Virginia’s Slave Code Act of 1705 and South Carolina’s Negro Slave Act of 1740
The First of the Slave Codes
When the cheap labor economy in America converted from indentured servitude to the enslavement of Black people, the law had to change to reflect the creation of a legalized bottom class in America. Black people didn’t willingly assent to their new status when they worked alongside their white counterparts.
American planters increasingly purchased African slaves to supplement their indentured servants, and the first known organized revolt took place in Gloucester County, VA, in 1663. The Servants’ Plot included whites and Blacks rebelling against the tyrannical tobacco farmers, and four people were hanged after their plan failed.
Seven years later, Bacon’s Rebellion occurred, pitting a similar collection of Black and white indentured servants along with Black enslaved people against government forces in Virginia. When the revolters burned down Jamestown, VA, indentured servitude went out the window, and enslavement became the new model. This didn’t stop rebellions fr…
