The similarities and differences of indentured servants and slaves have been blurred because of the numerous changes that took place at different points in history. Looking at these two from different historical perspectives, their roles and characteristics may appear quite different from what they were. This paper seeks to address the similarities and differences that surrounded the process of bringing in the slaves and indentured servants and the nature of their lives once they arrived the colonies.
The process of bringing slaves to the colony was a forceful and inhuman one. They were ‘packaged together', under inhuman conditions and shipped off to the colonies to provide free labor. Indentured servants, on the other hand, made a decision to come to the colonies and become what they were. They even went ahead to sign contracts that determined the nature of their agreement with the farm owner they would work under (Webster 1199).