Between
1718 and 1776, British authorities exiled approximately 50,000
male and female convicts to American colonies in a policy
euphemistically known as 'transportation'. Once in America, the
convicts fell under a life of servitude or outright slavery,
underfed and overworked.
They had to obey their
masters or risk being imprisoned. In the early period of
transportation, half of them died while in bondage. The
Americans’ demands for independence caused Britain to stop
sending its convicts to America and forced the Brits to send
them to Australia instead. The Australian convict trade was
about three times as large as the American version.