USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Indentured servants were men and women who signed a contract (also known as an indenture or a covenant) by which they agreed to work for a certain number of years in exchange for transportation to Virginia and, once they arrived, food, clothing, and shelter.

Detailed explanation-2: -Indentured servants were not paid wages but they were generally housed, clothed, and fed. The rights to the individual’s labor could be bought and sold, but the servants themselves were not considered property and were free upon the end of their indenture (usually a period of five to seven years).

Detailed explanation-3: -Indentured labourers were bonded labourers under contract to work for an employer for a specific amount of time, to pay off their passage to a new country or home. Recruitment was done by agents engaged by employers and was paid a small commission.

Detailed explanation-4: -Until the early eighteenth century, the majority of Europeans who came to the Americas were not free settlers or elite landholders. They were indentured servants.

Detailed explanation-5: -As a carryover from English practice, indentured servants were the original standard for forced labor in New England and middle colonies like Pennsylvania and Delaware. These indentured servants were people voluntarily working off debts, usually signing a contract to perform slave-level labor for four to seven years.