Gavin Howe
The history of slavery in the colonial era is a complex and often harrowing topic. While slavery and forced labour were not unique to the colonies, the emergence of English colonies in North America saw the development of a unique economic structure that established slavery as both an economic benefit and a matter of property. The first permanent English colony in North America was established in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia, and the exploitation of indigenous peoples for labour began almost immediately. While the English had knowledge of the slave trade from the Spanish and Portuguese, the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619, marking the beginning of the transatlantic slave trade that would come to define the colonial era.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| First colony to establish slavery by law | Massachusetts |
| Year | 1641 |
| First colony to establish slave codes | Virginia |
| Year | 1662 |
| First full-scale slave code | South Carolina |
| Year | 1696 |
| Basis of slave code | Barbados slave code of 1661 |
| First colony to establish slavery as an economic benefit and property | Virginia and the Carolinas |
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What You'll Learn
The first slave law in Massachusetts
Massachusetts became the first colony to legalize slavery in 1641. The 1641 law stated that "strangers" could be enslaved, and by custom, their children were enslaved as well. The law was based on the assumption that Africans were an inferior race. The Body of Liberties, which was a set of laws established in Massachusetts, recognized four legitimate bases of slavery. According to these laws, slavery was legal if individuals were:
- Captives resulting from war
- Sold themselves into slavery
- Purchased as slaves from elsewhere
- Sentenced to slavery through the governing authority
The first Africans to arrive in Massachusetts came in the 1630s, shortly after the Pequot War of 1637. By the mid-18th century, the enslavement of Africans had become a common practice in Massachusetts. A 1754 census listed over 2,700 adult slaves in the colony.
In 1780, when the Massachusetts Constitution went into effect, slavery was still legal in the Commonwealth. However, this changed between 1781 and 1783 when, in three related cases known as "the Quock Walker case," the Supreme Judicial Court applied the principle of judicial review to abolish slavery. The Court held that laws and customs that sanctioned slavery were incompatible with the new state constitution, effectively abolishing slavery in Massachusetts.
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Virginia's slave codes
The first permanent English colony in North America was established in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia. The first settlement was established in 1587 on Roanoke Island, in what is now North Carolina. Virginia was the only English colony in North America for a brief period during the 16th century.
The enactment of Virginia's slave codes played a significant role in establishing the economic structure that made slavery both an economic benefit and a matter of property. By the 1740s, chattel slavery existed in every North American colony, and the practice of breeding slaves became an economic incentive.
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The Barbados slave code
Massachusetts was the first colony to legalise slavery in 1641, followed by Connecticut in 1650. However, it was the Barbados Slave Code of 1661 that served as the basis for the slave codes adopted in several other British colonies.
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The Georgia Trustees' ban on slavery
Massachusetts was the first colony to legalise slavery in 1641, followed by Connecticut in 1650. The first full-scale slave code in British North America was South Carolina's in 1696, modelled on the colonial Barbados slave code of 1661.
The Georgia Trustees Ban on Slavery
In 1735, the Georgia Trustees, including General James Oglethorpe, enacted a law prohibiting slavery in the new colony, which had been established in 1733. This ban was in place until 1751, when Georgia became a slave state. The Georgia Trustees wanted to eliminate the risk of slave rebellions and make Georgia better able to defend against attacks from the Spanish to the south, who offered freedom to escaped slaves.
Oglethorpe opposed slavery on moral grounds as well as for pragmatic reasons. He defended the ban against fierce opposition from Carolina merchants and land speculators. He argued that slavery was detrimental to a nation's prosperity, as well as its morals, and that it sapped the ambition and willingness of free men to work. He also believed that legalising slavery in Georgia would "occasion the misery of thousands in Africa".
The Trustees wished to guarantee the early settlers a comfortable living, rather than the prospect of enormous personal wealth associated with the plantation economies elsewhere in British colonies. They believed that the existence of slave labour devalued the labour of free men. The ban was backed by the authority of the British government and the House of Commons.
However, the ban faced intense opposition from some colonists, who argued that slaves were the only suitable method of achieving prosperity. Petitions and requests to lift the ban flooded the Trustees by the late 1730s. The growing power of the pro-slavery faction in Parliament, as well as military threats by the Spanish, eventually weakened the founder's position. In 1742, one of Oglethorpe's biggest supporters in London, Lord Percival, resigned from Parliament. In 1743, Oglethorpe himself was forced to return to England to defend himself in a court-martial and never returned. By 1750, Parliament was convinced to overturn its slavery ban.
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The Somerset v. Stewart court case
Upon learning of Somerset's capture and impending removal from England, his three godparents from his baptism as a Christian—John Marlow, Thomas Walkin, and Elizabeth Cade—applied to the Court of King's Bench for a writ of habeas corpus. This legal remedy required the person holding another in custody to produce the prisoner before the court to determine the legality of their imprisonment. In response, Captain John Knowles of the "Ann and Mary" brought Somerset before the Court of King's Bench on 9 December 1771. The case was presided over by Lord Mansfield, the Chief Justice of the King's Bench.
Recognising the significance of the case, Mansfield granted Somerset's counsel time to prepare their arguments, and the hearing was scheduled for 7 February 1772. The case attracted significant public attention, with financial support and donations from both pro- and anti-slavery advocates. Somerset's advocates argued that while colonial laws might permit slavery, neither the common law of England nor any statutory law made by Parliament recognised the existence of slavery, rendering it unlawful in England. They also contended that English contract law did not allow any person to enslave themselves and that any contract was invalid without consent.
Lord Mansfield's judgment in the case held that slavery was unsupported by English common law and that an enslaved person could not be forcibly removed from England and sent to Jamaica for sale. He stated that slavery was so "`odious" and contrary to natural law that it could only exist by statute. This absence of a current English statute ("positive law") under which the court might remand someone as a slave proved decisive, as Mansfield refused to accept any other basis for the court to order something he considered repugnant.
The Somerset v. Stewart ruling sent political and legal shockwaves through Britain and its American colonies. Although technically a narrow decision, it was popularly interpreted as signalling that slavery was illegal in England. The case established a radical precedent, going against previous opinions and decisions, and it proved to be a landmark contribution to the abolitionist cause, bringing the injustices of slavery and the slave trade to the attention of the British public.
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Frequently asked questions
Massachusetts was the first colony to legalize slavery in 1641.
Yes, Connecticut legalized slavery in 1650. Maryland, New York, and New Jersey also legalized slavery in 1663, 1664, and 1664, respectively.
The laws relating to slavery hardened in the second half of the 17th century, limiting the rights of Africans and their descendants. For example, a 1639 Virginia law prohibited Black slaves from carrying firearms, and a 1662 Virginia law established that children of enslaved mothers would also be enslaved.
