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Journal article

The Struggle over Immigration: Indentured Servants, Slaves, and Articles of Commerce

Date

1996

Authors

Mary Sarah Bilder

Abstract

This article moves beyond a textual analysis to argue that the origins of this struggle can be found over two centuries earlier in the history of indentured servitude and slavery. The existence and dominance of indentured servitude as a means of immigration ensured that early immigration regulation operated with the assumption that people were articles of commerce. Before independence, this assumption went unquestioned. But as slavery, indentured servitude, and immigration intertwined between Independence and the end of the Civil War, this assumption - that persons entering from abroad were "articles of commerce"- became one for the most disputed questions of constitutional law.

Journal title

Missouri Law Review

Volume

61

Issue

4

Page numbers

745 - 819

Publisher

HeinOnline

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Economic sectors

General relevance - all sectors

Content types

Past policies

Target groups

Researchers

Spheres of activity

History

Languages

English