What was the purpose of indenture agreements?

• A. To bind immigrants to work off the cost of their voyage.
• B. To grant immediate citizenship and land.
• C. For ship's passage to America to be paid by others; the contract was to work off the transportation cost.
• D. To secure labor by indenture through a transport-cost agreement.

Answer: (C)

Indentured contracts tied a migrant’s journey to a set period of labor. People often had their Atlantic passage paid by others, with the obligation to work off that transportation cost in exchange for the voyage. That combination—paying the voyage for the immigrant and binding them to a defined term of work to repay it—defines how indenture agreements operated. Once the term was completed, the servant could be free, though citizenship or land was not guaranteed. The option that states the journey’s cost was paid by others and the commitment was to work off that cost directly captures this arrangement.