Peon (English /ˈpiːɒn/, from the Spanish pronunciation peón: [peˈon]) generally refers to a person who is subjected to Pentecostal labor: any form of wage labor, financial exploitation, forced economic practice, or politics in which the victim or a worker (peon) has little control over employment or economic conditions. Peon and Peonage can refer to both the colonial and postcolonial periods of Latin America, as well as the period after the end of slavery in the United States, when “black codes” were adopted to keep African-American freedmen as laborers by other means. The following court cases concerned Pentecost money: Due to Spanish tradition, peony remained legal and widespread in the New Mexico Territory, even after the Civil War. In response, Congress passed a resolution on May 2. In March 1867, the Peonage Act of 1867 stated: “Sec 1990. The detention of a person for service or work under the so-called Pentecostal system is abolished and forever prohibited in the territory of New Mexico or in any other territory or state of the United States; and all laws, laws, . who, directly or indirectly, declares null and void the voluntary or involuntary service or work of persons as peons, for the liquidation of debts or obligations or otherwise. [23] The current version of this Act is codified in Chapter 21-I of 42 U.S.C. § 1994 and does not specifically mention New Mexico. [ref. necessary] In English, peon (duplicate of the peasant) and peony have meanings that refer to their Spanish etymology (infantryman [1]); A peon can be defined as a person with little authority, often assigned to unskilled tasks; a subordinate or person subjected to capricious or inappropriate surveillance.
In this sense, Peon can be used in a pejorative or self-sacrificing context. [ref. needed] (meaning 1) borrowed from the French pawn “(in the 17th and 18th centuries French India) infantry soldier, domestic”, back to Old French peon, “infantryman” pawn; (meaning 2-3) borrowed from American Spanish peón “worker, infantry soldier”, back to late Latin pedån-, pedÅ “person with flat feet, person on foot” (Middle Latin, “infantryman”) – more to deposit receipt 1 Southern states and private companies have benefited from this form of unpaid work. It is estimated that at the beginning of the 20th century, up to 40% of blacks in the South were trapped in peonies. Supervisors and landlords often resorted to severe physical deprivation, beatings, flogging, and other abuses as “discipline” against workers. [5] Pentecostalism, a form of involuntary servitude whose origins date back to the Spanish conquest of Mexico, when conquerors were able to force the poor, especially Indians, to work for Spanish planters and miners. In English and Spanish, the word peon became synonymous with workers, but in the United States it was limited to workers who were contractually obligated to pay their creditors in labor. Although the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution and congressional legislation prohibited such involuntary servitude in the United States after the American Civil War, the former Southern slave states developed certain laws to make labor compulsory.
Under these state laws, employers could induce or deceive men into signing employment contracts to pay their debts or avoid fines that could be imposed by the courts. The Spanish conquest of Mexico and the Caribbean islands included peonies; The conquistadors forced the natives to work for Spanish planters and miners. Peony was widespread in Latin America, particularly in Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador and Peru. It remains an important part of social life, as under the Urarina of the Peruvian Amazon. [3] Another form of Pentecostal labor exists when prisoners sentenced to forced labor are transferred to private or public labor camps. However, the term has a historical basis and use in the context of much stricter conditions of forced labor: After the American Civil War of 1861-1865, peony developed in the southern United States. Poor white farmers and former African-American slaves, known as freedmen who could not afford their own land, farmed someone else`s land and traded labor for a portion of the harvest. This was called a partial lease and the benefits were initially mutual. [ref. needed] The landowner paid for seeds and tools in exchange for a percentage of the money earned from cultivation and part of the harvest. Over time, many landowners began to abuse this system.
[ref. needed] The landlord forced the tenant or sharecropper to buy seeds and tools from the landlord`s shop, which often inflated prices. Because sharecroppers are often illiterate, they must rely on the books and accounts of the landowner and his employees. Other tactics included debiting the expenses of the sharecropper`s profits after harvest and “miscalculating” the net profits of the harvest, keeping the sharecropper in a perpetual debt to the landowner. As tenants could not offset the costs, they were forced to work involuntarily because of debts they owed to the landowner. In addition, unpredictable or disruptive weather conditions, such as droughts or storms, disrupted seasonal plantings or crops, causing tenants to accumulate debts to landowners. [ref. needed] After the Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment prohibited involuntary servitude such as Pentecostal labor for all but convicted felons. Congress has also passed various laws aimed at protecting the constitutional rights of blacks in the South and making those who violate those rights by conspiracy, trespass, or disguise guilty of a crime punishable by ten years in prison and civil obstruction. Unlawful application of state law to infringe on rights guaranteed by the Federal Constitution was punishable by a fine or one year`s imprisonment.
But until President Lyndon B.`s involuntary servitude is abolished. Johnson on 6. In August 1966, sharecroppers in the southern states were forced to continue working to settle old debts or pay taxes. The southern states allowed it in order to obtain the partial lease. [ref. needed] Supported by Black`s Law Dictionary, Free 2nd ed., and The Law Dictionary. n Mexico. A debtor held by his creditor in a bondage eligible to pay the debt; a serf.
Weaver. In India. A footman; a soldier; a junior officer; a staff member employed in the financial, police or judicial sectors. After the American Civil War, the South passed “black codes,” laws to control freed black slaves. Vagrancy laws were included in these black codes. Homeless or unemployed African Americans who were between jobs, most of whom were former slaves, were arrested and fined as vagrants. Since he usually did not have the funds to pay the fine, the “vagrant” was sent to district work or rented to a private employer as part of the convicts` rental program. The authorities also attempted to restrict the movement of freedmen between rural areas and cities between cities. [ref. needed] Under these laws, local authorities arbitrarily arrested tens of thousands of people and fined them and ordered them to pay court costs for their cases. Black freedmen were the most aggressively targeted. Poor whites were also arrested, but usually in much smaller numbers.
White merchants, farmers, and business owners were allowed to pay these debts, and the prisoner had to work on the debt. Prisoners were hired as laborers for the owners and operators of coal mines, lumber yards, brick kilns, railroads, quarries and agricultural plantations, with the proceeds of renting their labor going to the states. Landlords were responsible for workers` housing and food and often mistreated them with little state supervision. Government officials have leased incarcerated blacks and whites to small-town entrepreneurs, provincial farmers, and dozens of businesses looking for cheap labour. Their labor power was bought and sold repeatedly for decades, until the 20th century, long after the official abolition of American slavery. [4] Note: Meaning 1 may be influenced in the use of Portuguese peão with a similar range of meanings. The Oxford English Dictionary, third edition, mentions an earlier pronunciation /pɪËuËn/ or /pjuËn/ for meaning 1.