This is something l studied in history and l find it so interesting to share with anyone out there who doesn’t know the laws of slavery. Slavery is a creation of law, which defines what it means to be a slave and protect the master’s right in his slave property. Slavery is defined as a racial institution, appropriate only for Africans, according to the laws. Below are some of those laws:(The date tells the time law was enacted and the place is in brackets)
1640-Masters are required to arm everyone in their households except Africans ( Virginia) 1643- All adult men and African women are taxable, on the assumption that they were working in the fields(Virgina)
1662-Children follow the condition of their mother(Virginia) 1662-Double fine charged for any Christian who commits fornication with an African (Virginia) 1664-All slaves serve for life;that is, slavery is defined as a lifelong condition(Maryland)
1664-Interracial marriage banned; any free woman who marries a slave will serve that slave’s master until her husband dies, and their children will be enslaved(Maryland)
1667-Baptism as a Christian does not make a slave free(Virginia)
1669-No punishment is given if punished slave dies (Virginia)
1670-Free Blacks and Indians(Native Americans) are not allowed to purchase Christian indentured servants(Virginia)
1670-Indians captured elsewhere and sold as slaves to Virginia are to serve for life; those captured in Virginia, until she age of 30, if children, or for 12 years, if grown(Virginia)
1680-In order to prevent “Negroes insurrections”: no slave may carry arms or weapons; no slave may leave his or her master without written permission; any slave who “lifts up his hand” against a Christian will receive 30 lashes; any slave who runs away and resists arrests may be killed lawfully (Virgina)
1682-Slaves may not gather for more than 4 hours at other than owner’s plantation (Virginia)
1682-All servants who were “Negroes, Moors, Mollatoes or Indians” were to be considered slaves at the time of their purchase if neither their parents nor country were Christian(Virginia)
1691-Owners are to be compensated if “Negroes, Mulattoes or Indian” is to be banished; any free English woman who bears a “bastard child by any negro or mulatto” will be fined, and if she can’t pay the fine, she will be indentured for five years and the child will be indentured until the age of 30 (Virginia)
1691-All slaves who are freed by their masters must be transported out of the state(Virginia)
1692-Special courts of “over and terminer” are established for trying slaves accused of crimes, creating a separate system of justice(Virginia)
1705-Mulatto is defined as “the child of an Indian, the child, grandchild, or great grandchild of a negro” (Virginia)
1705-Africans,mulattoes, and Indians are prohibited from holding office or giving grand jury testimony (Virginia)
1705-Slaves are forbidden to own livestock(Virginia) 1705-“Christian white” servants cannot be whipped naked (Virginia)
1723-Free Blacks explicitly excluded from militia(Virginia)
1723-Free Blacks explicitly denied the right to vote (Virginia)
