"Besides paid white laborers, there was everywhere a class of white servants bound without wages for a term of years, and a more miserable class of Negro slaves"

Albert Bushnell Hart, an American historian, captures a complex picture of labor dynamics in early American society with the quote you supplied. This declaration referrals the complex and hierarchical nature of labor and bondage throughout a developmental duration in American history. Hart points out three distinct groups: paid white workers, indentured white servants, and African American servants, each inhabiting different strata in the socio-economic hierarchy of the time.

The reference of "paid white laborers" recommends a group that, while perhaps not rich, had the firm of making incomes. This places them in a reasonably self-governing socioeconomic standing compared to the other groups. They likely enjoyed specific liberties and choices that were denied to those in the other classes pointed out. This group would have been complimentary to negotiate terms, change employers, and work for settlement, showing a form of economic flexibility and participation in the emerging capitalistic society.

Next, Hart explains another class of "white servants bound without salaries for a term of years", describing indentured servitude. Indentured servants were normally immigrants who exchanged numerous years of labor for passage to America, food, clothes, and shelter. Although their servitude was limited in time, it was identified by an absence of monetary compensation, limiting their freedom throughout the period of their indenture. However, at the end of their service, they typically got "flexibility charges", which could include land or items, allowing them to become independent contributors to society.

Finally, Hart points out "a more miserable class of Negro slaves", highlighting the most affordable sounded of the socio-economic ladder. African American servants were deprived of basic human rights and freedoms, owned as property for life without any claim to salaries or autonomy. Their labor was coercive and dehumanizing, and they were subject to harsh conditions and treatment. This contrast highlights the racially and economically stratified system that was fundamental to American development.

In summary, Hart's quote clarifies the stark contrasts and inequalities fundamental in early American labor systems, reflecting deep-rooted racial and economic divisions that would continue to shape American society.