Difference between revisions of "Week 3 Questions/Comments-327 09"
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This article which addresses Virginia and Maryland laws on the status of interracial liaisons and resulting children was very specific in stating the differences held for men and women and the legal status of the children. It was stated in the beginning that these laws were to discourage and prevent interracial relations but they also show the real concerns addressing issues of ambiguity on the legal status of the children and sexual partners as well as controlling social morality. I am especially interested in the reasons for these laws concerning white women and their children with male slaves. How necessary was the need for these preventative laws? Were there many cases in which these laws were actually enforced? When did this really become an issue?-- Elyse Lawrence | This article which addresses Virginia and Maryland laws on the status of interracial liaisons and resulting children was very specific in stating the differences held for men and women and the legal status of the children. It was stated in the beginning that these laws were to discourage and prevent interracial relations but they also show the real concerns addressing issues of ambiguity on the legal status of the children and sexual partners as well as controlling social morality. I am especially interested in the reasons for these laws concerning white women and their children with male slaves. How necessary was the need for these preventative laws? Were there many cases in which these laws were actually enforced? When did this really become an issue?-- Elyse Lawrence | ||
| − | I was shocked with the extremity of the laws that were in place in regards to relations between white colonists and slaves. Children of mixed decent seemed to have almost as poor a lot in life as slave children, since they were bound to servitude for up to thirty years in Virginia. I was surprised that the penalties for men and women were so strict, I wonder if this is a reflection on the emphasis and influence of church and religion in the lives of the colonists. Obviously it must have been considered a sin and one of serious moral repercussions. What would be the penalty for any of the slaves in question? Since they were already bound in servitude was a punishment considered unnecessary? I also found myself wondering if this was a common occurrence at the time. | + | I was shocked with the extremity of the laws that were in place in regards to relations between white colonists and slaves. Children of mixed decent seemed to have almost as poor a lot in life as slave children, since they were bound to servitude for up to thirty years in Virginia. I was surprised that the penalties for men and women were so strict, I wonder if this is a reflection on the emphasis and influence of church and religion in the lives of the colonists. Obviously it must have been considered a sin and one of serious moral repercussions. What would be the penalty for any of the slaves in question? Since they were already bound in servitude was a punishment considered unnecessary? I also found myself wondering if this was a common occurrence at the time.---Emma Peck |
== Skilled slaves in Maryland, 1748-1763, Maryland Gazette == | == Skilled slaves in Maryland, 1748-1763, Maryland Gazette == | ||
