How Have We Become Indentured Slaves of the Debt System?

"It is therefore the inhabitants themselves who permit, or, rather, bring about, their own subjection, since by ceasing to submit they would put an end to their servitude." Etienne de la Boetie

The quote above points to a single word that sits at the foundation of our enslavement. That word is “Consent.” It is even enshrined in the paramount document in history that is heralded as the beginning of freedom in the modern world, the Declaration of Independence, wherein it refers to government “…by the consent of the governed.” That sounds important and lofty, but what has been manufactured over the last 250 years since that document was created is the manipulation of an entire world system to fabricate the consent of the governed into their own bondage and perpetual debt enslavement.

So let’s start by asking the questions: “What is going on in the world when it comes to debt? Why is it important to comprehend this subject today? Is there debt beyond student loans, consumer debt or a home mortgage. How does debt in the normal course of daily life relate to perpetual enslavement?”

To begin, let’s have a look at a way to examine at this question. In the early history of the United States (1700-1800s), when a man with no money wished to immigrate to America, it was a common practice to agree to serve a period of indentured labor in exchange for the cost of transportation on a ship to the new world.

Since the man did not have the money to pay for the passage, he exchanged the value of his future labor for the value of the passage. This agreement was a contract in the form of an indentured grantor trust. This positioned the man as the grantor and he placed his future labor into trust as the initial value and property to be held in the trust. This created an indenture. The interest, his future labor, was held and could be sold as a means for the ship captain to be paid upon delivery of the man to the new world, and the man who acquired the rights to that indentured labor became the end user, and was now the beneficiary of the trust.

A merchant or land owner could purchase the contract [ trust —> contract], the captain was paid, and the new owner now had an indentured servant who would work for him until the terms of the arrangement were fulfilled. If that total payment was extended for a longer period of time than the original contract stipulated – for example, by additional charges being applied for upkeep, rent, food or whatever else - the term might be extended for a longer period, or even indefinitely. This was summed up in the lyrics of the song by Johnny Cash “Sixteen Tons” and the line “I owe my Soul to the Company Store,” where mining towns, including workers’ housing, and the stores they had credit with, were all owned by the mining companies, ensuring the extension of indenture through accruing debt and obligations.

Words Have Precise Meanings - Key Words and Concepts:

1. Guarantor, noun gar'antor: A warrantor; one who engages to see that the stipulations of another are performed; also, one who engages to secure another in any right or possession.^[1]

2. Compared to: Grantor, noun: The person who grants; one who conveys lands, rents, etc.^[2]

3. Indenture: to attach something of value to a contract whereby the attached value becomes the bonded surety (guarantor) for the performance of the contract.^[3]

4. Indentured Servant: a man or woman who voluntarily attaches his labor and life (the value) to a contract to serve for a period of time in return for some form of consideration as reciprocal value.^[4]

5. Beneficiary: One in whom is vested the beneficial rights to the equity of the trust, but who is bound by the terms of the trust indenture and who has no legal authority over the assets (which are controlled by the trustees).

6. Beneficial Rights: The rights held by the Beneficiary or Beneficiaries to the equitable interests (equity) of the trust. According to the Maxim of Equity: The Beneficiary is the True Owner. That is true, but those rights can only be asserted and preserved/protected by and within a Court of Equity.

7. Equitable Interests: The interests of the beneficiary held in trust, defined as equity and only cognizable in a Court of Equity (historically referred to as a Chancery Court or Court of Chancery).

How Does This Work?

The indentured contract formed a trust. The life and labor [value] were the initial corpus (body and property) of the trust and the party providing the immediate value (passage on a ship), in exchange for the future labor, was the trustee (the ship captain) who held the value within the trust for a named or potential future beneficiary.

The contract of this agreement was a form of grantor trust. The man who placed his future labor into the trust was the grantor and that future labor became the initial corpus/property to be held in trust. This created an indenture. The grantor was also the guarantor. The interest (the future labor) thus held could be sold as a means for the ship captain to be paid upon delivery of the man to the American shores. That end user became the beneficiary upon his conveyance of monetary value in exchange for the beneficial rights of the trust (the future labor).

A Grantor Trust is essentially an indenture that bonds the value of the initial grant into the trust body (corpus) and now the “legal title” and control of the trust is vested in the trustee and the equitable value is vested in the beneficiary. An agreement creates a bond; it is an IOU. The bond is evidence of both a debt and a private trust relationship. You can bond, (grant) your own body, in the form of your labor, "as an IOU.” The agreement or contract makes the law and establishes the jurisdiction; guaranteeing the value into the future is the surety, the guarantor (the man who must continue to exchange his labor against the monetary value of the contract).

When the contract in trust form is sold to a merchant or a land owner, the bonded future labor is exchanged forward so that the buyer of the contract now becomes the beneficiary and the trustee. In trust law, it is not allowed that one party can be both trustee and beneficiary, so at this stage the trust collapses and the purchaser becomes the holder of “absolute title.” When the trusteeship [legal control] and beneficial rights (equitable interests) are vested in the same person or party, the trust collapses due to a merger of title, but the contract / agreement still exists. Absolute title is defined as full legal and beneficial rights and capacities being held by one person or party.

So to review the example: the ship owner is the trustee of the beneficial rights and interests of the future labor [secured, bonded labor, resident in the trust], which in turn can be sold or exchanged forward to someone or some group on the other side of the passage to America to take control of the indenture trust corpus (future labor of the man) and thereby become the beneficiary, thus becoming the owner of the labor based on contract.

The agreement becomes an instrument that can be bartered, traded or sold to another party upon arrival in America. Once the trust collapses the contract is concluded, and in effect, a new contract is established between the owner of the future labor and the guarantor of that labor (the man who gained passage across the ocean), and that contract interest can still be sold to another purchaser, or retained to be realized by the labor over time.

This is the basis of the bonded indenture relationship. Such a relationship is voluntary and yet cannot be broken unless and until the obligations attached to the indentured trust servant are settled and extinguished. Therein lies the rub! The pledged value exists in the future, but the bonding is established in the present, and if the future settlement is never achieved, the bonding/bondage endures [the IOU exists] until death.

Are we any different today? Does this sound familiar? Are the Souls [the beings] in this world bonded, indentured and sold to the Company Store? What exactly is that Company Store and who owns it? To whom is one in debt? During our life in the modern world, do we continue to add debt, bonds, and obligations to our voluntary indentured status as life goes on, in such a way, as the song lyrics recite, that we always “owe our soul to the Company Store?” Worthy questions to ask and explore and find out the answer thereto, and then to ask: “How do we actually settle all claims and obligations to the indentured contract trust that was placed upon us when we were only days old?”

To fully answer and resolve these questions requires extended study, including self-study. A comprehensive library of this work exists in our GEM University website. If you want to walk this path towards Freedom Absolute with us, please consider becoming a paid subscriber here on Substack, which includes all of the instructions to access our educational content.

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^[1] https://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/

^[2] Ibid.

^[3] https://gem.university/owsb/

^[4] Ibid.