Essay On Virginia Lawmakers

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The Virginia lawmakers attempted to control the behavior of Africans in the colony very strictly. For example, slaves carrying any weapon, even for defense, was illegal. If a slave was attacked by an animal or human, they would have no defense because the white Englishmen needed to make sure Africans didn’t have control over their outnumbered masters. Additionally, the lawmakers made freed Africans pay taxes, and yet not let them have citizenship from England. In order to control the freed Africans, they were not able to become citizens because that would have given power to the slaves. If no citizenship was established, no rights would be given to the Africans. Lawmakers controlled the Africans through unfair rules and laws. 2. The punishments provided for offenders against the law were very severe. Even against whites, the punishments were tough and embarrassing. Whenever an Englishman slept with a slave, the accused had to confess in front of the entire church that next sunday. The church would be disgusted at this idea because not only was the other partner a slave, but the relationship was also before marriage. Actions such as this would change the way people looked at the accused Englishman. Additionally, Africans had …show more content…

The greatest fear of the Virginia lawmakers appeared to be up-risings. Proof of this was that the lawmen made a law that if slaves formed groups to socialize, the police had the right to apprehend them in fear of conspiring against the whites. The English worried so much about rebellions, the law enforcement would detain innocent people. At this time, it was also illegal for a slave to read or write. Slaves being able to read and write means they could communicate which results in the realization that the the African outnumbered the English greatly. Outnumbering the English means slaves could easily overrun their overseers. The English settlers were paranoid of a rebellion forming and paranoia increased as the number of slaves

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