Rules for Slaves

In 1682 the slave code of Virginia received additions. It was enacted that runaways who refused to be arrested might be lawfully killed.

Slaves were forbidden to carry arms, offensive or defensive, or to go off the plantations of their masters without a written pass, or to lift a hand against a Christian, even in self-defense.

The condition of slavery was imposed upon all servants, whether " negroes, Moors, mulattoes, or Indians, brought into the colony by sea or land, whether converted to Christianity or not, provided they were not of Christian parentage or country, or, if Turks or Moors, in amity with his Majesty.

" Nearly a century afterwards Virginia tried to suppress the traffic in African slaves, and in 1761 it was proposed in her legislature to suppress the importation of Africans by levying a prohibitory duty.

Danger to the political interest of that colony was foreboded by her wisest men in the continuance of the trade. An act for levying the tax was passed by the Assembly, but in England it met the fate of similar bills from other colonies to suppress the nefarious traffic. It was sent back with a veto.