Colonial indenture served as a flexible legal device far beyond labor

Evidence

The indenture system had, in short, many uses. It was a way of financing immigration, a penal sanction, a way to train the young, a kind of welfare institution, and a crude instrument of credit. Court records show surprising uses of this protean device. In 1703, in Delaware, a “poor Aged lame Man,” Leviticus John Wassell, “did bind himselfe a Servant to One Edward Starkie … for the time and terme of foure years In Consideration that the said Starkies Wife Would cure the said Leviticus John Wassell his sore leg.” — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 433

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonial indenture formalized the transnational labor market and legal-illegal categories; Contemporary transnational contract labor parallels colonial indenture through market logic — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in…, 462; Colonial indenture created the template for neoliberal contracting and subcontracting — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims: Race and Labor in…, 458

Broader Connections

• Colonial indenture formalized the transnational labor market and legal-illegal categories #expands (0.90)
• Contemporary transnational contract labor parallels colonial indenture through market logic #expands (0.85) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 462
• Colonial indenture created the template for neoliberal contracting and subcontracting #expands (0.80) — Junaid Rana, Terrifying Muslims, 458