Slave Codes of Connecticut in the Year 1856
Slave codes of Connecticut were compiled in 1650 and adopted by the general court, as the legislative assembly was then called. On the subject of the Indians this code exhibits much anxiety. The militia law is full and precise.
Every town is to have a store of powder, and on Sundays and lecture days to be furnished with an armed guard, to prevent sudden surprises. Trade with the Indians in arms of any kind, or in dogs, is strictly forbidden.
Plans of a Slave Ship and an Illustration of a Slave Camp
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White men leaving the colony and joining the Indians are liable to three years' imprisonment. Every band of Indians resident near any plantation is to have some sachem or chief to be personally responsible for all depredations committed by the band; and, in conformity with a recommendation of the commissioners for the united colonies, if satisfaction for injuries is refused or neglected, the Indians themselves may be seized; "and, because it will be chargeable keeping them in prison", they may be delivered to the injured party, "either to serve, or to be shipped out and exchanged for negroes, as the case will justly bear."
From these slave codes of Connecticut, it thus appears that negro slavery was authorized in Connecticut as well as in Massachusetts. It was only the heretics of Providence who prohibited perpetual servitude by placing "black mankind" on the same level with regard to limitation of service as white servants.
Unfortunately for the honor of Rhode Island, this regulation, enacted during a temporary disruption of the province, never extended to the other towns, and never obtained the force of a general law.
Slave codes of Nouth Carolina as recorded in History of Slavery and the Slave Trade, W. O. Blake, 1856.
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