To understand African American involvement in the Revolutionary War, one must first paint a picture of what colonial life was like. Colonists faced the labor-intensive task of trying to carve out a life on a new continent. These were harsh conditions unlike many had ever experienced. Everything had to be created from scratch, roadways, housing, farmland, etc. In addition, company backers, which paid the way for many of the colonists and continued to supply them with goods, expected a return on their investment, in the form of exported goods from the New World. Colonists were in desperate need of laborers to accomplish these enormous tasks, and as such the American colonists turned to the use of indentured servants and slaves.