A Teacher’s Guide withHistorical Background and

Lesson Plans

Enslaved

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ContentsHistorical Background .................................................................................................................. 5

Glossary ......................................................................................................................................... 9

Time Line of Events .................................................................................................................... 10

Lesson One: The Economics of Slavery ..................................................................................... 12Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 12Objectives ............................................................................................................................ 12Standards of Learning ......................................................................................................... 12Materials .............................................................................................................................. 12Strategy ................................................................................................................................ 12The Fry-Jefferson Map Cartouche .................................................................................... 14Graphic Organizer A ........................................................................................................... 16

Lesson Two: Debating Slavery ................................................................................................... 17Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 17Objectives ............................................................................................................................ 17Standards of Learning ......................................................................................................... 17Materials .............................................................................................................................. 17Strategy ................................................................................................................................ 17Slavery Debate Cards.......................................................................................................... 18

Lesson Three: The Development of a Legal Definition of Slavery .......................................... 20Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 20Objectives ............................................................................................................................ 20Standards of Learning ......................................................................................................... 21Materials .............................................................................................................................. 21Strategy ................................................................................................................................ 21Task for Set One Groups .................................................................................................... 21Task for Set Two Groups .................................................................................................... 21Evaluation ............................................................................................................................ 21Set One—A Brief Summary of the Legal Codes ............................................................... 22Graphic Organizer B ........................................................................................................... 23Teacher Key for Set One ..................................................................................................... 24Set Two—Court Cases ........................................................................................................ 25Graphic Organizer C ........................................................................................................... 26

Final Evaluation Activity ............................................................................................................ 27

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EnslavedHistorical Background1

When the American Revolution began in 1775, slavery was a strongly entrenched eco-nomic and legal institution in all thirteen American colonies. Yet this system of hereditary bondagehad developed relatively gradually in the decades following the arrival of the first Africans atJamestown in 1619. How the institution developed and why is the subject of this essay.

AN ECONOMIC SYSTEM DEPENDENT ON CHEAP LABORThe first British colonists to arrive in Virginia were white men, sent by the Virginia Com-

pany of London with the expectation that they would become financially successful. Within afew years, tobacco became the export upon which Virginia’s economy depended, and profitabletobacco cultivation needed cheap labor.

White indentured servants filled the role of cheap labor for most of the seventeenth cen-tury. Indentured servants sold their labor for a fixed term. These men and women were prima-rily poor Irish and English immigrants seeking a way to better their lives. Their masters paidfor transporting them to America, maintained them throughout the contract, and provided themwith tools, clothing, and similar items at the end of the contract. The servants were obliged towork for a set number of years, usually four to seven, after which time they could begin theirown lives, if they survived. Many did not.

The first Africans to arrive in Virginia in 1619 may have been indentured servants. Nolaws at the time codified lifetime servitude, and no evidence exists that Africans and African-Americans faced sharply different treatment from the white indentured servants. In fact, in theseventeenth century, when the numbers of African-Americans remained small,2 black and whitelaborers usually worked side by side in the fields, ate and socialized together, shared livingquarters, and, in some cases, formed mixed-race families. Whether slave, servant, or free, Afri-can-Americans in the first half of the seventeenth century enjoyed rights that would later bedenied them.

After 1680, economic conditions improved in England and Ireland, leading to a sharp de-cline in the supply of English and Irish servants willing to work in the tobacco fields. Simulta-neously, planters reconsidered their dependence on indentured servants. Bacon’s Rebellion, a1676 revolt of former indentured servants, frightened large established planters. Economic fac-tors also influenced planters. As Virginia’s mortality rates declined, it became more economicalto spend the additional money needed to purchase slaves, because they were now likely to livelong enough to make the investment worthwhile. Increasingly, the need for labor was filled byAfrican slaves, and by the 1730s, white servants were a distinct minority among bound labor-ers.

Most English slaveowners were interested in Africans with skills that matched the mas-ters’ needs. They tended to seek out farming peoples and those with metal- and woodworkingskills. Slavery soon fueled the agricultural economies of the South by providing large numbersof field workers and some of the skilled craftsmen. In the northern colonies, where the eco-nomic “need” for slavery was far less pronounced, slaves were skilled laborers working in mari-time trades, in various crafts, and as domestic servants.

1 This essay is adapted primarily from the Colonial Williamsburg publication Becoming Americans: Our Struggle to be Freeand Equal.

2 Approximately 7 percent of the population were African-Americans at the end of the seventeenth century. By 1740,that figure had risen to 40 percent.

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RACIAL ATTITUDES AND THE PRECEDENCE OF SLAVERYThe need for cheap labor alone does not explain the development of slavery. It evolved in

the context of a culture in which the English settlers firmly believed in their superiority. Fromthe beginning, English settlers in Virginia pursued two primary goals: to make the colony afinancial success and to convert Indians to Christianity. The English regarded their possessionof North America to be justified and righteous. That attitude may seem arrogant and immoraltoday, but Englishmen believed they could make better use of the land and its resources thanthe Indians they dispossessed.

For the first few years after arriving at Jamestown, the English settlers formed an alliance withthe Algonquian peoples of Tidewater Virginia. But this alliance crumbled in the face of the settlers’insatiable desire for lands, their attempts to convert Native Americans to Christianity, and theirefforts to enslave the Algonquians. This pattern was repeated in other colonies. Frequent at-tempts to enslave, subdue, and convert the Native American population fostered racial hatred.When the British began enslaving Africans in large numbers in the following decades, Native Ameri-cans were forced to choose between assisting blacks by harboring runaways and aiding the Englishby helping to enforce the slave laws.

Slavery was not unfamiliar to most Africans. Ancient African civilizations relied heavilyon slave labor throughout history, and the practice continued into the seventeenth and eigh-teenth centuries. In northern and sub-Saharan Africa, Arab and Muslim societies traded forslaves; their religious beliefs sanctioned slavery as a strategy to convert “pagans” to the truereligion. Slavery was also a fairly common practice in the kinship-based societies of West andCentral Africa. Owning people was a source and a symbol of wealth in societies where thecommunity, rather than individuals, held all rights to land. There, slaves were usually war cap-tives, criminals, debtors (or their designates), or sometimes foreigners. Some were purchasedfor lifelong servitude, but others could eventually earn their freedom.

At first, Europeans simply established trading partnerships and alliances to tap into exist-ing supplies of enslaved men and women, but soon, entrepreneurs organized raiding parties tokidnap Africans to meet the growing demand. The New World market gradually transformedtraditional forms of African slavery into a capitalist enterprise, and a far more brutal systemdeveloped than had existed previously. The demand for ever-larger numbers of slaves led to theforced transatlantic migration of roughly 11.5 million Africans in the three centuries between1500 and 1800.3 Of those Africans forcibly brought to the New World, approximately 600,000were brought into British North America between 1619 and 1775.

As the institution of slavery grew and developed, English arrogance found ways to ratio-nalize the racist treatment of Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans. Englishmenfrequently invoked scriptural authority. Although themselves divided by wealth, social class,and ethnic heritage, European-Americans forged a common bond in their domination over blacksand Indians. White indentured servants began to distance themselves from African-Americanlaborers, demanding privileges that recognized their European ancestry. Slaveholders measuredtheir social status from the numbers of slaves they owned or hired from other masters. All whites,whether free or indentured, rich or poor, enjoyed the elevated status that came with the color oftheir skin.

3 Some estimates place the number as high as 40 million to 100 million to account for smuggling, poor record keeping,and higher mortality rates en route to the New World than conventional estimates project.

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RACIAL SLAVERY CODIFIED4

As slave labor became more important to the colonial economy, the legal system molded itscontours, both through legislation and judicial decisions. When the first Africans arrived inJamestown in 1619, slavery had no legal foundation, either in England or in the colonies. But,in 1640, a black indentured servant, John Punch, ran away with two white indentured ser-vants. When caught, the white men were required to spend additional time in servitude, but theblack man was sentenced to a lifetime of servitude. This was the first documented instance oflifetime servitude in the colonies, and it marked the legal beginnings of slavery.

Between 1640 and 1662, slaveowners quickly interpreted customary law and enacted for-mal legislation making lifelong servitude the common condition for all newly arrived Africans.Beginning in the early 1660s, statutes also assigned the legal status of children born in Virginiaaccording to the condition of the mother. In other words, children born to slave mothers wereborn into slavery, even if their fathers were free white men.

The law became increasingly restrictive in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centu-ries. When the planters realized that the slaves did not have the same incentive to behave andperform well that the indentured servants had (the fear of having years added to the inden-ture), they responded with a system of rigid social control. Slaves were denied legal marriage,freedom of movement, and even the right to defend themselves against life-threatening physicalabuse. Other laws responded to the growing fear of slave uprisings. Severe sentences could behanded out to slaves who stole white people’s property, traveled without authorization, ranaway, or resisted whippings and other punishments.

Virginia rulers also sought to curb the growth of the free black population, because thepresence of free blacks challenged the legitimacy of the slave system. Legal grounds for manu-mission (the granting of freedom to slaves) were narrowly defined until after the Revolution.Free blacks increasingly discovered that they were denied many of the rights accorded to freewhites. They were not allowed to own guns, to hold indentured servants, to intermarry withwhites, to bear witness against whites in court, or to hold offices of any kind. At the same time,they were obliged to pay higher taxes than comparable white families.

The courts’ administration of the law further defined the terms of slavery. Justices of thepeace applied a separate criminal code to cases involving blacks, used different trial procedures,and handed down harsher punishments. Nevertheless, African-Americans could seek media-tion in disputes between master and slave and present petitions on a variety of issues. In fact, inVirginia, slaves and free blacks filed one-third of the petitions brought before the Governor’sCouncil between 1723 and 1775.

The legal status of whites also had a profound effect on the lives of the slaves. The onlyeffective restraint on an owner’s total power over his or her human property was the master’sself-interest. Courts never punished owners who maimed their slaves or arbitrarily revokedlongstanding privileges, and they rarely punished owners who killed slaves in a fit of passion orintoxication. Masters could break up slave families at any time through gift, sale, or hiring out.Families were also at risk of being parceled out among the owner’s heirs and creditors when-ever a slaveowner died or got into financial trouble. Slaves had no legal protection against suchtragic occurrences, and, as a result, they were forced to live in agonizing uncertainty.

4 See the time line in this teacher’s guide for a list of the slave laws that were enacted between 1640 and 1710.

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CRACKS IN THE SYSTEMDespite the harsh restrictions and the brutality of slavery, individual slaves often found

ways to control aspects of their lives. For example, despite the restrictions against legal mar-riage and the constant threat of separation, African-Americans succeeded in establishing fami-lies, extending kin connections, and making friends with slaves at other plantations. Kinshipnetworks and informal business relationships also included free blacks. The world blacks madefor themselves borrowed from both African and European traditions and helped ease the isola-tion, loneliness, and degradation of slavery. Slaves observed customs that whites could neithercontrol nor entirely understand, which afforded slaves some small measure of power over theirlives and nurtured their solidarity.

Little by little, slaves’ likes and dislikes worked significant changes in plantation routines,work assignments, and the operation of local exchange networks. By the early eighteenth cen-tury, many slaves and masters had reached a general understanding about the minimum amountsof food, clothing, and shelter that owners were obliged to provide. In some cases, slaves per-suaded owners to adopt “reasonable” hours of labor and levels of output. Slaves responded toarbitrary, unfavorable changes in plantation work rules with slowdowns and sabotage. Some-times they feigned sickness or ran away. In the face of such resistance, masters were often forcedto modify their actions.

By the 1770s, slaves and free blacks living in and around Williamsburg were active andknowledgeable participants in a local cash-based trading economy. Though only chattels them-selves, slaves gradually earned from grudging masters the “privilege” of keeping some profitsfrom the produce they raised in their free time. They quickly transformed those limited privi-leges into more widely shared rights. By the end of the Revolutionary War, many masters hadcome to accept their slaves’ independent participation in local trading networks. They had alsocome to admit that allowing slaves to possess their own property created a positive incentivefor hard work.

Religious institutions also provided solace to African-Americans. Before 1667 blacks whohad been baptized could seek freedom on that basis. But Christian religions continued to at-tract slaves long after that route to freedom was lost. Nearly one thousand slaves were baptizedat Bruton Parish Church in Williamsburg between 1746 and 1768.

Evangelical churches drew large numbers of slaves into their folds in the second half ofthe eighteenth century by offering hope of deliverance from persecution. Many evangelicalsand their followers openly denounced slavery. Some took their beliefs a step further by activelyseeking its abolition. About the same time, black preachers began to form their own congrega-tions and deliver openly antislavery messages, encouraging slaves to believe that freedom waspossible in their lifetimes.

CONCLUSIONSlavery developed into a harsh and brutal institution during the colonial era. Both blacks

and whites were negatively affected by the institution, although blacks bore the burden ofslavery’s terrible severity. Despite this harsh reality, slaves influenced small aspects of theirlives, and blacks and whites profoundly affected one another’s lives and culture. As the Ameri-can Revolution loomed in 1775 and the colonists sought “liberty” and “freedom” from a tyran-nical English government, the irony was apparent both to the slaves and many of the rulingelite. Unfortunately, it took another century and much bloodshed to destroy the institution ofslavery. More than 130 years after the Civil War, Americans continue the struggle to achievethe twin ideals of freedom and equality.

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GlossaryAPPRENTICE—A person, usually a teenager, who, in exchange for being taught a skill, liveswith and works for the master who is teaching him or her. At the end of the contract term,usually around the age of twenty-one, an apprentice becomes a journeyman who works for adaily wage.

BENEFIT OF CLERGY—A one-time exemption from a mandatory death sentence for a man-slaughter conviction. Like England, Virginia limited benefit of clergy to white men who couldread. If the judges granted the motion for benefit of clergy, the accused went free, but notbefore a court official burned a mark into the offender’s hand with a hot iron.

CARTOUCHE—An illustration on a map that is usually symbolic or shows some characteris-tic of the land or people who live in the area the map depicts.

CHATTEL—A moveable item of personal property. In eighteenth-century Virginia, slaves werealso considered to be property.

COMMON LAW—Laws or court decisions based on a long history of custom or tradition,rather than specifically enacted statutes.

ENSLAVED—When someone is forced to be a slave.

HOGSHEAD—The term for a certain size barrel used for storing tobacco.

INDENTURED SERVANT—A person who is legally bound to work for another person fora predetermined period of time. In the eighteenth century this period of time was often, but notalways, seven years.

MANUMISSION—The act of releasing an individual from slavery, usually by the slaveowner.

MIDDLE PASSAGE—The Atlantic crossing during which enslaved Africans endured inhu-manely cramped, unsanitary conditions.

MULATTO—An eighteenth-century term describing an individual who has both African andEuropean ancestry.

NEGRO—A term used in the eighteenth century to describe a person of African descent.

PLANTATION—Any farm that produces a crop for sale.

ROMAN LAW—System of written and unwritten laws, based on traditional law and legisla-tion of Ancient Rome, which serves as the basis for modern civil law.

RUNAWAY AD—A notice in a newspaper describing a slave, indentured servant, or appren-tice who has run away from his or her master.

SLAVE CODES—Laws concerning slavery.

TITHABLE—A taxable member of an eighteenth-century household. All males, black or white,and all black females aged sixteen and over were taxed. Free white females were the only peoplein colonial Virginia who were not taxed because a married woman was legally considered to bepart of her husband.

VIRGINIA GAZETTE—The name used by several different eighteenth-century printers in Wil-liamsburg, Virginia, for their newspapers.

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Time Line of Events1607 Jamestown is settled. It is the first permanent settlement in the colony of Virginia.

The Virginia Company of London finances the settlement with the expectation ofseeing profits from harvesting Virginia’s raw resources.

1612 John Rolfe plants Caribbean tobacco seeds in the rich Virginia soil. Tobacco be-comes the exported product that makes Virginia a wealthy colony.

1619 The first recorded Africans in the colony of Virginia arrive at Jamestown. ColonialWilliamsburg historians believe these Africans were indentured servants.

1639 Blacks in Virginia are not required to bear arms although white settlers must.

1640 An African servant, John Punch, and two servants of European descent are cap-tured while attempting to run away. The European servants are required to serveadditional time as part of their punishment. John Punch is sentenced to lifetime ser-vitude. This is the first recorded case of slavery prescribed by law in the colony ofVirginia

1642 Black women are counted as tithables—taxable property.

1661 Children born to enslaved mothers are considered slaves as well, regardless of theirfathers’ status. Children of enslaved fathers and free mothers are not considered slaves.

1667 By law, slaves baptized into the church are still considered to be slaves.

1669 Accidentally killing a slave during correction is not considered a crime.

1670 Blacks and Native Americans are not permitted to own servants of another race. Allnon-Christians arriving in the colony by water are hereafter considered slaves.

1671 Black slaves are considered property in real estate appraisals.

1672 Runaway slaves resisting capture may be killed.

1680 The ages of imported black children are to be determined and documented withinthree months of arrival in the colony.

Blacks are forbidden to possess any type of weapon.

Slaves must have permission before leaving their plantation of residence.

Slaves are forbidden to raise a hand against any Christian. An act punishing slaveinsurrection is in force.

1682 All non-Christians coming into Virginia by any means are considered slaves, whetheror not they convert to Christianity.

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1692 A court of oyer and terminer (a Latin term meaning “hear and decide”) is estab-lished to try all slaves accused of crimes. No jury hears the cases and there is noright to appeal the court’s decision.

Blacks are required to give up ownership of cattle, horses, and sheep.

1705 “An Act Concerning Servants and Slaves” revises and strengthens most of the lawsregarding slavery.

1710 Slaves who turn in other slaves planning insurrections or revolts are to be set free bylaw.

1732 Benefit of Clergy is extended in a limited fashion to blacks.

1769 Matthew Ashby, a free black living in Williamsburg, Virginia, obtains the freedom(via petition and purchase) of his wife, Ann, and his two children, John and Mary.Ashby may have been one of a group that successfully petitioned the court to elimi-nate the tax on free black women.

1772 In the Somerset Case, an English courtrules in favor of a slave brought into En-gland from a British colony who claimshe is a free man.

1775 Governor Dunmore of Virginia issues anemancipation proclamation that imposesmartial law in Virginia and offers free-dom to indentured servants and slaveswilling to fight for the king.

Slave insurrection occurs in the westernpart of Virginia.

1787 U. S. Congress passes the Northwest Or-dinance, which provides for territorialgovernment and eventual statehood forthe area north of the Ohio River and eastof the Mississippi River. Slavery is pro-hibited in any of this new territory.

1808 U. S. Congress passes a law to end the importation of African slaves.

1863 The Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Lincoln, frees slaves in theseceding states.

1865 Congress passes the Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution making sla-very illegal and extending civil rights to former slaves.

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LESSON ONE

The Economics of SlaveryINTRODUCTION

As tobacco became the chief cash crop in Virginia’s economy, planters needed an economi-cal and reliable source of labor. When Native Americans and white indentured servants provedtoo costly and unreliable, planters turned to the example of the Caribbean sugar plantations’reliance on African slave labor.

OBJECTIVESAs a result of this lesson, students will be able to:1. Make observations and inferences about the role of African slaves in Virginia’s tobacco

culture.2. Draw conclusions about the reasons for the growth and development of the institution

of slavery in eighteenth-century Virginia.

STANDARDS OF LEARNINGThis lesson meets National Standards for History for historical comprehension, historical

analysis, and interpretation.

MATERIALSCartouche from the Fry-Jefferson mapGraphic Organizer A

STRATEGY1a. Make an overhead transparency of the Fry-Jefferson cartouche.

1b. Explain to the students that some immigrants were forced to come to the North Americancolonies. This segment of society consisted primarily of Africans.

1c. Divide the class into groups of four or five students. Give each group a copy of GraphicOrganizer A, which they will use to record their observations and inferences.

1d. Project the image of the Fry-Jefferson cartouche onto the wall, an overhead screen, orbutcher paper.

2. Explain to the students that they are making observations only. They may only describewhat can actually be seen in the cartouche. Ask the students to examine the image very closely.Members of each group should observe, discuss, and record their observations about the car-touche on Graphic Organizer A.

3. Ask a student to choose a person from the image. Have the student describe this person andwhat he seems to be doing. Have the student step to the side and wait.

4. Repeat step 3 until all the people in the image have been described.

5. Instruct all the students who described an individual in the cartouche to assume the positionof the person they described (i.e. re-create the cartouche by assuming the same positions/atti-

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tudes). Pick one student to play the role of a modern news reporter. The reporter will intervieweach person in the cartouche. An individual addressed by the reporter will become “alive” forthe interview. (The other students remain frozen.) Possible questions may include: Who areyou? What are you doing? Why are you here? How does that make you feel?

6. When all of the students re-creating the cartouche have been interviewed, have each of thestudent groups discuss and record, on Graphic Organizer A, their inferences about what theyobserved both in the cartouche and in the tableau interpretation.

7. Hold a class discussionabout the students’ infer-ences. Record their answerson the chalkboard, butcherpaper, or an overhead trans-parency. If necessary, drawthe students’ attention to thecontents of the open hogs-head, activities with the hogs-heads of tobacco, and the shipin the background. Guide thediscussion toward conclu-sions about the economicneed for labor that led to thedevelopment of slavery inseventeenth-century Virginia.

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The Fry-Jefferson Map CartoucheMap: A Map of the most INHABITED part of VIRGINIA …

Makers: Joshua Fry and Peter Jefferson, cartographers;Charles Grignon, engraverDate: 1768 (although dated 1751)

The Fry-Jefferson map was the best map of Virginia produced during the colonial period.From the time of its publication throughout the rest of the eighteenth century, the map wasundisputedly the most widely referenced map for the region. The first to depict the interiorregions of the Tidewater beyond the Chesapeake Bay, it shows, for instance, some of the wagonroads used by colonists settling in the western portions of Virginia and North Carolina.

The cartouche on the bottom right corner of the map is a scene depicting a tobacco ware-house on one of Virginia’s rivers. The great planter is seated and being served by a slave. Twoslaves are packing and rolling the tobacco hogsheads while yet another slave is waiting to takethe hogshead in a boat to the anchored ship. The other white men are concerned with makingarrangements for the tobacco to be shipped to England to be marketed. The tobacco came fromthe plantations and fields scattered across the Virginia countryside.

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Graphic Organizer A

OBSERVATIONS INFERENCES

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LESSON TWO

Debating SlaveryINTRODUCTION

People with a wide variety of attitudes, values, and motivations debated slavery during the1600s. For many, the perspective reflected their position in society. In this lesson students willassume a seventeenth-century role and its corresponding view. They will then debate the vari-ous issues surrounding the development of the slave codes in the 1600s.

OBJECTIVESAs a result of this lesson, students will be able to:1. Understand a variety of seventeenth-century perspectives regarding slavery.2. Prepare (by choosing a specific perspective) an accurate argument regarding the sla-

very debate in eighteenth-century Virginia.

STANDARDS OF LEARNINGThis lesson meets the National Standards for History in the areas of historical comprehen-

sion, issues-analysis, and decision-making.

MATERIALSSlavery Debate CardsRoom set up to facilitate debate

STRATEGY1. Make copies of the Slavery Debate Cards. Make enough copies to give each student onecard. (Note: Depending upon the size of the groups, the same character card may need to beused by more than one student in a group. It might be helpful to copy each group’s cards on adifferent color of paper to help students differentiate groupings.)

2. Present the following question to the class for debate.

Are Virginia’s tobacco planters economically justified in importing and enslavingAfricans to meet the need for a large, reliable labor force?

3. Divide the class into six groups (two GROUP ONEs, two GROUP TWOs, and two GROUPTHREEs). Assign one role card to each student. Roles are grouped according to similar opin-ions regarding the debate question. Students should meet with the other members of their groupto discuss the points for debate, drawing on information from the pre-visit lesson, the FieldTrip, and the description on the role cards. The teacher should circulate, prompting students touse slave codes to develop their arguments. (See the laws regarding slavery.)

4. After a reasonable amount of time in small groups, bring the class together. Reintroduce thequestion from step 2 and moderate a whole-class debate.

5. Note: The teacher may wish to conclude the lesson with a student vote, a writing exercise, ora short discussion.

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Slavery Debate CardsPhotocopy and cut out the cards as needed.

ANGELOAn African woman living in a house ownedby Captain William Pierce in James City

in 1623.

Records show that you arrived on the shipTreasurer in 1619, making you one of the

first Africans in Virginia. At this time, youare most likely treated as an indentured

servant.

GROUP ONE

EMANUELA black servant (slave?) who escaped with

six white indentured servants.

Because your punishment does not includeadditional time in service, you may already

be a slave for life. The whites whoaccompanied you were sentenced to serveadditional time. Other punishments variedfrom probation to whipping, branding, and

having their legs shackled.

GROUP ONE

JOHN PUNCHA runaway indentured servant.

For running away, you are sentenced to awhipping of thirty lashes and your periodof servitude is lengthened to “service for

life.” (This is a turning point in thedevelopment of Virginia slave law.)

The two white servants who escaped withyou are each punished with an additionalfour years of servitude and a whipping of

thirty lashes.

GROUP ONE

JAMES GREGORYA Scottish indentured servant to Hugh

Gwyn.

You ran away with John Punch. Aspunishment, you received a whipping of

thirty lashes and had to serve your masterfor one additional year and the colony for

three years.

GROUP ONE

PLANTATION OWNERSYour plantation grows “Virginia Gold”tobacco. You have a vested interest in a

reliable, economical labor force. ImportedAfricans tend to be more resistant to theTidewater climate, are more immune to

European diseases, and come fromagrarian cultures. West Africans seem to

be economically perfect for the demands ofraising tobacco.

GROUP TWO

PLANTATION MISTRESSYour lifestyle depends upon successful

tobacco crops. You defer to yourhusband’s decisions and wishes. You are

religious and view most Africans asheathen and evil, since they tend to be

non-Christian.

GROUP TWO

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SMALL LANDOWNERYou imitate the larger, wealthier

landowners and follow their examples.Your cash crop is tobacco. Although you

do not own many slaves, you rely onenslaved Africans for your labor force.

GROUP TWO

MEMBER OF THE HOUSEOF BURGESSES

Many of your fellow Burgesses are largelandowners who understand and

sympathize with the need for labor. Theyhave a vested interest in the control of

slave labor and often rule in self-interest orin the favor of large landowners.

GROUP FOUR

FIELD SLAVEYou work on a tobacco plantation. You worklong hours in the fields, typically sunup to sun-

down. Your tasks include: planting tobacco seed-lings; checking each leaf of the plant for tobacco

worms and their eggs and removing them;hoeing and hilling the plants; cutting off flowers;

and pulling the side plants and leaves off thestalk. During harvest you cut the plants, stripleaves from the stalks, hang leaves to dry, pack

tobacco into the barrels, and transport the barrelsto a local tobacco warehouse for inspection.

GROUP THREE

FEMALE SLAVEBeginning in 1642/43, you are counted as a

tithable, along with all white and blackmales, who are considered incomeproducers. (White women are not

tithables.) Your status—or condition—as aslave means that your children will also be

considered to be slaves.

GROUP THREE

ANGLICAN PRIESTYou are very concerned about the

relationship between Christianity andbondage, which is becoming a turning

point in the development of slavery. Until1667, Christians could not be held in

bondage and any slaves who converted toChristianity were given their freedom. Anew law in 1667 eliminated conversion to

Christianity as a factor in gaining freedom.

GROUP FOUR

JUSTICE OF THECOUNTY COURT

You are responsible for administeringjustice in your county. Many of your

colleagues come from the local gentry andown a number of slaves. They have avested interest in slavery as a cheap,reliable labor force, and they need to

control that labor force.

GROUP FOUR

These characters are covered in the Field Trip or in Lesson Three.

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LESSON THREE

The Development of a Legal Definition of SlaveryINTRODUCTION

Virginia established a slave system incrementally and in an increasingly restrictive fash-ion. The institution of slavery was shaped and defined by the formal processes of the GeneralCourt and colonial legislature. The laws developed slowly from 1640 until 1705. As the supplyof white indentured servants decreased and the need for labor increased, the colonial govern-ment needed to determine who would be enslaved and how they would be controlled. EnglishCommon Law and the laws relating to property made no provisions for the institutionalizationof slavery. As a result, the Virginia Assembly turned to the example of Roman Law.

By 1700, Virginia had become a slave society, although the slave laws were not formallycodified until 1705. In this lesson, students will examine the laws that led to the institutional-ization of slavery and trace the evolution of the slave system in Virginia.

OBJECTIVESAs a result of this lesson, students will be able to:1. Develop a chronology for the legal development of slavery in Virginia.2. Analyze court cases dealing with the evolution of the Virginia slave system.3. Identify and analyze the reasons for the evolution of the Virginia slave system.

STANDARDS OF LEARNINGThis lesson meets National Standards for History for chronological thinking, historical

comprehension, historical analysis, and interpretation.

MATERIALSSet One—A Brief Summary of the Legal CodesGraphic Organizer BTeacher Key for Set OneSet Two—Court CasesGraphic Organizer C

STRATEGYDivide the class into six groups. Three groups will work on Set One—Slave Codes. Three

groups will work on Set Two—Court Cases. At the end of their individual group tasks, eachgroup will report its findings to the class. Group findings can be placed on a chart or butcherpaper for display.

TASK FOR SET ONE GROUPSEach group will be given Set One’s summaries of the selected legal codes concerning sla-

very in Virginia. The task is to place the slave codes in chronological order and to explain theirreasons for that order. Have the three groups list the ordered codes on chart paper. One personwill serve as spokesperson for each group. The students will compare their work with the ac-tual chronology of these laws. Students will be asked to hypothesize the reasons for this evolu-tion.

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TASK FOR SET TWO GROUPS Provide students with Set Two materials (synopses of Elizabeth Key’s, Emanuel’s, and

John Punch’s cases). For each case identify the facts, issues, and the decision of the court.Then distribute Graphic Organizer C. Working within the same groups, students will completethe organizer and report to the class.

EVALUATIONWhen the groups finish their individual tasks, they will report their findings to the class.

As a class, the students can explore the relationships between the information presented ineach set of materials. Focus questions might include:

• Why were the laws organized the way they were?• How did the laws reflect changing conditions in Virginia?• How did the courts’ decisions reflect the legal codes?

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Set One—A Brief Summary of the Legal Codes

Negroes prohibited from possessing arms.

Children of Negro women to hold samestatus as mother. If the mother is enslaved,

so is the child. If the mother is free, thechild is free.

Baptism does not alter the status of a slave.This law was enacted after some baptized

slaves successfully argued that theirenslavement was illegal, because Christians

could not be enslaved.

Non-Christians entering the country bywater will serve for life.

Negroes must give up ownership of horses,cattle, and hogs.

All previous slave laws are revised andstrengthened.

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Graphic Organizer BDiscuss the reasons why laws are made. Place the summary of each law by the year you

think the law was passed.

EVOLUTION OF THE SLAVE CODES IN VIRGINIA

1639/1640—

1661—

1667—

1670—

1692—

1705—

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Teacher Key for Set One

A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE LEGAL CODES

1639/40 Negroes prohibited from possessing arms.

1661 Children of Negro women hold same status as mother.

1667 Baptism does not alter the status of a slave.

1670 Non-Christians entering the country by water will serve for life.

1692 Negroes must give up ownership of horses, cattle, or hogs.

1705 “An Act Concerning Servants and Slaves” revises and strengthens all previously ex-isting slave codes.

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Set Two—Court Cases

SYNOPSIS OF THE ELIZABETH KEY CASEElizabeth was the bastard daughter of an unnamed slave woman and Thomas Key, who

died in 1636. Elizabeth was sold by Humphrey Higginson, to whom she had been indentured.She became the property of John Mottrom I, who kept her as a slave. He died in 1655, andElizabeth sued his executors for her freedom.

Elizabeth, with the aid of an attorney, argued that she should be freed on three points:1. Her father was English.2. She was a baptized Christian.3. She had been sold for a definite term of years, which had long since past.She won her case, but the executors appealed the ruling, and it was overturned. Finally,

the Northumberland County justices freed her.

SYNOPSIS OF THE EMANUEL CASEIn 1640, Emanuel and six servants ran away with corn, powder, guns, and shot. They

seized a small boat and were sailing down the Elizabeth River when they were caught. Most ofthe offenders were whipped, branded on the cheek with an R (a mark meaning Runaway), andrequired to serve additional years of indenture.

The sentences were: Christopher Miller (the “Principle agent in this business”): thirty lashes,branded on the cheek with “R,” leg shackled for one year, and an additional seven years ofservitude to the colony. Peter Wilcocke: thirty lashes, branded on the cheek with an “R,” anadditional three years servitude to Richard Cookson, and an additional 2.5 years servitude tothe colony. Richard Hill: “To remain on good behavior until the next offense.” Andrew Noxe:Thirty lashes. John Williams (“a Dutchman and a Chirugen” [surgeon]): An additional sevenyears to the colony. Emanuel: Thirty lashes, branded on the cheek with an “R,” and leg shack-led for one year. He was whipped and branded, but no additional time was added as punish-ment.

SYNOPSIS OF THE JOHN PUNCH CASEIn 1640, the General Court pronounced sentence on three servants who had been cap-

tured after running away to Maryland. Two of them, both white, were ordered to serve theirmasters for one additional year and serve the colony for three more years. The third servant,“being a negro named John Punch shall serve his said master or his assigns for the time of hisnatural life here or elsewhere.” This is the first definite indication of slavery by law in Virginia.

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Graphic Organizer CList the similarities and differences in the court cases of Elizabeth Key, Emanuel, and John

Punch in this Venn diagram. Place the similarities in the intersecting portions of the circles.

John PunchEmanuel

Elizabeth Key

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Final Evaluation Activity1. Conduct a whole-class discussion regarding the importance of public opinion in the politicalprocess. Just like politicians today, Virginia Burgesses in the eighteenth century knew thatpublic opinion and the media are powerful tools that can work for or against a politician or anissue with which they are involved.

Virginia politicians and some of the people they represented read the Virginia Gazette, anewspaper printed in Williamsburg. Concerned individuals often wrote open letters to the Vir-ginia Gazette regarding controversial political issues.

2. Copy and distribute the role cards from Lesson Two: Debating Slavery. Give the students afew minutes to read their character’s biographical information. Tell the students to record howthey think the character described on the role card felt about the institution of slavery.

3. Instruct the students to compose a letter to the editor of the Virginia Gazette in 1710 support-ing or denouncing the institutionalization of slavery. The letter to the editor must be writtenfrom their character’s viewpoint.

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We at Colonial Williamsburg would very much enjoy receiving copies of some of yourstudents’ work from any of the lesson plans in this packet. If you would care to share examplesof their work, please send them to:

Mary StutzColonial Williamsburg FoundationP.O. Box 1776Williamsburg, VA 23187-1776

Special thanks for their help to: Kelly Curtright, social studies curriculum coordinator,Oklahoma City, Okla.; Carol Gunner, elementary school teacher, Carlsbad, Calif.; Jeanne Lum-bard, middle school teacher, Vancouver, Wash.; Susan Pingel, high school teacher, Auburn,N. Y.; Gloria Sesso, high school teacher, Port Jefferson, N. Y.; and Laura Wilde, elementaryschool teacher, Marina Del Ray, Calif.

This teacher’s guide has been underwritten by a grant from the DeWitt Wallace Fund forColonial Williamsburg, established by the founder of Reader’s Digest.

©1998 by The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation