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Evolution of Slavery
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Virginia Slave Code
The Virginia Slave Code states, "Slaves are the Negroes, and their Posterity, following the condition of the Mother, according to the Maxim, partus sequitur ventrum (status follows the womb). They are call'd Slaves, in respect of the time of their Servitude, because it is for Life."1 This is the time where indentured servants became slaves. There was no chance of owning land and being free from this point on.
1. Virginia Slave Code (1705) -
South Carolina passes Negro Act
After the wake of Stono's Rebellion, South Carolina passed an Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes, also known as the Negro Act. This act placed restrictions on the slaves. Stated in Corbett, "This law imposed new limits on slaves' behavior, prohibiting slaves from assembling, growing their own food, learning to write, and traveling freely."1
1. Corbett PhD, P. Scott and Jansen PhD, Volker, eds, U.S. History ( Rice University, 2016) Chpt 4.3, accessed June 20,2017 -
Virginia House of Burgess boycotts British slave trade
Parliament was passing act after act for the debt that was accrued from the Seven Year War. In Slavery in America it states, "Members of the Virginia House of Burgesses, meeting as a private body, boycott the British slave trade, resolving that they will not import any slaves or purchase any imported, after the First day of November next, until the said Acts of Parliament (the Townshend Acts) are repealed."1
1. Schneider, Dorothy & Carl. Slavery in America. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2007. -
Vermont abolishes slavery
The Declaration of the rights of the inhabitants of the state of Vermont states, "THAT all men are born equally free and independent, and have certain natural, inherent and unalienable rights, amongst which are the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing and protecting property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety."1 Vermont believed that no man or women should be a slave.
1. Vermont Constitution (1777) -
First Fugitive Slave Law passed
"It required every state, including those that forbade slavery to forcibly return slaves who had escaped from other states to their owners,"1 stated Glass. Any person found hiding a slave would have a five hundred dollar penalty. Many Northern states did not enforce this law since slavery in the North was being abolished. This eventually lead to the Underground Railroad.
1. Glass, Andrew. Congress enacts first fugitive slave law, Feb. 12. 1793. Retrieved from http://www.politico.com -
Underground Railroad is established
Slavery was being abolished throughout some of the colonies, especially in the North. In Columbia Pennsylvania "The kidnapping there of a former slave in 1804 led to the town's active involvement in aiding runaway slaves."1 This area was along the Susquehanna River where they utilized Wrights' Ferry in order to flee to Maryland. This was just the beginning of the Underground Railroad.
1. retrieved from http://www.undergroundrailroadconductor.com/PA.htm
