Markets for Children in Early America: A Political Economy of Pauper Apprenticeship
Author(s)
Murray, John E.; Herndon, Ruth Wallis
Abstract
After beginning as a kind of outdoor poor relief, long-term indenture of poor children evolved into a specialized form of craft apprenticeship. Analysis of indenture terms indicates that relationships between end payments (“freedom dues”) and education and training clauses varied by region. In Boston, education and training clauses were associated negatively with freedom-dues clauses, but in Rhode Island and Charleston the relationship was positive. Variation in freedom dues to suit the needs of the master or overseer of the poor, without reference to the worker-child’s own interests, resulted from the child’s lack of advocacy during contract formation.
