Slave codes facts for kids

The slave codes were special laws about slavery and enslaved people. These laws were mostly used during the time of the Atlantic slave trade and chattel slavery (where people were treated like property) in the Americas.

Most slave codes focused on what free people could and could not do regarding enslaved people. These laws didn't cover everything. Many parts of how slavery worked were based on old traditions, not just formal laws.

Different colonial powers had their own slave codes. For example, French colonies used the Code Noir after 1685. The Spanish had some laws about slavery in a very old lawbook called Las Siete Partidas. However, this book wasn't made for the slave societies in the Americas. English colonies usually created their own local slave codes. Many of these were based on laws from Barbados or the Virginia Colony.

Besides these big laws, cities and local areas also had their own rules and restrictions for enslaved people.

What Were Slave Codes?

Slave codes were rules that controlled the lives of enslaved people. They were designed to keep enslaved people from running away or rebelling. These laws also made sure that slave owners had a lot of power.

Common Rules in Slave Codes

Many slave codes shared similar rules. Here are some of the most common ones:

• Movement Restrictions: Most areas required enslaved people to have a special pass from their owner if they left their plantation or city. Some cities even made enslaved people wear small copper badges called "slave tags." These tags showed they were allowed to move around.

• Marriage Restrictions: Enslaved people often had limited rights to marry. This was partly to stop them from trying to change owners by marrying someone on another plantation. Marriage between people of different races was also usually against the law.

• No Large Gatherings: Slave codes generally stopped large groups of enslaved people from meeting away from their plantations. This was to prevent them from planning escapes or rebellions.

• Slave Patrols: In parts of North America that relied heavily on slavery, groups of plantation owners and other free white people formed "slave patrols." These patrols had legal power to make sure enslaved people didn't move around at night. They also enforced other rules for enslaved people.

• Restrictions on Trade: At first, some enslaved people were allowed to work their own small plots of land and sell goods. But as slavery became more profitable, new laws were made. These laws limited the rights of enslaved people to buy, sell, or make their own goods. In some places, slave tags were needed to show that an enslaved person was allowed to do certain types of work.

• Punishment of Enslaved People: Slave codes also set rules for how enslaved people could be punished. Often, there was no penalty if an enslaved person died accidentally during punishment. Later laws tried to add some limits, but owners were still rarely punished for killing their enslaved people. For example, in Louisiana in 1825, a judge could order a mistreated enslaved person to be sold to a different owner.

• Education Restrictions: Some laws made it illegal to teach enslaved people to read or write. This was to prevent them from gaining knowledge that might help them escape or rebel.

Slave Codes in English Colonies and the United States

There wasn't one single English slave code. Each colony created its own set of laws. After the American Revolutionary War, when the United States became independent, individual states wrote new constitutions. However, their slave laws often stayed the same as before.

The first full English slave code was made in Barbados, a Caribbean island, in 1661. Many other slave codes were based on this one. For example, the Colony of Jamaica used a modified version in 1664. The colony of South Carolina copied Jamaica's laws in 1691. South Carolina's slave code then became a model for many other North American colonies, including the colony of Georgia in 1755.

Virginia also created its own slave codes around the same time as Barbados. Individual laws started in 1667, and a full code was passed in 1705. For instance, in 1667, Virginia made a law saying that enslaved African Americans becoming Christian didn't make them free. In 1669, Virginia passed a law that protected masters from felony charges if they accidentally killed an enslaved person who was resisting. In 1680, Virginia passed "Act X," which stopped enslaved people from carrying weapons, leaving their owner's land without permission, or raising a hand against "Christians."

The slave codes in other tobacco-growing colonies like Delaware, Maryland, and North Carolina were similar to Virginia's. Even though they weren't directly copied from Barbados, Virginia's laws were influenced by them. Trade between the West Indies and the Chesapeake Bay area meant that plantation owners quickly learned about new laws and customs.

Northern colonies developed their own slave codes later. The strictest was in the colony of New York, which passed a full slave code in 1702 and updated it in 1712 and 1730.

The Atlantic slave trade was stopped throughout the British Empire by the Slave Trade Act of 1807. Then, in 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act officially ended slavery across the entire British Empire.

In the United States, there was a clear difference between slave states in the South and free states in the North. When the American Civil War began, 15 of the 34 states were slave states, and all of them had slave codes. The 19 free states did not have slave codes. However, they still had laws about slavery, such as how to handle enslaved people who ran away or visited with their owners.

Slavery was finally banned across the entire United States when the Thirteenth Amendment was approved on December 6, 1865. Before that, the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves in 1808 made it illegal to bring enslaved people into the country from other places.

French Slave Codes: The Code Noir

The French colonies in North America were unique because their slave code came directly from the king in France. King Louis XIV created the Code Noir (meaning "Black Code") in 1685. This code was adopted by French colonies like Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) in 1687 and Louisiana in 1724. It was not used in Canada, where there were very few enslaved people. The Code Noir was partly made to stop the spread of Protestantism, so it had more rules about religion than other slave codes. It was significantly updated in 1724.

The city of New Orleans in Louisiana had very complex slave codes. This was because Louisiana was controlled by Spain, France, and then the United States at different times. Local needs often influenced the laws more than rules from far away.

France abolished slavery after the French Revolution. They first freed second-generation enslaved people in 1794. However, Napoleon later brought slavery back with a law in 1802.

Spanish Slave Codes

In the Spanish colonies, slave codes were mostly local laws, similar to other regions. There was a main legal code called Las Siete Partidas, which supposedly gave many specific rights to enslaved people. But there is little proof that these rights were actually used to help enslaved people in the Americas. Las Siete Partidas was written in the 1200s, long before the Americas were colonized. Its rules about slavery were based on Roman traditions. Some historians once thought Las Siete Partidas accurately showed how enslaved people were treated. However, newer studies suggest that these official laws did not reflect what actually happened in the colonies.

There was an attempt to create one unified Spanish slave code called the Codigo Negro. But it was never put into effect because slave owners in the Americas did not like it.

The Laws of the Indies were a set of laws that changed over time throughout the history of the Spanish colonies. Later versions of these laws included many rules about slavery.

Other Important Slave Codes

• Barbados slave codes
• Code Noir; French black code
• New York slave codes
• South Carolina slave codes
• Virginia slave codes of 1705

See Also

In Spanish: Códigos de esclavos para niños