New York slave codes

Of the northern colonies in the British Empire, New York passed the harshest slave code. The initial code was passed in 1702, with major expansions in 1712 and 1730 in response to slave insurrections.[1]

Specifics of the 1702 slave code

The 1702 code was a 2-page act with six clauses[2], as follows:

  1. Preventing free people from trading with any enslaved person without permission of the slave-owner, suffering a fine of five pounds and thrice the value of anything traded.
  2. Permitting slave-owners to punish their slaves as they see fit, short of maiming or killing them.
  3. Banning slaves meeting away from the slave-owner's property in groups of three or more.
  4. Requiring a signed certificate for a slave to be on anyone other than their owner's property.
  5. Changing the punishment for small crimes committed by slaves so that the slave-owner pays the fine and the slave suffers corporal punishment.
  6. Banning the testimony of slaves, except against other slaves.
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References
  1. Olson, Edwin (1944). "The Slave Code in Colonial New York". The Journal of Negro History. 29 (2): 147–165. doi:10.2307/2715308. ISSN 0022-2992. JSTOR 2715308.
  2. Acts of assembly, passed in the province of New-York, from 1691, to 1718. London. 1719. pp. 58–59. OCLC 988711565.
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