The Congregate System was a method used in the 19th century in which prisoners were used to produce goods that were then sold. This was the first instance of such type of slave labor, which has been used in several instances since them. Under this system, prisoners worked in silence during the day, and were held in solitary confinement at night.
On the other hand, the Contract Labor System was a system used during the same time period in order to attract immigrants to work in the United States. This system created contracts with below-market wages in order to bring primarily Chinese immigrants to the country.
Both of these systems employed people while paying them much less than the value of their work (or, in the case of prisoners, nothing). They were ways in which cheap labor was abused for the benefits of a few wealthy people.
The Alien Contract Law was passed in order to curb these abuses. The legislation prohibited employers from recruiting and importing laborers from abroad with promises of work. The main purpose was to decrease the number of Chinese immigrants in the United States. It also tried to regulate the differences in payment between immigrants and Americans.
