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Difficulty: EasyDevelopment of Chattel Slavery

"Provided, that if any slave resist his master... and by the extremity of the correction should chance to die, that his death shall not be accounted felony, but the master... be acquitted from molestation, since it cannot be presumed that prepensed malice (which alone makes murder felony) should induce any man to destroy his own estate."

— Virginia General Assembly, Act I, 1669

Which of the following developments in the British North American colonies is best reflected in the passage?

  1. The legal classification of enslaved Africans as property, or chattel, who were denied basic human rightsAnswer
  2. B
    The extension of identical contractual agreements and legal status to both African laborers and European servants
  3. C
    The total prohibition of enslaved labor in the New England colonies in contrast to its expansion in the Chesapeake
  4. D
    The promotion of free-market capitalism allowing enslaved people to work for wages under mercantilist policies

Answer

The legal classification of enslaved Africans as property, or chattel, who were denied basic human rights
The correct answer is correct because the 1669 Virginia statute legally defined enslaved Africans as the master's 'own estate,' meaning personal property or chattel. By removing criminal penalties for masters who killed resisting slaves, the law codified the absolute authority of owners and the total denial of basic human rights to enslaved people.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the text of the 1669 Virginia law.
The law states that a master who kills an enslaved person during physical correction cannot be charged with a felony because the slave is defined as the master's 'own estate.'
Understanding the specific language of the primary source is necessary to identify how the colony legally defined enslaved individuals.
2
Connect the term 'estate' to colonial labor concepts.
Defining a human being as 'estate' means treating them as personal property, which is the definition of chattel slavery.
This links the historical evidence in the document directly to the development of the legal institution of chattel slavery.
3
Evaluate the choices to select the best match.
The option asserting the legal classification of enslaved Africans as property matches the definition of chattel slavery demonstrated in the text.
Choosing the option that accurately reflects the legal and social reality described in the passage.

Key Concept

Development of Chattel Slavery
Estimated Time:45s
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Topics

Development of Chattel Slavery

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