Knowra Indentured servitude Indentured servitude Indentured servitude is a labor arrangement in which a person works for a fixed period under contract, often in exchange for passage, training, or debt repayment.
Indenture : A contract binding a person to serve another for a specified period or obligation. The written agreement set the term, duties, and conditions of service.
European indentured servitude : Fixed-term contractual labor practiced in parts of Europe before and during the Atlantic colonial era. European precedents shaped the contracts and labor practices carried into colonial migration.
William Penn : An English Quaker leader who founded Pennsylvania as a colony in the late seventeenth century. Pennsylvania attracted European migrants, including people who financed passage through service contracts.
Chattel slavery : A system in which people are treated as property and enslaved status is imposed for life and inherited by descendants. Unlike indenture's stated term, chattel slavery made bondage permanent and inheritable.
Great Migration (Puritan) : The migration of about 20,000 English Puritans to New England between 1620 and 1640. Some migrants financed Atlantic passage through service, linking settlement to contracted labor.
Indenture contract : A legal agreement specifying a person's period of service and its terms. Its clauses defined the promised labor and, sometimes, the passage or debt exchanged for it.
Headright system : A colonial land-grant policy that awarded acreage for financing a person's passage to a colony. It encouraged wealthy migrants to recruit servants whose transportation could earn land.
James Oglethorpe : A British soldier and politician who helped found the colony of Georgia in 1732. Georgia's early labor policies reflected debates over slavery, migration, and contracted service.
Debt bondage : A form of forced labor in which a person works to repay a debt whose terms or duration may be difficult to escape. Debt could motivate an indenture, but debt bondage often lacks a clear, enforceable end date.
Virginia Company : An English joint-stock company that established and governed early settlements in Virginia. Its colonization efforts relied on recruiting laborers, including people bound by service contracts.
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