The Role of Americas Colonial Legal System in the Peculiar Institution (Essay Sample)

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The role of America’s Colonial Legal System in the Peculiar Institution
The colonial American legal system played a significant role in the resultant institution of slavery in America. Within the 1600s, the first Africans arrived in America as a result of the slave trade, however; they were adopted as indentured servants and were later on freed, with some eventually owning slaves themselves. By mid-1600s, the culture of enslaving Africans was already widespread in many territories of America. States like Virginia, for instance, had already placed laws that allowed for lifetime ownership of slaves. The legal background of slavery was fueled by economic factors such as the growth of the tobacco business. The rise in demands for tobacco in England promoted the large-scale growth of tobacco in Virginia (Allain). As a result, the lifetime ownership of slaves and their children became a common practice. There was also an increased demand for labor to support the tobacco plantations. Other crops such as cotton also needed cheap labor that would be provided by slavery. By late 1600s, slavery was pretty much a legal institution in some American states. Scholars studying the laws and statutes of the 17th to the 18th century have yielded that the law was an important institution in colonial and independent America. Consequently, the law must have played a role in buttressing slavery (Allain).
According to Allain, the colonial Englishman of the early 17th century was intensely low-minded, and the law was considered an ultimate tool to litigate disputes among the citizens. It is during the same period that slavery emerged in America. It is interestingly notable that the colonial American justice system did not offer a lot concerning slavery and how it was to be handled in America. However, the influential legalistic individuals fostered the development of slavery even without a legal authority. There was a widespread interest in public laws concerned with the policing of slavery but few regulations that involved the daily handling of slaves. Blacks had initially enjoyed privileges such as the authority to take their masters in courts. For example, Pedro Negretto and Manuel Rues complained about unpaid wages and won their cases. Dutch West Indian Company had at some time freed some slaves. Half freedom was mostly offered to slaves who were old and thus a liability to the merchants and farmers who owned them (Allain). There was an increased demand for labor in English colonies especially with the rise in trade of large-scale commodities such as cotton and tobacco. In the mid-1600’s slavery was popular among many traders and plantation owners in many of the states. States such as Virginia established statutes to legalize the ownership of slaves for life. The South Carolina Better Ordering and Governing of Negroes and Slaves Act of 1696 are also an example of legal steps that codified slavery. By 1705, Virginia had established a...