USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Throughout British North America, slavery evolved in practice before it was codified into law. The Barbados slave code of 1661 marked the beginning of the legal codification of slavery.

Detailed explanation-2: -Slave codes varied from state to state, but there were many common threads. One could not do business with a slave without the prior consent of the owner. Slaves could be awarded as prizes in raffles, wagered in gambling, offered as security for loans, and transferred as gifts from one person to another.

Detailed explanation-3: -As African Americans in the colonies grew greater and greater in number, there was a justifiable paranoia on the part of the white settlers that a violent rebellion could occur in one’s own neighborhood. It was this fear of rebellion that led each colony to pass a series of laws restricting slaves’ behaviors.

Detailed explanation-4: -British planters influenced the construction of laws, known as ‘slave codes’, based on sixteenth century English common laws that dealt with English felons, vagrants, vagabonds, and servants that absconded from their duties.

Detailed explanation-5: -The colony’s growing number of blacks led to the creation of a slave code by 1715. After the Revolutionary War, most states, especially those in the South, developed new slave codes.