Reply #74: Actually, most iterms of indenture were not permanent - that would be absurd. [View All]

[RaleighNCDUer]

Nobody would willingly sell himself into permanent bondage.

'Indenture' was obligating one's service, usually in exchange for passage to the Americas or paying off a debt. It was usually for a term of 4 to 7 years. Some, maybe many, who held the contracts made the indenture open-ended by adding rent and sustenance to the original contract, virtually guaranteeing that the servant would not be able to pay off his obligation within the contracted time, much the same way human traffickers do today. Even so, if a servant was able to come up with the cash to buy off the contract the 'owner' was obligated to honor it.

As mentioned elsewhere, the practice died away or was outlawed well before the civil war.