indenture

Examples of indenture in the following topics:

• Toward Free Labor

  • In the 17th century, nearly two-thirds of English settlers came as indentured servants, although indentured servitude was not a guaranteed route to economic autonomy.
  • Several factors contributed to the decline of indentured servitude.
  • Indenture contract signed with an X by Henry Meyer in 1738
  • Indentured servitude was often how immigrants were able to fund their passage to the Americas.
  • Examine the changing economic factors that led to the decline of indentured servitude

• Indentured Servants

  • An indenture was a legal contract enforced by the courts.
  • Abuse of indentured servants on board ships is well documented.
  • The system declined as the price of indentured agricultural labor increased (for example, the cost of indentured labor rose by nearly 60% throughout the 1680s in some colonial regions).
  • Indenture contract signed with an X by Henry Meyer in 1738
  • Discuss the rise and decline of indentured servitude in colonial North America

• Indenture

  • A bond indenture is a legal contract issued to lenders that defines commitments and responsibilities of the seller and the buyer.
  • A bond indenture (also called a trust indenture or deed of trust) is a legal contract issued to lenders.
  • If the company fails to live up to the terms of the bond indenture, the trustee may bring legal action against the company on behalf of the bondholders.
  • In the United States, public debt offerings in excess of $10 million require the use of an indenture of trust under the Trust Indenture Act of 1939.
  • Bond indenture (also trust indenture or deed of trust) is a legal contract issued to lenders.

• Poverty in the Colonies

  • The poorest inhabitants of the American colonies tended to be subsistence farmers, day laborers, indentured servants, and slaves.
  • At the time of the rebellion, indentured servants made up the majority of laborers in the region.
  • Replacing indentured servitude with black slavery diminished these risks, alleviating the reliance on white indentured servants who were often dissatisfied and troublesome, and creating a caste of racially defined laborers whose movements were strictly controlled.
  • Indenture contract signed with an X by Henry Meyer in 1738
  • Indentured servitude was often how immigrants were able to fund their passage to the Americas.

• Chesapeake Slavery

  • However, by the 1680s, fluctuating tobacco prices and the growing scarcity of land in the region made the Chesapeake less appealing to men and women willing to indenture themselves.
  • The scarcity of indentured servants meant that the price of their labor contracts increased, and Chesapeake farmers began to look for alternative, cheaper sources of bonded labor.
  • Although African chattel slavery was a more expensive investment that white indentured servitude, it guaranteed a lifetime service of free labor.
  • In the late 17th century, indentured servants made up the majority of laborers in the region.
  • Replacing indentured servitude with black slavery diminished these risks, alleviating the reliance on white indentured servants, who were often dissatisfied and troublesome, and creating a caste of racially defined laborers whose movements were strictly controlled.

• An Empire of Commerce

  • In the 17th century, indentured servants worked the farms to pay back their passage to America and, once their debts were paid, earn land.
  • Many of these servants died before their indentures ended.
  • In 1676, indentured servants rebelled.
  • After Bacon's Rebellion, plantations began to rely on African slave labor instead of indentured servants.
  • Even after release from indenture, many of these white people remained in the economic lower classes, though they were not subject to the slave codes.

• Advantages of Bonds

  • Furthermore, bonds come with indentures (an indenture is a formal debt agreement that establishes the terms of a bond issue) and covenants (the clauses of such an agreement).

• Sinking Funds

  • Sinking fund provision of the corporate bond indenture requires a certain portion of the issue to be retired periodically.
  • At best some indentures allow firms to use a doubling option, which allows repurchase of double the required number of bonds at the sinking fund price.

• The Demographics of the Middle Colonies

  • Indentured servitude was especially common in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York in the 18th century, though few such servants worked in agriculture.
  • In an early attempt to encourage European settlement, the New Jersey legislature enacted a prohibitive tariff against imported slaves and in favor of European indentured servitude.

• A Growing Population and Expanding Economy in British North America

  • After 1700, most immigrants to Colonial America arrived as indentured servants—young unmarried men and women seeking a new life.
  • By the late 17th century, Virginia's export economy was largely based on tobacco, and new, richer settlers came in to take up large portions of land, build large plantations, and import indentured servants and slaves.
  • By the end of the century, African slaves had largely replaced indentured servants as Virginia's main labor force.