Answer:
The laws passed in the 1600s that aimed to distinguish the social status of European indentured servants from enslaved Africans were known as the slave codes.
Some key points about the slave codes:
• They were passed by colonial legislatures and remained in effect after the United States became a nation. The codes varied by colony and state but shared common purposes.
• The slave codes classified Blacks as permanently enslaved property while indentured servants were seen as temporary laborers who could eventually gain freedom. This cemented Africans' status as chattel slaves in contrast to indentured servants.
• The codes stripped enslaved Africans of most basic rights while granting some rights to indentured servants, including property ownership, mobility and legal recourse.
• They prohibited manumission (freeing) of slaves without legislative approval while indentured servants could negotiate terms for eventual release.
• The slave codes institutionalized racial inequity by restricting rights and freedoms based on skin color and ethnicity. They applied mainly to people of African descent, not indentured laborers who were mostly European.
• Over time, the distinction between indentured servitude and racial slavery broke down in practice, but the slave codes remained instrumental in legally defining African Americans as property rather than people.
So in summary, the slave codes passed in the 1600s and 1700s created a legal framework that classified people of African descent as slaves with few rights, distinguishing their status from that of European indentured servants who were seen as temporary workers with a path to freedom.