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Slavery In Colonial America

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As Colonial America commenced, a wide labor force became a necessity in order to progress economically through developments such as the mass production of tobacco. During this period, no slave laws were set in place, which caused Africans to be treated as indentured servants, in which they too were given similar freedom dues as white folks. Between 1640 and 1660, however, racial slavery developed into a legal reality in Virginia. While interracial marriage or sex was banned and would result in banishment, as time progressed, laws changed, resulting in imprisonment and children were being subject to servitude. The ambiguous status of mixed race children shifted from the early Virginia laws which did not stipulate the child’s status, whereas the shift in laws later mandated that children were to serve according to their mother’s status revealing that the intent of these laws was to secure the ruling class’ desire to obtain as much labor as …show more content…
In 1691, the Virginia law further established that a free white woman who had a bastard child by a Negro or mulatto man had to pay fifteen pounds sterling within one month of giving birth to the child (74). In the event that the mother could not pay the amount, she would become an indentured servant for five years. Whether the fine was paid or not, the child would have to serve for thirty years (74). This law, which would bind the child to the church, although intended to prevent people from having sex with people of color, was also used as a means to benefit the parish as fines would have to be payed if violated, one’s child would have to be given up, or the child would become a servant, providing money or labor to the

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