The Immigration Act of 1864
This law was created to address Civil War-related labor shortages and to encourage economic development by legalizing dubious labor recruitment practices that resembled indentured servitude.
Many descriptions of the Immigration Act of 1864 state simply that it allowed contracts involving immigrants made outside the United States to be enforceable in US courts. In fact, the bill included language that a workman had the right “to mortgage his future” in accepting the work for which he is contracted. In this manner, the practice of indentured servitude was reintroduced into the US economy after it had been ended in the 1820s.
The law met immediate resistance from nascent labor organizations who opposed the importing of cheap contract labor. Congress eventually repealed the law in 1868. However, the practice of importing contract labor persisted, even after Congress outlawed it in 1885 with passage of the Foran Act. The use of cheap immigrant labor exists even today in some industries and service areas, and is often cited by groups opposed to large-scale immigration.
