Slave codes

Deep South

South Carolina established its slave code in 1695, based on the 1661 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 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 they were accompanied by a white person or had 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 the 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 30 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 escalates to include loss of ear, branding, and nose-slitting (for the fourth offense, death)
• No slave is allowed to work for pay; plant corn, peas or rice; keep hogs, cattle, or horses; own or operate a boat; buy or sell; to wear clothes finer than 'Negro cloth.'

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

• No slave is to be taught to write, to work on Sunday, or to work more than 15 hours per day in summer, and 14 hours in winter.
• Willful killing of a slave exacts a fine of £700, "passion"-killing £350.
• 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, permission of the legislature (Georgia required legislative approval after 1801).

Some elements of the codes were rarely or laxly enforced as they imposed costs or limitations upon (politically powerful) 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.

District of Columbia slave codes

Slaves were a common sight in the nation's capital. (The District of Columbia at that time included what is today the city of Arlington and part of the city of Alexandria, Virginia.) Harsh regulation of the 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 and 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 to draft contracts or briefs. By 1860, there were over 11,000 free blacks and over 3,000 slaves. Following the Compromise of 1850, the sale of slaves was outlawed. Slavery ended in 1862 and nearly 3,000 slaves were offered compensation. The official printed slave code was issued only a month before slavery ended in the District of Columbia.

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 made 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 it was done who was 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]

Utah

In Utah, the Act in Relation to Service provided several protections for slaves. They were freed if the slave owner was found guilty of cruelty or abuse, or neglect to feed, clothe, or shelter the slave, or if there were any sexual intercourse between the master and the slave.^[10] The definition of cruelty was vague and hard to enforce, and in practice, slaves received similar treatment to those in the South.^[11]

Due process rights for slaves

In Florida, a slave charged with a capital offense was entitled to legal counsel to represent him on the theory that the master should not be deprived of his property by hanging unless the slave got a fair trial.