Over the years I had heard of the Slave Code’s immoralities, but I hadn’t delved into them myself. By the end of my readings, I realized that the linguistics of the Slave Codes were trickier that I had previously thought. A ‘free slave’ was not entirely exempt from a white man’s rule, and therefore perhaps ‘free’ shouldn’t be the word used. Also, I realized that not only were these Slave Codes, but Master Codes as well.
We have an impression that all white masters were entirely cruel to their slaves. This might have been true- I wouldn’t know seeing as I wasn’t present during that time period. But after reading through a few slave codes, I’ve realized the code doesn’t just bind slaves to the law, but their masters as well. “Louisiana’s Code Noir” commanded masters to educate their slaves in Roman Catholic creed, and if the master’s weren’t Catholic, their slaves could be legally confiscated. “South Carolina’s Slave Code” made it law that a slave’s quarters be searched for weapons or runaway slaves every fourteen days. Masters were also required to write a pass as proof that their slave was allowed off the plantation for whatever reason. When I read this, I remembered teachers back in high school, who were supposed to write similar passes to permit their students to the bathroom. Most of my teachers didn’t care enough to write these passes, which put the students at risk with the patronizing hall monitors, who were overly eager to pounce on unsuspecting students. I imagine that at least a handful of masters didn’t care enough to scribe these passes, impose a religion onto their slaves, or search their slave houses, and could think of a million other ways to spend their time; but, they were bound by law and the expectations of neighbors to obey.
Emancipated blacks, for example, were still regulated through the slave codes when it came to where they lived and where they worked (Slave Code for the District of Columbia). The word ‘emancipation’ actually comes from the Latin word ‘emancipat,’ which translates to ‘transferred as property’ ( “emancipate”). From what I’ve read, it seems this is a more precise definition of a ‘freed slave,’ because really, slaves just weren’t treated as property any longer. No one owned an emancipated person, or could puppeteer them through farm or house work. After emancipation, the master lost his or her right to sell or trade their slaves, like little boys sell or trade baseball cards today. But the transfer of property from master to self was the boundary of freedom for a slave. Slave codes still had control on aspects of their so-called freed life.
According to MSN’s Encarta Dictionary, the term ‘free’ in regards to politics means this: “not restricted in rights: not subject to censorship or control by a ruler, government, or other authority, and enjoying civil liberties” (“free”). I realize that this wasn’t quite the idea of freedom during the time of American slavery, but looking into today’s definition has made my aware of how sticky the term is. Without going of into a complete tangent, I’ll just say that under Encarta’s definition, emancipated slaves were not free since they were still regulated by government. Even American’s today aren’t technically free since, for example, Americans must abide Federal Law. I’m not trying to take for granted the rights Americans have compared to other countries, but to point out that in actuality, true freedom doesn’t exist within government or slavery codes. Picking through these linguistics, I’ll conclude by saying that freed slaves were not really free, and even free white men lacked complete freedom in regards to slavery. True freedom within government would create chaos, after all.
B. F. French, Historical Collections of Louisiana: Embracing Translations of Many Rare and Valuable Documents Relating to the Natural, Civil, and Political History of that State (New York: D. Appleton, 1851)
Thomas Cooper and David J. McCord, ed., Statutes at Large of South Carolina, (10 Vols., Columbia, 1836-1841) VII, pp. 352-356.
MSN Encarta World English Dictionary. 2009. Microsoft Corporation. 6 July 2009 <http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/free.html>.
"emancipate." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 06 Jul. 2009.
