Virginia Servant and Slave Laws, 1600s
There are several slave laws which were enacted in Virginia at the onset of 1600s and mostly featured servants, slaves, and their colonial masters during the colonial American society. The laws were made in such a way that the interests of the masters were prominent, while the slaves and servants were meant to optimize the economic profits for their masters without complain. As the number of black population increased in the 1600s, there were laws and rules which gave the masters the required protection and ability to exploit the slaves in Virginia. Most notorious legislations came in the late 1630 and early 1640s, when the general assembly of Virginia outlawed blacks from possession of arms, which was meant to heighten the security and safety of the colonial masters. Also, in the same period, the black women were considered taxable, hence creating a distinction with the English women (Ferguson 21). Finally, in the 1660s, the general assembly of Virginia passed the law of life servitude, and that any child born to an enslaved woman will also be considered as slaves. This period marked the change of laws which placed the status of the slaves into servant for life. In preceding times, the laws restricted the freedom of the blacks and that preferential treatment of the whites were legalized and institutionalized, which also captured the casual killing of slaves, justified in the event that the slave died while resisting the master. Thus, the Virginia Servant and Slave Laws ensured that most of the slave owners benefitted from the extreme exploitation of the slaves and servants, through taxation, forced labor, threats, and other economic aspects, which ensured that they are optimally benefitting from the exploitation of slaves.
The economic system of the colonial America involved extreme taxation and exploitation of the slaves that mainly benefitted the slave owners and the British government, since most of the economy was built of agriculture and forced labor. The legality of slavery through different laws enacted at the general assembly of Virginia ensured that most of the captured slaves were exploited through a legal framework which protected the masters. The ability of several white common workers to buy lands in Virginia due to their good wages ensured that more slaves were bought to cultivate the lands which have been acquired (Gallivan 12). Most of the landless natives of Virginia therefore signed to work as indentures for a period of four to seven years in exceptionally laborious conditions. Thus, the economic system of the Virginian colony included the taxation policies in a bid to generate money to acquire more land for tobacco plantation, with African American salves providing source of labor. Therefore, this prompted the general assembly of Virginia to enact several legislations to control the white indentured servants and black slaves. The legislations, as mentioned above, were meant to create control, and give the master more capabilities of being profitable. the main concept of servant and slave laws …
