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Ashlee Haupt

History 1101

Professor Wang 

21 October 2021

Slavery In Colonial America

As Colonial America grew in its independence, so grew the concept of slavery.  Slavery

started with indentured servants, but soon became a race based oppressive practice to accomplish

labor and obtain economic benefits.  In many ways slavery was similar across the colonies, but

there were some differences.  

Each territory had a Slave Code which was seen as authoritative and “defined the status

of enslaved blacks and explicitly spelled out the punishments for slaves” (SC Slave Codes 1).  In

many ways slave codes made slavery a permanent condition in Colonial America by outlining

why it was necessary and how it would be governed. The South Carolina slave code states

“plantations and estates of this Providence cannot be well and sufficiently managed and brought

into use, without the labor and service of negroes and other slaves”; (SC Slave Codes 1712 and

1740 1). This assertion indicates a belief that a farm or estate could not be successful without the

use of slaves. The code also states, “it is absolutely necessary that constitutions, laws and orders,

should in this Providence be made and enacted” (SC Slave Codes 1712-1740 1). In addition,

some of the Slave Codes addressed how free blacks should be treated within the territories.  For

example,  “free blacks could not enter South Carolina'' (SC Slave Codes 1). As a result there

were no free blacks in South Carolina; any black entering the territory would become a slave.

When it came to enslaving individuals in Colonial America it quickly became almost

entirely based on race, or the color of their skin. For a while, there were both black and white
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servants but individuals were treated differently based on the color of their skin. By 1680, “ideas

of racial difference were strongly reflected in these colonies’ laws, despite their small black

populations” (Spotlight). Colonists with both white and black slaves typically separated them

and gave them different duties.  In addition, black slaves were often called “Negro Slaves”

(Spotlight). After a few years in 1705,”a law explicitly linked being black with being a slave”

(Spotlight). With the passage of this law, it became almost impossible for black Africans to have

any freedoms in Colonial America, unfortunately, they were already predetermined to be slaves,

based on the law associating the color of their skin with being a slave 

Slaves were seen as property and therefore not able to enter into contracts or other

agreements such as marriage because they were already under contract with their masters or the

people that owned them. Slaves were viewed as property across all of Colonial America because

they could be bought and sold for money.  Virginia Slave Code ¨asserted that slaves were real

estate, declared “thirty lashes” (Virginia Slave Code 1).  South Carolina Slave Codes states “that

all negroes, mulatoes, mestizos 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....¨ (SC Slave Codes

1712-1740 1). These declarations of slaves as property establish the foundation for detailed laws

associated with the rights of slaves.  Since slaves were seen as property they were without any

rights and all actions were controlled by their owners.

While many of the foundational elements of slavery such as the existence of Slave Codes,

race, and property assertions were consistent across Colonial American there were some

differences across territories.  One area of difference was religion.  “Non-Christians brought to

Virginia would be slaves, even if they converted to Christianity” (Virginia Slave Code 1). On the
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other hand, the Slave Code in South Carolina is silent on religion and Christianity as it relates to

slave requirements.  For various reasons, individual religious beliefs, especially those of slaves,

were very important to Virginians, but not a priority for South Carolinians.  

Slavery grew almost as fast as colonists thirst for independence in early Colonial

America, but it wasn’t always consistently implemented across all the territories.  Slave Codes

outlined the individual territory laws regarding slavery with many similarities in areas such as

race and assertion of slaves as property.  However, they often differed on some areas such as

religion.  Little did early Colonists know the laws and slavery guidelines they were putting in

place would end up resulting in one of the greatest challenges our nation would have to

overcome, as we are still dealing with the repercussions over 300-years later.