what is the meaning of indenture 
an indenture is a contract and for indentured servants these contracts contained indented marks along the sides of the document when the document was finalized two copies were made one copy was placed over the other and the edges of the pages were defaced or marked with indented characters servants were often uneducated and could be cheated so marking the two original copies helped to ensure a lasting means of authenticating the contract the bottom lineindentured servitude is a labor contract where an individual will work to repay an indenture or loan over some time commonly several years indentured servitude was popular in american colonies as many worked in exchange for the price of passage to america following the civil war the 13th amendment made indentured servitude illegal in the united states 