Contract Labor Law, July 4, 1864

(US Statutes at Large, vol. XIII, p. 386) Be it enacted...
Sec. 2. That all contracts that shall be made by emigrants to the United States in foreign countries, in conformity to regulations that may be established... whereby emigrants shall pledge the wages of their labor for a term not exceeding twelve monthes, to repay the expenses of their emigration, shall be held to be valid in law, and may be enforced in the Courts of the United States, or of the several states and territories; and such advances, if so stipulated in the contract... shall operate as alien up on any land thereafter aquired by the emigrant....

Questions:

1. What practice does this law call to mind?
   
2. While this is only an excerpt of the law and you are not able to give a full and complete opinion of it, do you support the law as presented here? Explain why or why not. Draw upon you own moral beliefs and ideas concerning the nature of man.

  

The Illinois Labor History Society
28 E. Jackson, Chicago, IL 60604
Phone: (312) 663-4107