On This Day: Jamestown burned, followed later by harsher slavery and race laws - September 19, 1676
(edited from Wikipedia)
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Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion held by Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon against Colonial Governor William Berkeley, after Berkeley refused Bacon's request to drive Native American Indians out of Virginia.
Thousands of Virginians from all classes (including those in indentured servitude) and races rose up in arms against Berkeley, chasing him from Jamestown and ultimately torching the settlement [on September 19, 1676]. The rebellion was first suppressed by a few armed merchant ships from London whose captains sided with Berkeley and the loyalists. Government forces arrived soon after and spent several years defeating pockets of resistance and reforming the colonial government to be once more under direct Crown control.
Bacon's rebellion was the first rebellion in the North American colonies in which discontented frontiersmen took part. The alliance between European indentured servants and Africans (a mix of indentured, enslaved, and Free Negroes) disturbed the colonial upper class.
They responded by hardening the racial caste of slavery in an attempt to divide the two races from subsequent united uprisings with the passage of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705. While the rebellion did not succeed in the initial goal of driving the Native Americans from Virginia, it did result in Berkeley being recalled to England.
Aftermath
In order for the Virginia elite to maintain the loyalty of the common planters in order to avert future rebellions, one historian commented, they "needed to lead, rather than oppose, wars meant to dispossess and destroy frontier Indians." He elaborated that this bonded the elite to the common planter in wars against Indians, their common enemy, and enabled the elites to appease free whites with land. Taylor writes, "To give servants greater hope for the future, in 1705 the assembly revived the headright system by promising each freedman fifty acres of land, a promise that obliged the government to continue taking land from the Indians."
Bacon promised his army tax breaks, predetermined wages, and freedom from indentures, "so long as they should serve under his colors." Indentured servants both black and white had joined the frontier rebellion. Seeing them united in a cause alarmed the ruling class. Historians believe the rebellion hastened the hardening of racial lines associated with slavery, as a way for planters and the colony to control some of the poor.
For example, historian Eric Foner writes, "The fear of civil war among whites frightened Virginia's ruling elite, who took steps to consolidate power and improve their image: for example, restoration of property qualifications for voting, reducing taxes, and adoption of a more aggressive American Indian policy." Some of these measures, by appeasing the poor white population, may have had the purpose of inhibiting any future unification with the enslaved black population.
Virginia Slave Codes of 1705
The Virginia Slave Codes of 1705 were a series of laws enacted by the Colony of Virginia's House of Burgesses in 1705 regulating the interactions between slaves and citizens of the crown colony of Virginia. The enactment of the Slave Codes is considered to be the consolidation of slavery in Virginia, and served as the foundation of Virginia's slave legislation.
All servants from non-Christian lands became slaves. There were forty one parts of this code each defining a different part and law surrounding the slavery in Virginia.
The laws were devised to establish a greater level of control over the rising African slave population of Virginia. It also socially segregated white colonists from black enslaved persons, making them disparate groups and hindering their ability to unite. Unity of the commoners was a perceived fear of the Virginia aristocracy, who wished to prevent repeated events such as Bacon's Rebellion, occurring 29 years prior.
Context
Before the passing of the 1705 Virginia Slave Code Act, African Americans served as indentured servants. This law, after being passed, transformed servitude into slavery, turning many African Americans from extended servitude to a bonded and forced lifetime commitment to slavery.
Short Summary of [selected] Part[s]
I : Any servant brought to the country who is Christian and above nineteen will serve until they reach twenty four.
IV: All servants brought into the country, who were not Christians in their home country with a few exceptions will be considered and treated as slaves. Even if they convert to Christianity later, they will still be bought and sold as slaves.
XI: States that no individuals, such as Negroes, mulattos, Indians, Jews, Moors, Muslims, or other non-Christians, will be allowed to purchase Christian servants. If any person from the aforementioned groups purchases a Christian white servant, that servant will automatically become free.
XV: States that no person is allowed to buy, sell, or receive any form of currency or goods from a servant or slave without the permission of their master or owner.
XVII: States that if a female servant has a child out of wedlock with a Negro or mulatto, in addition to completing her designated years of service, she must pay fifteen pounds in current Virginia currency. This is the same case, if a free Christian white woman has a child out of wedlock with a Negro or mulatto. Then the child will serve as a servant until they reach the age of thirty-one.
XIX: States that it is unlawful to intermarry between English or other white individuals and Negroes or mulattos especially if said English is freed.
XX: States that no minister of the Church of England or any other person within the colony and dominion is allowed to knowingly marry a white person with a Negro or mulatto, or vice versa.
XXXIV: If a slave resists their master, owner, or any other person who is authorized by the master or owner to correct them, and as a result, the slave is killed, it shall not be considered a felony. As well as if a negro, mulatto, or Indian, whether enslaved or free, raises a hand in opposition against a non-negro, non-mulatto, or non-Indian individual, they shall receive punishment.
XXXVIII: For every slave killed, in pursuance of this act, or put to death by law, the master or owner of such slave shall be paid by the public.
XXXIX: To determine the compensation for a slave who has been killed or put to death as mentioned earlier, it is required that the true value of the slave be assessed. The court clerk will then provide a certificate of the assessed value to the assembly along with other public claims.
XL: To ensure the proper enforcement of this act and to prevent any servants or slaves from claiming ignorance of its provisions, the church-wardens of each parish will be responsible for providing a true copy of the act and recording it in the parish register book at the expense of the parish.
Contents of the Virginia Slave Codes of 1705
These codes effectively embedded the idea of slavery into law by the following devices: These codes: established new property rights for slave owners, allowed for the legal, free trade of slaves with protections granted by the courts, established separate courts of trial, prohibited slaves from going armed without written permission, whites could not be employed by any blacks, allowed for the apprehension of suspected runaways, the harboring of another person's slaves was deemed illegal, jail time for any whites who married people from the Indian or African American Descent.
White Christians, especially, were allowed to take control and advantage of African American slaves in any way they wished without any repercussions. Being white and Christian at that time was one of the most power-defining traits because it was a virtual free pass and entitlement to treat enslaved people however one wished. This also applied to the promotion of free white people to "hunt" down and capture escaped enslaved peoples, even with a reward system to promote said captures.
Non-Whites Purchasing of Slaves or Indentured Servants
Non-Whites were unable to purchase any white Christian for indentured servitude. Even if said non-whites were Christian, they could still not purchase white Christian servants, especially if they were of Indian or African American descent. If someone of these said descents were to inherit a white Christian servant, the servant would be freed.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacon%27s_Rebellion
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia_Slave_Codes_of_1705
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