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MARKETS FOR CHILDREN IN EARLY AMERICA: A POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PAUPER APPRENTICESHIP

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 September 2002

John E. Murray  and
Ruth Wallis Herndon
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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.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 62 , Issue 2 , June 2002 , pp. 356 - 382
Copyright
© 2002 The Economic History Association

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