Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Indentured servants could not marry without the permission of their master, were frequently subject to physical punishment, and did not receive legal favor from the courts. Female indentured servants in particular might be raped and/or sexually abused by their masters. If children were produced the labour would be extended by two years. [14]
In comparison, firing an indentured servant would mean a loss on the original capital investment spent purchasing the servant's contract. [60] Either substitution would lead to a decrease in demand for indentured servitude.
Many immigrants to the colonies came as indentured servants, with someone else paying their passage to the Colonies in return for a promise of service. At the end of his service, according to the contract, the indentured servant usually would be granted a sum of money, a new suit of clothes, land, or perhaps passage back to England.
Half of an indenture document of 1723 showing the randomly cut edge at the top. An indenture is a legal contract that reflects an agreement between two parties. Although the term is most familiarly used to refer to a labor contract between an employer and a laborer with an indentured servant status, historically indentures were used for a variety of contracts, including transfers and rents of ...
The redemptioners who became indentured servants ended up working as farm laborers, household help, in workshops, and even as store clerks. They were typically prevented from marrying until after their term of service ended. Often, the terms of separation stipulated that the servant receive a suit of clothing and sometimes, a shovel or an axe.
The first indentured servants arose centuries ago out of necessity and desperation on both sides of the Atlantic. An unskilled laborer from pre-industrial England might need to save up multiple ...
Before the passing of the 1705 Virginia Slave Code Act, African Americans served as indentured servants. [citation needed] [clarification needed] This law, after being passed, transformed servitude into slavery, turning many African Americans from extended servitude to a bonded and forced lifetime commitment to slavery.
The Indian indenture system was a system of indentured servitude, by which more than 1.6 million workers [1] from British India were transported to labour in European colonies, as a substitute for slave labour, following the abolition of the trade in the early 19th century.