i learned about indentured servitude in the 70s... as a way for the lower classes to earn their way to the new world...
Indentured servitude was commonplace in the middle Colonies as a way to pay for one’s passage.
The ships would dock; those who could pay could disembark.
Those who could not pay had to remain on ship with rotten food and squalid water until someone one shore would “buy” their service for seven years for their passage.
If a family member died less than half way across the Atlantic no passage was owed. But if s/he died 1 day beyond the half way point full passage was owed.
We studied indentured servitude in history classes back when they actually taught history in schools. We were taught in those history and civics classes that to be a natural born citizen of the USA meant being born on the soil of parents who were BOTH citizens. Unfortunately, much of what was taught then has been thrown out and anyone who still recalls it is accused of being a liar or crazy.