The first enslaved Africans in British North America arrived in Virginia in 1619. Over the next three decades, white Virginians codified racial slavery in Virginia law, as the number of slaves in the colony increased. Shortly after the turn of the century, the Virginia Assembly passed the Slave Codes of 1705, which established the parameters for the institution of slavery in the eighteenth century.
All servants imported and brought into the Country. . . who were not Christians in their native Country. . . shall be accounted and be slaves. All Negro, mulatto and Indian slaves within this dominion. . . shall be held to be real estate. If any slave resists his master. . . and shall happen to be killed in . . . correction. . . [then] the master shall be free of all punishment. . . as if such accident never happened.
- Virginia General Assembly, 1705
By the end of the American Revolution, white Virginians owned over 293,000 enslaved African Americans. More people were enslaved in Virginia than in any other state in the Union. And, during the nineteenth century, white Virginians continued to enact new laws that restricted the rights of both enslaved and free African Americans.
A complete list of Virginia's slave laws may be found at the following sites.
Primary Sources:
Virginia Slave Laws to 1705 [ link ]
Virginia Slave Laws 1705 to 1864 [ link ]
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