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Period: to
Diminishing Progress 13
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Act X - No Arms Law
This act stated that "all persons except negroes" could carry guns. It served to make it harder for the slaves to rebell (and defend themselves.) This act also helped control the slaves, because the overseer had a gun and they didn't.This law was important because it created a "legal distinction" between the Englishmen and the slaves. By excluding the African Americans, it started the chain of events that led to the oppression of all Africans in America. -
Anthony Johnson Goes to Court
On an unknown month in 1654, Anthony Johnson took a white man (Robert Parker) to court over a slave. The surprising thing is thet Anthony won.This means that, in 1654, the laws and prejudices couldn't stop an African American from getting fairness in court. Africans acctually had rights back then, but that didn't last. Soon, it would get harder and harder for them, as the next law gets encated. -
Act III - Baptizim Law
Until this law, every slave who was baptized automatically became free at some point. When Act III was enacted, baptized slaves couldn't be free just because they were baptized, but slave owners were encouraged to baptize their slaves. This made it harder for slaves to get free, demoralized them, and probably saved the owners some good money.
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Baptizm Law - Act III (continued)
This law shows diminishing progress because the line between the two groups is growing thicker, and it is getting harder and harder for slaves to get their freedom. -
Act I - Casual Killing Law (continued)
If Anthony tried to take Mr. Robert Parker to court now, he probably wouldn't get past the door. That is definitly diminishing progress. -
Act I - Casual Killing Law
According to "The Statutes at Large" volume 2, an act was passed in 1669 about the casual killing of slaves. This law stated that killing slaves as punishment wasn't a crime. "...since it cannot be presumed that prepensed malice (which alnoe makes murther ffelony) should induce any man to destroy is owne estate." Key word there: ESTATE. This shows the slaves were already being thought of as estate instead of people, even in official documents.
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Act XXII - Slaves Are Real Estate Law
This is the final act. It says that slaves are officially REAL ESTATE. By now, the figurative cook pot is boiling, and the figurative frog realizes, too late, what is happening. In the space of 64 years, African-Amercans went from unfairly treated indentured servants to slaves thought of as property. At first, the laws start out slowly, and then pick up speed, getting enacted closer and closer together. Also, each law is worse: 1639 - no arms, 1669 - casual killing, 1705- PROPERY. SEE NEXT SLIDE -
Act XXII - Real Estate (continued)
Act XXII was the final straw. By making slaves officially property, and defining them by skin color, the colonials unintentionally laid the significant foundations for the Civil War right there and then. That is the diminishing progress that went on through Anthony Johnson's life.
