Question

(75-100 words) What was the goal of the laws listed in this selection? How did these laws accomplish their goals?

December 1662, September 1667, September 1668, October 1669
William Waller Hening, Statutes at Large; Being a Collection of all the Laws of V1rginia
(Richmond: Samuel Pleasants, 1809-1823), II, 170, 260, 266, 270

Answer 1

For the law listed in December 1662, basically stated that if the mother was a slave, the child was a slave as well, regardless of the father's status or skin. This law also stipulated that if any Christian were to have sexual relations with a black person, they were to pay a fine. The law of Sepetember 1667 says that even if a black person is baptised and considered Christian, they were still considered slaves, and the following Sepetember 1668 law states if a slave runs away they are legally allowed to recieve corporal punishment upon return. Finally, the last law of October 1669 says that a slave resisting a master resulting in the death of the slave does not reflect badly on the master.