The slave codes of colonial North America were some of the most oppressive pieces of literature created. The central themes of the South Carolina, Louisiana, District of Colombia's and Alabama's slave codes were that black people were to have very little rights and be treated as second class citizens.
In the South Carolina slave code the 1st article states, "That all negroes, mulatoes, mestizoes or Indians, which at any time heretofore have been sold, or now are held or taken to be, or hereafter shall be bought and sold for slaves, are hereby declared slaves; and they, and their children, are hereby made and declared slaves...." I find it hard to imagine the justifying reasons that must have been used to make such a proclamation and the ramifications of those actions. The slave codes all incorporated the basic principals that slaves were property, could not own property, could not marry, should not posess weapons or firearms and were permanantly slaves.
Some of the codes had more specific points incorporated into the text that did not appear to be slave related, such as the Louisiana code specifies that, "Decrees the expulsion of Jews from the colony." I wonder why the authors felt it necessary to include that in the code?
Some other noteworthy points of these slave codes include the mandatory instruction of religion to slaves and the observance of Sundays and holidays. The Louisiana code is specific enough to delegate that slave owners take care of their slaves after the are injured or sick and that they were clothed properly. I find it at least a little ironic that the same codes that provide slaves also gave slaves some rights to proper care.
"by 1800, ten to fifteen million blacks had been transported as slaves to the Americas... It is roughly estimated that Africa lost fifty million human beings to death and slavery" (Zinn / 26). I find it hard to fathom the idea that I could possess another life like a piece of property and that I could use a worker with no payment whatsoever. The people of the colonies that had slaves must have felt entitled to these servants, but how could they not show mercy. These codes are a reminder of how callous and demeaning human beings can be and what they can become accustomed too through their own misguided interpretations.
References cited -
South Carolina code
Loiusianna's code noir
District of Colombia slave code
http://rs6.loc.gov/ammem/sthtml/stpres02.html
Alabama slave code
http://www.archives.state.al.us/teacher/slavery/lesson1/doc1.html
-Zinn, Howard. A People's History of the United States. Vol. 1. New York: The New P, 2003.
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ReplyDeleteHello, your blog entry was a good read and a lot of your points came out very clear. I do agree that these codes are very absurd and that it clearly shows how "heartless" these slave owners were at the time.
ReplyDeleteA really good point you noted was the fact that these slave owners should take care of the slaves if they were sick and that they should be clothed properly. Its hard to fathom that these owners treat these people like animals; yet, if they were to get sick, they should tend to them. Honestly, they are only keeping them healthy, so that they can keep working. Its only about the profit, not about their well-being.
These codes just show how insecure the slave owners were about their slaves. That the codes and its restrictions will make the country better; these codes just make these people so hard to comprehend. Why must they treat them like animals? I agree with you, these people were truly misguided.
Slavery the ownership of another human being. Something I just can't fathom. Let alone laws and codes of owning slaves. What right as human beings do we feel that we can own and control another human being? Your opening statement that the Slave Codes of North America were some of the most oppressive literature ever written is very disturbing. It made me want to read on and learn more about some of the Codes. We as a culture are for some reason able to desensitize ourselves and over time able to justify things. As people came over to America owning slaves was a way of life for the colonists and it was acceptable. I believe once America took on slavery we actually became afraid of it. That is why we oppressed them.
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