Module 3: South Carolina Slave Codes

Module 3: South Carolina Slave Codes

In the early 1700s, rice plantations thrived in the colony of South Carolina. How did this successful economy get its start? It was initially taught to the English settlers by the Africans who had grown rice in their homeland. In addition to their familiarity with growing rice, Africans adapted to the hot, humid climate and were somewhat resistant to malaria which was carried by the mosquitoes living in the watery rice fields therefore making them perfect “field workers” (Foner 134). According to Foner, “rice production requires considerable capital investment to drain swamps and crate irrigation systems, it is economically advantageous for rice plantations to be as large as possible.” (134) Hence, South Carolina became a colony of wealthy plantation owners who needed a large number of slaves to work the fields leading to a rapidly growing black population which soon outnumbered the whites. The colonialists, whether intentionally or unintentionally had developed a class system, “The country therefore was not ‘born free’ but born slave and free, servant and master, tenant and landlord, poor and rich.” (Zinn, 39) Outnumbered, but more importantly afraid of losing control, slave owners enacted the Slave Codes of South Carolina for the purpose of defining legal statues and the punishments for broken laws.

In the late 1600s and early 1700s it was common practice for enslaved blacks to be bought and sold throughout the colonies. A successful economy almost always depended on it. “The slaves were taught discipline, were impressed again and again with the ideas of their own inferiority to ‘know their place,’ to see blackness as a sign of subordination, to be awed by the power of the master…” (Zinn 29) Yet plantation owners grew fearful of a rebellion from the growing number of black slaves. The answer was to create laws. In 1690, the “Act for the Better Ordering of Slaves” was enacted declaring specific penalties for first, second, and third offenses. It prohibited enslaved persons from leaving their plantations without written permission. (Slavery) Several years later, in 1712, the “Act for the Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and Slaves” was created to increase control over the growing number of blacks in South Carolina and outline punishable laws for both master and slave. Punishment for runaway slaves included branding an “R” on their cheek, cutting the Achilles tendon, or even death. It also stated that if the master did not carry out the punishment he would be fined a specified number of shillings. (Slavery) In reality, little was done to actually control the increasing numbers of black slaves as they were needed to ensure a profitable and thriving business. Instead, the Slave Codes were continually revised throughout the 1700s so that the white plantation owners could control the much needed black slave population of South Carolina. “It was an intricate and powerful system of control that the slave owners developed to maintain their labor supply and their way of life…for keeping power and wealth where they are.” (Zinn 29)

According to an Excerpt from American Slavery As It Is, “The fact that thousands of slaves, generally in the prime of life, are annually smuggled into the United States from Africa, Cuba, and elsewhere, makes it manifest that all inferences drawn from the increase of the slave population, which do not make large deductions, for constant importations, must be fallacious. Mr. Middleton of South Carolina, in a speech in Congress in 1819, declared that ‘Thirteen Thousand Africans are Annually Smuggled Into the Southern States.’” (Weld) As a result of profitable rice and later an indigo economy, coupled with South Carolinas ability to control large numbers of black slaves, other colonies such as Georgia adopted the Slave Codes created and enacted by South Carolina’s legislature. (Foner 135) After repealing a ban on slavery, “Georgia became a miniature version of South Carolina. By 1770, as many as 15,000 slaves labored on its coastal rice plantations.” (Foner 135)

Works cited

Foner, Eric. Give Me Liberty! An American History, Seagull Edition. New York: NY, 2009.

"Slavery and Slave Codes (1600-1754)." American Eras. 8 vols. Gale Research, 1997-1998. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com.ez.ccclib.org/servlet/HistRC/

Weld, Theodore. "Excerpt from American Slavery As It Is." Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale. http://galenet.galegroup.com.ez.ccclib.org/servlet/HistRC/ (Primary Source)

Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States. Abridged Teaching Edition. New York: NY, 1980.