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Indentured servitude in British America was the prominent system of labor in the British American colonies until it was eventually supplanted by slavery. [1] During its time, the system was so prominent that more than half of all immigrants to British colonies south of New England were white servants, and that nearly half of total white ...
Indentured servitude is a form of labor in which a person is contracted to work without salary for a specific number of years. The contract called an " indenture ", may be entered voluntarily for a prepaid lump sum , as payment for some good or service (e.g. travel), purported eventual compensation, or debt repayment.
The third indentured servitude contract, 1620-early 1700s: The company created a third form of indentured servitude in which immigrants transported at the company's expense from England to Virginia. The contracts of the immigrants were then sold outright to planters. These contracts bound the immigrants to labor for fixed terms of years.
By 1804 (including New York (1799) and New Jersey (1804)), all of the Northern states had abolished slavery or set measures in place to gradually abolish it, [3] [5] although there were still hundreds of ex-slaves working without pay as indentured servants in Northern states as late as the 1840 census (see Slavery in the United States# ...
It lasted from the 15th through 19th centuries and was the largest legal form of unfree labor in the history of the United States, reaching 4 million slaves at its height. [citation needed] Slavery and involuntary servitude were made illegal through the thirteenth amendment, except as punishment for a crime. [1]
Indentured servitude in Pennsylvania (1682-1820s): The institution of indentured servitude has a significant place in the history of labor in Pennsylvania. From the founding of the colony (1681/2) to the early post-revolution period (1820s), indentured servants contributed considerably to the development of agriculture and various industries in ...
Before the 1630s, indentured servitude was dominant form of bondage in the colonies, but by 1636 only Caucasians could lawfully receive contracts as indentured servants. [36] The oldest known record of a permanent Native American slave was a native man from Massachusetts in 1636. [ 36 ]
This resulted in British indentured servants becoming less attractive to potential colonial masters. [1] A similar law was passed in Ireland, in an act of Parliament, whereby, in return for passage to America, the servant gave the purchaser of his indenture all rights to his labour for an agreed period of time, usually four years.