"Whereas, the plantations and estates of this Province cannot be well and sufficiently managed and brought into use, without the labor and service of negro and other slaves; and forasmuch as the said negroes and other slaves... are of barbarous, wild, savage natures... and that therefore such constitutions, laws and orders, should in this Province be made and enacted, for the good regulating and ordering of them, as may keep the said negroes and other slaves in due subjection and obedience..."
— South Carolina Slave Act, 1712
The legal system established in South Carolina, as described in the excerpt, most directly contributed to which of the following developments in the British colonies?
- AThe extension of temporary contracts of indenture to African laborers to ensure their eventual integration into colonial society.
- BThe adoption of communal labor frameworks modeled after New England Puritan town covenants.
- The creation of a rigid social and legal structure that locked African laborers and their descendants into lifelong servitude.Answer
- DThe establishment of autonomous trading systems that bypassed the regulatory framework of British mercantilism.
Answer
The creation of a rigid social and legal structure that locked African laborers and their descendants into lifelong servitude.
The correct answer is correct because colonial slave codes, such as the South Carolina Act of 1712, legally established chattel slavery by defining African laborers as personal property. This codification created a permanent, hereditary, and racialized labor system designed to support the southern plantation economy.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
The development of chattel slavery in the British Southern colonies was codified through laws that established a permanent, hereditary, and racialized system of labor.