Final answer:
By Virginia law, the child of a slave woman and a free man was considered a slave, as the status of a child followed that of their mother, according to the legal framework designed to maintain the slave system and racial hierarchy.
Step-by-step explanation:
Virginia Laws on Slavery and Heritage
By Virginia law, the child of a slave woman and a free man was considered a slave, inheriting the 'condition' of the mother. Virginia's legal system at the time was designed to perpetuate slavery and ensure that any children born to enslaved women would also be slaves for life, regardless of the father's status. Skin color became a key factor in this legal distinction, reinforcing strict racial barriers and establishing a permanent, hereditary system of enslavement for people of African descent.
Specifically, the law passed in 1662 codified that the status of bondage or freedom would follow that of the mother, creating a self-sustaining slave population that was legally sanctioned. As a result, children born to enslaved women were bound to the same life of servitude, and racial divisions were further entrenched in the legal and social fabric of the colony.
This legislation was part of a series of slavery laws that increasingly deprived enslaved individuals of freedoms and codified the institution of slavery into the colonial economic and social system, where slaves were considered property and could even be subjected to severe punishments and control measures.