ignored by the historians and forgotten or scorned by present day Carolinians. Yet they formed a significant portion of the population and a powerful element in the settlement of the Province, particularly between 1730 and 1765. The vast majority of those colonists were redemptioners who bound themselves out for two to four years in order to pay passage to South Carolina. They were encouraged to immigrate in order to increase the labor force in the Province, to settle the areas between the coastal communities and the Indian lands, and to add their energies to the defense of the Province. Of the indentured servants other than redemptioners there were a few from the criminal courts and still others taken as prisoners in Scottish wars. The records of the Province, particularly the Council Journals, carried names of hundreds of these settlers. Many wills refer to the white servants and numerous notices appear in the Gazette of certain parties arriving in port with a shipload of servants to be indentured. These records have been available all along but obviously historians have been too much concerned with slavery to give this element of population its due credit. At the conclusion of his Introduction, the author states: "A thesis to disprove a generally accepted idea has held great appeal. I am still sanguine enough to believe that the testimony I shall produce will prove my point: not that there were as many indentured servants in South Carolina as there were in Virginia and Maryland, but that they did constitute an important factor in the growth of the colony.".