Indentured servitude

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Indentured servitude is a form of labor. A person would agree to work for another person for a given length of time, usually without being paid much. The contract was called indenture. It was common between the 16th and the 18th century. People could enter the contract voluntarily, for example to repay debt. Sometimes, courts imposed indentured servitude as a form of punishment.

It was common for apprenticeships: An apprentice agreed to work for free for a master tradesman to learn a trade.

An indentured servant was a worker in a contract with an employer for a certain length of time. Usually a laborer or craftsman would have to work three to seven years^[1] in exchange for the cost of transportation across the ocean, food, clothing, land, a place to live and other things they needed to live or work during their contract. This kind of contract was called "indenture." Indentures were quite common in Colonial America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Indentured servants were different from slaves in that their captivity was temporary.

Like any loan, an indenture could be sold; most employers had to depend on middlemen to recruit and transport the workers, so indentures (indentured workers) were commonly bought and sold when they arrived at their destinations. Like prices of slaves, their price went up or down depending on supply and demand. When the indenture (loan) was paid off, the worker was free. Sometimes they might be given a plot of land.

This type of contract has been common throughout world history in different forms. Usually, the worker became an indentured servant by choice.^[2][3]

1. ↑ William Moraley and Susan E. Klepp, The infortunate: the voyage and adventures of William Moraley an indentured servant, Google Books, page xx
2. ↑ Frank R. Diffenderffer, The German Immigration into Pennsylvania Through the Port of Philadelphia, 1700-1775, Genealogical Pub. Co., Baltimore, 1979. This book describes the indenturing process in detail for immigrants from foreign countries, not only Germany.
3. ↑ Moraley, William; Klepp, Susan E. and Smith, Billy Gordon (2005). The infortunate: the voyage and adventures of William Moraley, an indentured servant. Pennsylvania State University Press. ISBN 0271026766. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)