In forma pauperis: Indentured Servitude, the Right to Counsel, and White Citizenship in the Seventeenth-Century Chesapeake.

This article examines the legal rights and social status of indentured servants in seventeenth-century English American colonies, emphasizing their recognition as rights-bearing members of colonial society despite the exploitative nature of their labor. Unlike enslaved people, indentured servants—who were predominantly white and included women, children, and Irish individuals—possessed clearly defined legal protections under English and colonial law, including the ability to sue masters for abuse or contract violations without court fees (in forma pauperis) and often with court-appointed pro bono lawyers. Courts actively facilitated these lawsuits by subpoenaing witnesses and reviewing records, resulting frequently in servant victories that affirmed their freedom, freedom dues, or compensation. The article highlights that these legal distinctions between indentured servitude and slavery, which excluded enslaved Africans from rights and legal recourse, developed decades before Bacon’s Rebellion and contributed to evolving concepts of white citizenship in colonial America.