The First of the Slave Codes

When the cheap labor economy in America converted from indentured servitude to the enslavement of Black people. The law had to change to reflect the creation of a legalized bottom class in America. Black people didn’t willingly assent to their new status when they once they worked alongside their white counterparts.

American planters increasingly purchased African slaves to supplement their indentured servants, and the first known organized revolt took place in Glouster County, VA, in 1663. The Servants’ Plot included whites and Blacks rebelling against the tyrannical tobacco farmers, and four people were hung after their plan failed.

Seven years later, Bacon’s Rebellion occurred, pitting a similar collection of Black and white indentured servants along with Black enslaved people against government forces in Virginia. When the revolters burned down Jamestown, VA, indentured servitude went out the window, and enslavement became the new model. This didn’t stop rebellions from occurring.

In 1705, Virginia enacted its first Slave Codes, codifying into law the difference between enslaved Black people and indentured servants of any color. If you weren’t an indentured servant or a Christian, anyone not explicitly deemed to be free was considered a slave and must comply to the demands of white persons under most circumstances. Many individual laws applicable to slaves existed in every state including the Casual Killing Act of 1669, also a product of Virginia.

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