Why did apprenticeship and indentured servitude decline after the revolution?

These two forms of work agreement declined because of the need for a more tractable work force, especially in the South. Slavery became more entrenched and the operative means of organizing labor in agricultural regions. This was compounded after the invention of the cotton gin and cotton's importance as an export.

The lack of freedom inherent in apprenticeship and indentured servitude struck growing numbers of Americans as incompatible with republican citizenship.