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Two laborers in early massachusetts: ironworkers at saugus 1 A key component of the formation of British communities in early Massachusetts was the need for labor. As the Bay Colony grew and its economy diversified over the course of the seventeenth century, a need for labor developed that could not be provided primarily by families and godly servants.1 In particular, certain desirable industries, such as iron manufacturing, required a highly skilled labor force that could not be found in Massachusetts. Colony leaders quickly discovered that economic growth meant that they needed to accommodate laborers who did not necessarily meet their standards of conduct and religious beliefs. Puritans hoped to control these potentially unruly elements in their society, but as the population of non-Puritan laborers grew, these settlers began to form their own communities, composed of peoples from England, Scotland, Ireland, the Channel Islands, and France. To understand the development of British communities in early Massachusetts, we must first examine the origins of the land-based non-Puritan labor force in Essex County and the work performed by these families.2 Labor constituted the crucial aspect for development in all of England’s North American colonies, and was as important in Massachusetts as in Virginia. In the Chesapeake, the labor problem was resolved by the development of indentured servitude and slavery. New England depended heavily on family labor, since most early immigrants arrived in family groups, and on servants brought as part of a family. Some large landowners and wealthy investors in the Massachusetts Bay Company, such as Matthew Craddock, the first governor of the company in England, sent over servants to work their land, whereas others in the colony recruited young men and women for service on speculation.3 Historian David Cressy estimates that servants composed 25 percent of New England’s population and were “hired more for their labour than their religion,” although many servants among the early settlers were from godly families and became church members.4 Even though New England leaders wanted to encourage the migration of godly servants—or at least those “of good conversation ,” who were sympathetic to Puritan social and religious ideals—the colony also received servants who had been charges on the poor rolls in English towns. Many of these servants signed indentures for four or five years, and usually worked at a variety of tasks for their masters. Yet, whereas Virginians continued to attract workers throughout much of the century despite poor demographics and the diminishing availability of land, New Englanders had a much more difficult time recruiting laborers. The desire of Puritan leaders for a godly workforce, and the “competency” available in New England, which could not compete with the potential for riches in the Chesapeake and West Indies, made Massachusetts a far less attractive destination, especially for skilled workers, even though the region had a much higher life expectancy.5 Massachusetts leaders faced the shortage of workers soon after settlement began. In 1633, John Winthrop recorded in his journal that “the scarcity of workmen had caused them to raise their wages to an excessive rate . . . so as it grew to a general complaint.” A carpenter, Winthrop complained, “would have 3s. the day, a laborer 2s. 6d.” Usurious rates, however, were not just a problem with craftsmen. Winthrop also noted that some merchants charged almost double what they had paid for commodities in England. The General Court responded to inflation by setting wage and price controls, restricting skilled laborers to wages of two shillings per day and general laborers to eighteen pence. Merchants, in turn, could not sell goods “above 4d. in the shilling more than it cost for ready money in England,” with perishable commodities, such as “oyle, wine &c. & Cheese,” exempt from this order. The money to sustain the economy came from the prices charged to new arrivals: “Corne at 6s. the bushel, a Cowe at £20, yea, some at £24, some £26, a mare at £35, an ewe goat at£3 or £4.” Settlers arriving in the colony with cash to set up farms kept the economy afloat during the first decade.6 By the early 1640s, however, the economic situation in the colony changed. Immigration to Massachusetts virtually ended as political tensions in England and Scotland rose. The economy, which had been sustained by the money brought by new settlers, declined as well. The lack of ready cash caused prices to drop precipitously. Winthrop noted in December 1640 that “corn (Indian) was laborers in early massachusetts...

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