The Legalization Of Slavery: A Historical Injustice

The legal standing of African Americans in North America has changed over time, varying according to historical period and place. During the earliest years of settlement, laws delineating the civil status of African laborers did not exist. Black workers seem to have occupied a social station similar to that of white European indentured servants who were contract-bound to their employers for designated periods.

In 1662, Virginia legally recognized slavery as a hereditary, lifelong condition. Even before this statute appeared, many blacks were being held as slaves for life, and as black laborers gradually replaced white indentured servants as the principle source of agricultural labor during the second half of the seventeenth century, laws restricting the activities of Africans were being introduced, codifying slavery as a race-based system.

The institution of chattel slavery in America was based on the underlying premise that slaves were property, not persons, and that the law must protect not only the property but also the property owner from the danger of violence.

The treatment of slaves in the United States varied widely depending on conditions, times, and places, but in general, it was brutal, especially on plantations. Masters and overseers resorted to physical punishments to impose their wills. Slaves were punished by whipping, shackling, hanging, beating, burning, mutilation, branding, and imprisonment.

In 1865, the United States ratified the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which banned slavery and involuntary servitude except as punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, providing a legal basis for forced labor to continue in the country.

The legal status of slaves in the US

In 1662, Virginia legally recognised slavery as a hereditary, lifelong condition. Even before this statute, many black people were being held as slaves for life, and as black labourers gradually replaced white indentured servants as the primary source of agricultural labour during the second half of the 17th century, laws restricting the activities of Africans were introduced, codifying slavery as a race-based system. In the same year, Virginia became the first colony to define the status of slaves in explicit legal terms. According to the colony's 1705 law, all blacks, mulattoes, and Native Americans, all non-Christian persons brought into the colonies as servants (even should they later convert to Christianity) were considered slaves. The law went on to state that all slaves "shall be held to be real estate." Such laws put all power in the hands of the master.

In the South, where labour-intensive crops such as rice, tobacco, and indigo supported the economy, slaveholders slowly consolidated their control over the unpaid African labour force through a series of ever more restrictive slave codes. In the middle and northern colonies, for various other economic reasons and sometimes on religious grounds, enslavement had less viability. There, slave codes slowly became less restrictive, and gradually, enslaved Africans were emancipated. The same ideas about the natural rights of man that gave rise to the American Revolution nourished a fledgling anti-slavery movement that resulted in gradual emancipation laws, laws that decreased restrictions on private manumissions and abolished slavery.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, enslaved Africans worked mainly on the tobacco, rice, and indigo plantations of the southern Atlantic coast, from the Chesapeake Bay colonies of Maryland and Virginia south to Georgia. In the 19th century, proponents of slavery often defended the institution as a "necessary evil", fearing that emancipation of black slaves would have more harmful social and economic consequences than the continuation of slavery.

The legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans, was prevalent in the United States of America from its founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South. Slavery was established throughout European colonisation in the Americas. Under the law, an enslaved person was treated as property that could be bought, sold, or given away.

The transatlantic slave trade

The legal status of enslaved Africans varied depending on the colony and the time period. In the earliest years of settlement, there were no laws delineating the civil status of African labourers, and they occupied a similar social station to white European indentured servants. However, as the demand for labour increased, laws were introduced to restrict the activities of Africans and to codify slavery as a race-based system. The first legal recognition of slavery as a hereditary and lifelong condition came in 1662 in Virginia, and other colonies soon followed suit. These laws put all power in the hands of the master and effectively reduced enslaved people to the status of property.

The slave experience in the US

Slavery in the United States was a legal institution of human chattel slavery, comprising the enslavement primarily of Africans and African Americans. It was prevalent from the country's founding in 1776 until 1865, predominantly in the South.

Slave Life

By 1830, slavery was primarily located in the South, where it existed in many different forms. African Americans were enslaved on small farms, large plantations, in cities, towns, inside homes, out in the fields, and in industry and transportation. Although slavery had a wide variety of faces, the underlying concepts were always the same. Slaves were considered property, and they were property because they were black. Their status as property was enforced by violence -- actual or threatened.

The living conditions of slaves were poor by modern standards. Slaves were usually prohibited from learning to read and write, and their behaviour and movement were restricted. They lived in crude quarters that left them vulnerable to bad weather and disease. Their clothing and bedding were minimal as well.

Slaves were punished for not working fast enough, for being late getting to the fields, for defying authority, for running away, and for a number of other reasons. The punishments took many forms, including whippings, torture, mutilation, imprisonment, and being sold away from the plantation.

Slaves were also at high risk of sexual abuse and rape. Women were encouraged to procreate, as their children could be sold as slaves, and their fertility was seen as part of their productivity. This led to the establishment of "breeding farms", where women were forced to conceive and bear children.

Resistance

Despite the risks, slaves resisted their treatment in innumerable ways. They slowed down their work pace, disabled machinery, feigned sickness, destroyed crops, and argued and fought with their masters and overseers. Many stole livestock, other food, or valuables. Some learned to read and write, which was forbidden by law. Some burned forests and buildings, and others killed their masters, sometimes by poisoning their food. Some slaves committed suicide or mutilated themselves to ruin their "property value".

The Road to Abolition

In the decades after the end of Reconstruction in 1877, many of slavery's economic and social functions were continued through segregation, sharecropping, and convict leasing. However, the abolitionist movement was gaining strength, led by formerly enslaved people such as Frederick Douglass and white supporters such as William Lloyd Garrison.

In 1861, Abraham Lincoln was elected president on a platform of halting the expansion of slavery. This led to seven southern states seceding to form the Confederacy. Shortly afterward, the Civil War began when Confederate forces attacked the U.S. Army's Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina.

During the war, some jurisdictions abolished slavery, and due to Union measures such as the Confiscation Acts and the Emancipation Proclamation, slavery was effectively ended in most places.

On December 6, 1865, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, prohibiting "slavery [and] involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime." This marked the official end of slavery in the United States.

The abolition of slavery

1315

France becomes the first country to fully outlaw slavery, though it continues to be used in its colonies.

1590

Chattel slavery is abolished across Japan under the actions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, though other forms of forced labour persist during World War II.

1777

Vermont becomes the first state to abolish slavery, doing so in its constitution less than a year after the Declaration of Independence.

1780

Pennsylvania passes an act of gradual abolition.

1791

Vermont joins the Union.

1804

All of the northern states have abolished slavery, though it remains legal in the south.

1807

The United States outlaws the importation of slaves, though it does not ban slavery itself.

1808

Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, making it illegal to import slaves from abroad.

1827

New York abolishes slavery.

1833

The Slavery Abolition Act comes into force, abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire.

1848

France abolishes slavery in its remaining colonies.

1861

The American Civil War begins.

1862

President Abraham Lincoln signs the District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, abolishing slavery in Washington, D.C.

1863

Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in the states that had seceded from the Union.

1865

The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, abolishing slavery "except as a punishment for crime".

The legacy of slavery

Slavery was a central feature of the history of the United States, influencing its origins, economic development, society, culture, politics, and law. It has left a wide array of legacies, from emotional and psychological patterns to political and economic realities.

The United Nations has emphasised the need for education about the causes and consequences of slavery, as well as meaningful collective action to end its modern-day forms and build a more just world. The UN estimates that over 50 million people are living in slavery today.

Slavery has been called America's "original sin", and the country has grappled with its history and multiple legacies for generations. Colleges and universities have been deeply enmeshed in this history, with some founded by slave owners and others established to educate freed people and their descendants.

• Economic disparities: Persistent disparities in wealth, income, and home ownership by race, as well as industrial and economic underdevelopment in certain regions.
• Contested citizenship: The constitutional legacy of slavery, reflected in the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, and broader conflicts about rights, liberties, and civic responsibilities based on race.
• Cultural creativity: Cultural expression in various forms, such as theatre, art, dance, music, and literature, has been a way to understand and cope with slavery and its aftermath.
• Racial violence and resistance: Organised violence against former slaves and their descendants, as well as efforts by African Americans and their allies to resist state and extrajudicial violence.
• Mass incarceration: The disproportionate representation of African Americans and other people of colour in the criminal justice system, as well as the effects of incarceration on families and communities.
• Environmental justice: Slavery's lasting effects on America's agricultural system, natural resources, and landscape.
• Health disparities: Persistent race-based inequalities in healthcare, childbirth, and early childhood outcomes, as well as community-based healing and healthcare traditions.

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