Slave codes

Slave codes were laws in each U.S. state, which defined the status of slaves and the rights of masters. These codes gave slave-owners absolute power over the enslaved.

Provisions

Definition of "slaves"

Virginia, 1639: “Act XI. All persons except the African slaves are to be provided with arms and ammunitions or be fined at the pleasure of the governor and the council.”^[1]
Virginia, 1662: “Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children got by any Englishmen upon a Negro shall be slave or Free, Be it therefore enacted and declared by this present Grand assembly, that all children born in this country shall be held bond or free only according to the condition of the mother."
Maryland, 1664: “That whatsoever free-born [English] woman shall intermarry with any slave [...] shall serve the master of such slave during the life of her husband; and that all the issue of such free-born women, so married shall be slaves as their fathers were.”
Virginia, 1667: “Act III. Whereas some doubts have arisen whether children that are slaves by birth [...] should by virtue of their baptism be made free, it is enacted that baptism does not alter the condition to the person as to his bondage or freedom; masters freed from this doubt may more carefully propagate Christianity by permitting slaves to be admitted to that sacrament.”
Virginia, 1682: “Act I. It is enacted that all servants [...] which shall be imported into this country either by sea or by land, whether Negroes, Moors, mulattoes or Indians who and whose parentage and native countries are not Christian at the time of their first purchase by some Christian [...] and all Indians, which shall be sold by our neighboring Indians, or any other trafficking with us for slaves, are hereby adjudged, deemed and taken to be slaves to all intents and purposes any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.”
Virginia, 1705: ^[2]"All servants imported and brought into the Country...who were not Christians in their native Country...shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion...shall be held to be real estate."
South Carolina, 1712: "Be it therefore enacted, by his Excellency, William, Lord Craven, Palatine.... and the rest of the members of the General Assembly, now met at Charles Town, for the South-west part of this Province, and by the authority of the same, That all negros, mulattoes, mestizo's or Indians, which at any time heretofore have been sold, or now are held or taken to be, or hereafter shall be bought and sold for slaves, are hereby declared slaves; and they, and their children, are hereby made and declared slaves..."

Violence and other injustices against slaves

Virginia, 1705 – "If any slave resists his master...correcting such a slave, and shall happen to be killed in such correction...the master shall be free of all punishment...as if such accident never happened."

South Carolina, 1712 - "Be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, That no master, mistress, overseer, or other person whatsoever, that hath the care and charge of any negro or slave, shall give their negroes and other slaves leave...to go out of their plantations.... Every slave hereafter out of his master's plantation, without a ticket, or leave in writing, from his master...shall be whipped...."

Louisiana, 1724 - "The slave who, having struck his master, his mistress, or the husband of his mistress, or their children, shall have produced a bruise, or the shedding of blood in the face, shall suffer capital punishment."

Reading by slaves illegal

Some Slavery Codes made teaching Mulatto, Indian and indentured slaves illegal.^[3]

Alabama, 1833, section 31 - "Any person or persons who attempt to teach any free person of color, or slave, to spell, read, or write, shall, upon conviction thereof by indictment, be fined in a sum not less than two hundred and fifty dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars."
Alabama, 1833, section 32 - "Any free person of color who shall write for any slave a pass or free paper, on conviction thereof, shall receive for every such offense, thirty-nine lashes on the bare back, and leave the state of Alabama within thirty days thereafter..."
Alabama, 1833, section 33 - "Any slave who shall write for any other slave, any pass or free-paper, upon conviction, shall receive, on his or her back, one hundred lashes for the first offence, and seven hundred lashes for every offence thereafter..."

Example slave codes

Deep South

South Carolina established its slave code in 1712, based on the 1688 English slave code employed in Barbados. The South Carolina slave code served as the model for other colonies in North America. In 1770, Georgia adopted the South Carolina slave code, and then Florida adopted the Georgia code.^[4] The 1712 South Carolina slave code included provisions such as:^[4]

Slaves were forbidden to leave the owner's property, unless accompanied by a white person, or obtaining permission. If a slave leaves the owner's property without permission, "every white person" is required to chastise such slaves
Any slave attempting to run away and leave the colony (later, state) receives the death penalty
Any slave who evades capture for 20 days or more is to be publicly whipped for the first offense; branded with the letter R on the right cheek for the second offense; and lose one ear if absent for thirty days for the third offense; and castrated for the fourth offense.
Owners refusing to abide by the slave code are fined and forfeit ownership of their slaves
Slave homes are to be searched every two weeks for weapons or stolen goods. Punishment for violations escalate to include loss of ear, branding, and nose-slitting, and for the fourth offense, death.
No slave shall be allowed to work for pay, or to plant corn, peas or rice; or to keep hogs, cattle, or horses; or to own or operate a boat; to buy or sell; or to wear clothes finer than 'Negro cloth'

The South Carolina slave code was revised in 1739 with the following amendments:^[4]

No slave shall be taught to write, work on Sunday, or work more than 15 hours per day in Summer, and 14 hours in Winter.
Willful killing of a slave exacts a fine of 700 pounds, and "passion" killing 350 pounds
The fine for concealing runaway slaves is $1,000 and a prison sentence of up to one year
A fine of $100 and six months in prison are imposed for employing any Black or slave as a clerk
A fine of $100 and six months in prison are imposed on anyone selling or giving alcoholic beverages to slaves
A fine of $100 and six months in prison are imposed for teaching a slave to read and write, and death is the penalty for circulating incendiary literature
Freeing a slave is forbidden, except by deed, and after 1820, only by permission of the legislature [Georgia required legislative approval after 1801]

Some elements of these codes were rarely or laxly enforced as they imposed costs or limitations upon slaveowners. For instance, well after 1712, slaves commonly worked for hire in Charleston.^[5]

Tobacco States

The slave codes of the tobacco colonies (Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia) were modeled on the Virginia code, which was initially established in 1667.^[4] The 1682 Virginia code included the following provisions:^[6]

Slaves were prohibited from possessing weapons
Slaves were prohibited from leaving their owner's plantations without permission
Slaves were prohibited from lifting a hand against a white person, even in self-defense
A runaway slave refusing to surrender could be killed without penalty

The District of Columbia Slave Codes

Slaves were a common sight in the nation's capital. Harsh regulation of these urban slaves, most of whom were servants for the government elite, was in effect until the 1850s. Compared to some southern codes, the District of Columbia was relatively moderate. Slaves were allowed to hire their services, live apart from their masters, and free blacks were even allowed to live in the city and operate schools. The code could be used by attorneys and clerks who referred to it when drafting contracts or briefs. By 1860, there were over 11,000 free blacks and over 3,000 slaves in the District of Columbia. Following the Compromise of 1850, the sale of slaves was outlawed within Washington D.C. Slavery in the District of Columbia ended in 1862 and nearly 3,000 slaves were offered a compensation. The official printed slave code was issued only a month before slavery ended there.

Northern Colonies

Slave codes in the Northern colonies, before slavery was abolished, were less harsh than slave codes in the Southern colonies, but contained many similar provisions, such as forbidding slaves from leaving the owner's land, forbidding whites from selling alcohol to slaves, and specifying punishment for attempting to escape.^[7]

Proper treatment of slaves

Southern slave codes did make willful killing of a slave illegal in most cases.^[8] For example, in 1791 the North Carolina legislature made the willful killing of a slave murder, unless done in resisting or under moderate correction.^[8] Historian Lawrence M. Friedman wrote: "Ten Southern codes made it a crime to mistreat a slave. ... Under the Louisiana Civil Code of 1825 (art. 192), if a master was “convicted of cruel treatment,” the judge could order the sale of the mistreated slave, presumably to a better master."^[9]

Notes

^ "Laws on Slavery". Virtual Jamestown.
^ Slave Codes of 1705
^ [1]
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Christian, pp 27-28
^ Berlin, Ira. Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America. Harvard University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-674-81092-9
^ Christian, pp 19
^ Christian, p 30
^ ^a ^b Morris, Thomas D. (1999). Southern Slavery and the Law, 1619-1860. University of North Carolina Press. p. 172. ISBN 0807864307.
^ Lawrence M. Friedman (2005). A History of American Law: Third Edition. Simon and Schuster. p.163 ISBN 0743282582

References

Christian, Charles M., and Bennet, Sari, Black saga: the African American experience : a chronology, Basic Civitas Books, 1998

Thomas Cooper and David J. McCord, ed., Statutes at Large of South Carolina, (10 Vols., Columbia, 1836–1841) VII, pp. 352–356.

B. F. French, Historical Collections of Louisiana:Embracing Translations of Many Rare and Valuable Documents Relating to the Natural, Civil, and Political History of that State (New York: D. Appleton, 1851)
Slave Code for the District of Columbia
Laws of the State of Alabama, 1833

External links

Virginia's slave codes on PBS.org
Slave codes of District of Columbia
Slave codes of State of Georgia
The American Slave Code in Theory and Practice: Its Distinctive Features Shown by Its Statutes, Judicial Decisions, and Illustrative Face

[1] "Laws on Slavery". Virtual Jamestown.

[2] Slave Codes of 1705

[3] [1]

[Christian,_pp_27-28-4] Christian, pp 27-28

[5] Berlin, Ira. Many Thousands Gone: The First Two Centuries of Slavery in North America. Harvard University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-674-81092-9

[6] Christian, pp 19

[7] Christian, p 30

[slaves-8] Morris, Thomas D. (1999). Southern Slavery and the Law, 1619-1860. University of North Carolina Press. p. 172. ISBN 0807864307.

[9] Lawrence M. Friedman (2005). A History of American Law: Third Edition. Simon and Schuster. p.163 ISBN 0743282582

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