Indentured Servant and the Company Town
A labourer under contract to work for an employer for a specific amount of time is a bonded labourer also known as a Indentured Servant. Typically the employer provided little or no monetary pay, but was responsible for accommodation, food, other essentials, training and when applicable passage to a new country. Upon completion of the term of the contract the labourer sometimes received a lump sum payment such as a parcel of land and was free to farm or take up trade of his own. In other words indentured servants are very poor people obligated to forced labor for a fixed number of years, often in exchange for passage to the New World or other benefits. The term comes from the medieval English "indenture of retainer" a contract written in duplicate on the same sheet, with the copies separated by cutting along a jagged line so that the teeth of the two parts could later be refitted to confirm authenticity.
North America
Indentured servitude is not identical with involuntary servitude and slavery. However, there have been multiple occasions where the indentured servitude has been abused. For example, indentured servants may be forced to purchase goods or services from the employer in exchange for an extension to the period of their indenture. In these circumstances, the system can represent a form of unfree labour.The labour-intensive cash crop tobacco was farmed by indentured labourers in the 17th century. It was the legal basis of the apprenticeship system by which skilled trades were learned. In North American history, employers usually paid for European workers' passage across the Atlantic Ocean, reimbursing the shipowner who held their papers of indenture. In return, the servants agreed to work for a specified number of years. The agreement could also be an exchange for professional training, after being the indentured servant to a blacksmith for several years, one would expect to work as a blacksmith on one's own account after the period was over. During the
North America
Indentured servitude is not identical with involuntary servitude and slavery. However, there have been multiple occasions where the indentured servitude has been abused. For example, indentured servants may be forced to purchase goods or services from the employer in exchange for an extension to the period of their indenture. In these circumstances, the system can represent a form of unfree labour.The labour-intensive cash crop tobacco was farmed by indentured labourers in the 17th century. It was the legal basis of the apprenticeship system by which skilled trades were learned. In North American history, employers usually paid for European workers' passage across the Atlantic Ocean, reimbursing the shipowner who held their papers of indenture. In return, the servants agreed to work for a specified number of years. The agreement could also be an exchange for professional training, after being the indentured servant to a blacksmith for several years, one would expect to work as a blacksmith on one's own account after the period was over. During the
References: Morgan, Edmund S. American Slavery, American Freedom: The Ordeal of Colonial Virginia. New York: Norton, 1975. Salinger, Sharon V. 'To serve well and faithfully ': Labor and Indentured Servants in Pennsylvania, 1682-1800. New Boyd, Lawrence W. "The Coal Company Town." Ph.D. Dissertation, West Virginia University, 1993. Fishback, Price V. Soft Coal, Hard Choices: The Economic Welfare of Bituminous Coal Miners 1890-1930. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992. Gates, Grace Hooten. The Model City of the New South: Anniston, Alabama, 1872-1900. Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama Press, 1996. United States Coal Commission, Report, 5 parts, Senate Document 195, 68th Congress, Second Session. Washington, DC: U. S. Government Printing Office,