The Five Virginia Laws: Virginia Servant And Slave Law

In the late 1600 's, the way to make money in the south was through slave labor on a plantation. The slave owners would buy slaves and keep them on their farm. As time goes on the slave masters start to think about the implications of letting their slaves going off on their own to visit other farms. They started to fear that their slaves would run off for good or rebel against them. This lead to the wealthiest of slave masters to use their political power in the House Of Burgesses to create laws in an attempt to control their slaves as much as possible. These laws were known as the Virginia Laws. Five Virginia laws were put into order between 1661-1672. The law that stands out in showing that the Slave Masters sought more profit was the law in 1662. In the handout set "Virginia Servant and Slave Laws" writes about the law that makes slave status inherited from the mother, which was created in 1662. "...That all children borne in this country shalbe held bond[slave] only according to the condition of the mother" (Virginia Servant and Slave Laws). By having this law created, they could then gain even more workers for their plantations by forcing the children born of a slave mother into slavery. The next law that would be seen from a profitable stance would be that …show more content…
Profit was the primary goal of the southerners while Slaves primary goal was to be free, which was not granted or easy to come by. Through harsh laws, the White southerners were able to squash potential rebellions up into the late 1700s were they would start to completely lose control. Through these documents, the historical significance of the message within it, shows that the sole source of problems started with greed. If greed was not an issue then there would be no slavery, no racism and no