USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -What Were Indentured Servants. Indentured servants were immigrants who could not afford the costs involved in travelling to North America during the 17th (1600s) and 18th (1700s) centuries. These immigrants signed an indenture contract whereby they agreed to work for 4-7 years for a master.

Detailed explanation-2: -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-3: -Indentured servitude is a labor contract where an individual will work to repay an indenture or loan over some time, commonly several years. Indentured servitude was popular in American colonies as many worked in exchange for the price of passage to America.

Detailed explanation-4: -Only two indentured servants are known to have worked at Monticello while under the terms of their indentures (Thomas Walker and William Rice). Two other men worked for Thomas Jefferson after completion of their contracted service (Antonio Giannini and Giovannini da Prato).

Detailed explanation-5: -Indentured servitude was a method of increasing the number of colonists, especially in the English and later British colonies. Voluntary migration and convict labor only provided so many people, and since the journey across the Atlantic was dangerous, other means of encouraging settlement were necessary.