1705

The Virginia Slave Code codified the status of slaves, further limited their freedom, and defined some rights of slave owners. It defines all slaves as real estate, acquits masters who kill slaves during punishment, forbids slaves and free colored peoples from physically assaulting white persons, and denies slaves the right to bear arms or move abroad without written permission. It included provisions stating that non-Christians brought to Virginia would be slaves, even if they converted to Christianity. It also allowed slave owners to punish slaves without fear of legal repercussions and specified the rewards for the recapture of runaway slaves.

New York declares that punishment by execution will be applied to certain runaway slaves.

Massachusetts makes marriage and sexual relations between blacks and whites illegal.

Virginia’s House of Burgesses enacts the Virginia Slave Codes regulating the interactions between slaves and citizens of the colony of Virginia. The colonial statute was devised to establish a greater level of control over the rising African slave population of Virginia.