Perpetual Servitude in the United States

Perpetual Servitude in the U.S. Legal History

Summary

Indentured servitude represented temporary service for a specified period, usually from four to seven years, to a legally designated owner. Perpetual servitude meant being owned by some other person for life–and ultimately, even through the generations. In the early days of Virginia, both English subjects and African Americans were indentured servants, but over time blacks would be subjected to perpetual servitude as chattels, defined as the movable property of their all-powerful masters and without legal rights of any kind.