1
10
2
-
Laws/Court Cases
Text
Any textual data included in the document.
<strong>1794, Kentucky </strong>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Any slaves who are freed by their masters must carry a certificate of freedom.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<strong>1796, Maryland </strong>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Any free black caught giving free papers to a slave is fined $300, and if unable to immediately pay the fine, can be sold into servitude to work off the debt.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<strong>1798, Kentucky </strong>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Slaves cannot leave a plantation without a written note from their masters.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Slaves cannot carry any type of weapon</p>
</li>
</ul>
<strong>1819, Maryland </strong>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Any person persuading a slave to run away, or assisting or hiding slaves on the run, faces six years imprisonment.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<strong>1823, Kentucky </strong>
<ul>
<li>
<p>No slave can work on a steamboat.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<strong>1833, Maryland </strong>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The reward for capturing a fugitive is increased from $6 to $30 in order to encourage everyday people to help prevent runaways.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<strong>1838, Maryland </strong>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Railroad and steamboat companies are responsible for verifying that their black passengers have certificates allowing them to travel, or face fines beginning at $500 dollars.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<strong>1840, Kentucky</strong>
<ul>
<li>
<p>There is a 10pm curfew for slaves.</p>
</li>
</ul>
<strong>1846, Kentucky</strong>
<ul>
<li>
<p>The penalty for tempting slaves to run away or rebel is imprisonment. County patrols must ride through the county on horseback at night to enforce slave laws.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Runaway Slave Laws in Border States, 1794-1846
Description
An account of the resource
Every southern state passed laws, sometimes called slave codes, to restrict the activities of African Americans and to prevent slave rebellions. White lawmakers in slave-holding border states, such as Maryland and Kentucky, were particularly concerned about runaway slaves who “stole themselves†by attempting escape to a northern free state. Southern slave owners’ complaints about their lost “property†eventually led to the passage of the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, a federal law which greatly increased the penalties for any person in the South or North who assisted a runaway slave.
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Maryland State Archives, “History of Runaways,” <em>Legacy of Slavery in Maryland</em>, http://www.mdslavery.net/html/research/histlaw.html; Marion B. Lucas, <em>A History of Blacks in Kentucky: From Slavery to Segregation, 1760-1891</em> (2003).
Primary
Is this Primary or Secondary? Enter 1 for Primary or 2 for Secondary.
1
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1794 - 1846
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Antebellum America (1816-1860)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Slavery and Abolition
Slave Codes
-
Laws/Court Cases
Text
Any textual data included in the document.
<p>SLAVE GATHERINGS </p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>No slave may travel beyond his master’s home without a pass or some letter that proves the slave is traveling with the permission of a master, employer, or overseer. If a slave is caught without such a pass, the owner or overseer can whip the slave ten lashes on the back. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Any master, mistress, or overseer who allows slaves from other plantations to stay more than four hours on his or her property will be fined. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>It is illegal for more than 5 male slaves, either with or without passes, to assemble together at any place off the plantations where they belong. </p>
<p>Any slave who conspires to rebel, make insurrection, or murder any person or persons will be punished by death. </p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>RUNAWAY SLAVES </p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Anyone can capture a runaway slave. </p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Many times slaves run away and hide in swamps, woods, and other obscure places; patrols will search for and capture these slaves; whoever captures the slaves will be given a $30 reward. </p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
FREE PERSONS OF COLOR
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Any free person of color who tries to settle in Alabama may be arrested and whipped up to 39 lashes. If after this punishment the free person of color still doesn’t leave the state, the punishment is to be sold into slavery.
</p>
</li>
</ul>
<p>
READING AND WRITING
</p>
<ul>
<li>
<p>Anyone who attempts to teach any free person of color or slave to spell, read, or write, shall be fined not less than $250 and not more than $500.</p>
</li>
<li>
<p>Any free person of color who writes a pass or free paper for any slave will be punished by 39 lashes on a bare back and forced to leave the state. Any slave who does so will be punished by 50 lashes on a bare back for the first offense and 100 lashes for later offenses.</p>
</li>
</ul>
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Selections from Alabama's Laws Governing Slaves
Language
A language of the resource
English
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
American Social History Project / Center for Media and Learning
Description
An account of the resource
While slaveholders defended slavery as a benign system, this selection of laws, on the books in Alabama in 1833, suggest that slaves themselves were finding many ways to resist and escape it. Whites became particularly concerned about slave gatherings after Nat Turner and his followers undertook a violent uprising in Virginia in 1831. (These laws have been paraphrased to assist readers.)
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
State of Alabama
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
John G. Aikin, “A Digest of the Laws of the State of Alabama - 1833,” Alabama Department of Archives and History, Montgomery, Alabama, http://www.archives.alabama.gov/teacher/slavery/lesson1/doc1.html.
Primary
Is this Primary or Secondary? Enter 1 for Primary or 2 for Secondary.
1
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1833
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Antebellum America (1816-1860)
Subject
The topic of the resource
Slavery and Abolition
Slave Codes