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Elizabeth key the daughter of a slave was legally free because?

User Woxxom
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Final answer:

Elizabeth Key, the daughter of a slave, was legally free because her father was a white, free man, which allowed her to petition for freedom based on her father's status.

Step-by-step explanation:

Elizabeth Key, the daughter of a slave, was legally free because Virginia laws stated that children born to enslaved women inherited the 'condition' of their mother. However, Elizabeth's father was a white, free man. This legal distinction allowed Elizabeth to petition for her freedom on the basis of her father's status. In a landmark court case in 1655, Elizabeth Key successfully sued for her freedom and the freedom of her child, establishing a precedent that children born to an enslaved mother and a free father were themselves free.

User Ahmed Gamal
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