Indentured servant

Indentured servant, person bound to labor for a stated period, usually 5 to 7 years. In the 17th and 18th centuries, people often agreed to indenture in return for passage to the American colonies. Others were enticed or kidnapped into indentured service. Convicts were sometimes sentenced and deported to indentured labor. With the use of slave labor, the practice of indenture disappeared.