When most people hear about indentured servitude, they tend to think of maids, nannies, and butlers. According to the book “Same Different From Me,” the slaves worked for over 30 years without pay and ultimately earned nothing. However, Thomas Ellison's experience as an indentured servant is very different. In the century before there was a heavy reliance on white indentured servants, the country relied on the large-scale enslavement of black Africans to work the cotton and tobacco fields to do the heavy farm labor. Growing tobacco and working in the cotton fields were very demanding jobs, as workers would remain in the fields under the scorching sun for 14 hours a day. If workers didn't do their jobs or tried to quit, employers could use harsh corporal punishment. Flogging was one of the punishments. Flogging is when someone is beaten with a whip or stick as punishment or torture. However, countless indentured servants died of overwork or disease before their terms expired. During this period indentured servitude was replaced by slavery. In fact the indentured servitude system slowly fell into disuse due to the right sizing of cities, Boston, New York and Philadelphia. The lands were gradually cleared by the Indians making them more attractive for settlement. This made it unstoppable for the servants to escape and