What statement best describes an indentured servant in colonial America?

• A. A slave for life with inherited status.
• B. A wage laborer who traveled to the colonies independently.
• C. A free migrant who paid for their own passage.
• D. A person bound to a master for a period of servitude with passage paid by the master.

Answer: (D)

Indentured servants were people who agreed or were contracted to work for a master for a fixed period in exchange for passage to the colonies and other support. The key feature is that the master paid their voyage, and the servitude lasted for a set number of years, after which the servant could be free and supposedly receive some assets or “freedom dues” to start independent life. This temporary, contracted labor setup is what sets indentured servitude apart from lifelong slavery and from free migration paid by the traveler.

The other descriptions don’t fit because they describe different arrangements: lifelong, inherited slavery; independent wage labor traveled to the colonies without obligation to a master; or a free migrant who paid their own passage. The statement that best describes an indentured servant is someone bound to a master for a period of servitude with passage paid by the master.