Module 3~ Looking at laws governing slaves

Slavery was one of the most offensive and dehumanizing acts that has existed throughout history. After I read and understood the laws governing slaves I could see how terrible was the reality to some people who were victim of such. It is hard to believe that slavery was viewed as something normal and how people were harshly humiliated.

The South Carolina Slave Code greatly emphasizes that slaves were those people who were “negroes, mulatoes, mestizos or Indians” We can see how such discrimination doomed many people’s lives and their destiny. They were destined to be slaves, and as such the laws permitted them to be whipped, to be treated like objects, to obey their masters and also took their right to posses anything. They were searched for guns, and the master had the right to search their houses “diligently and effectually”. Dignity was taken from slaves and they basically had nothing to hide since they were scrutinized. This Slave Code emphasizes mainly the responsibilities of masters to be careful with their slaves, to have them in control at all times. Slaves could not do anything without their master’s permission, they owned their lives.

The Alabama Slave Code emphasizes the responsibility of the masters to control the lives of the slaves. They also forbid whites, free negroes or mulattoes to socialize with slaves. Slaves could not posses any animals, or any property whatsoever. They were deprived of any basic human right or human action. It is humorous how it mentions that “no cruel or unusual punishment shall be inflicted on any slave” when they were suffering enough already. They were already in great pain, both physically and psychologically and they even have the nerve to talk about cruel or unusual punishment.

The Louisiana’s Code Noir points out the importance of the master’s role in the slave’s life. They were even more important than the slave’s parents. They made it “imperative on masters to impart religious instruction to their slaves”. This shows how they would conveniently teach them about religion, perhaps as an excuse for the bad treatment against slaves. Maybe they wanted to teach them about repentance and forgiveness, to find a way to escape from their guilt. They didn’t grant permission to whites to marry blacks. This again shows how racism was so strong at those times that there were even laws that whites could not mix with blacks. It also emphasizes how the children born from a slaves marriage would be destined to be a slave, and it also points out that children were always to stay with the mother regardless if she was a slave or a free woman. However, I was surprised to read that masters could not force slaves to marry against their will , and that Christians slaves had to be buried in holy ground. Why would they care to favor the slaves when they were mainly mistreated and dehumanized? Some of these laws would go to the extreme, and none would make sense when I look at it as a whole. How can they teach them about religion and then make them suffer a life in hell while they are alive?
Moreover, the Louisiana’s code proceeds to announce that slaves cannot own any property, cannot get together with others of their same specie, cannot do business, but they do have some rights after all. Like if the slave is ill or disabled, they have to be fed and provided by their masters. Masters who owned a slave were basically responsible for their life, so if they were to get sick they had to spent their money on them , for example to maintain them at hospitals.
Slaves who steal, try to run away, or struck their masters are subject to death penalty.
I wonder what can be worse for a slave’s life, if every second they live is a life of torture and torment. As Zinn says “the power of law and the immediate power of the overseer to invoke whipping, burning, mutilation and death” So I guess they would have been better off dead than being subject to any of the above. It is just unimaginable.

I would say that there was a point where people could not longer resist. If slaves tried to run away they could be killed as a punishment, but I guess that really didn’t matter for them, and many of them did try to escape, trying to find freedom. As Zinn says that “so many blacks did run away must be a sign of a powerful rebellion” And sometimes, even if rebellions could be put to a stop, it shows how human beings cannot tolerate mistreatment, not even to the degree that slaves were treated.

The Slave Code for the District of Columbia emphasizes similar points to the latter law that slavery was inherited through the mother and that slaves were defined solely as a property. However, the slave code for this was later removed by president Lincoln, who awarded compensation to over two thousand slaves. Finally they found freedom and “the laws became of historical interest only”

Works Cited
"The Slavery Code of the District of Columbia." 1862. Slave and the Courts. 1 July 2008 .
Thomas Cooper and David J. McCord, ed., Statutes at Large of South Carolina, (10 Vols., Columbia, 1836-1841) VII, pp. 352-356.
Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. New York: The New Press, 2003
Aikin, John G. "A Digest of the Laws of the State of Alabama." 1833. Alabama Archives: Slave Code of 1833. 1 July 2008 .B. F. French, Historical Collections of Louisiana: Embracing Translations of Many Rare and Valuable Documents Relating to the Natural, Civil, and Political History of that State (New York: D. Appleton, 1851).