Final answer:
Most plantation laborers in the first 50 years of the American colonies were indentured servants, who worked in exchange for passage to the colonies and a chance at a new life after their servitude.
Step-by-step explanation:
During the first 50 years in the American colonies, most of the plantation laborers were indentured servants. These were European immigrants who agreed to work for a period, typically four to seven years, in exchange for transportation to the colonies and the potential for a new life thereafter. In the 1600s, up to 100,000 people, primarily young, poor men, immigrated to the English colonies under this arrangement. Although many indentured servants succumbed to disease, exposure, or exhaustion, those who completed their service often became integrated and respected members of colonial society, with some eventually becoming affluent planters themselves. In the middle colonies, farmers and merchants utilized both indentured servants and slaves to fulfill labor demands, with the labor patterns showing preferences for indentured servants, especially in urban centers.