UNCLE TOM'S CABIN

"
how,in
112
KEY TO UNCLE TOM S CABIN.
The history of legislation in South Carolina
is significant. An act was passed in
1800,containing the following section :
sheepor hogs. And it shall be law-
It shall not be lawful for any number of
g
slaves,free Di'
negroes,
mulattoes or mestizoes, even seizeand take
in company
with white persons, to meet away from any slave gest, 3S5. 386.
together all such
Actofl""-
goods,"c, boats,"c. "c,
an(* assemble for the
Stroud p. 93.
purpose or menand
to deliverthe same into the hands of
2 Brevard's tal instruction or religiousworship,
any justice
Dig.254,2a5.
e;tjierbefore the rising of the of the peace, nearest to the place where the
sun, or
after the going down of the same. And all seizureshall be made ;
magistrates,
and such justiceshall take
the oath of the
sheriffs, militia officers, "c. "c, are
person making
hereby
such seizure, concerning
vested with power, "c, for dispersing such
the manner thereof ; and if the said justice
assemblies, "c.
The law justquotedseems somehow to
have had a prejudicial effect upon the religious
half of the moneys arising from such sale to go to
interestsof the "
slaves, free the
negroes," state,and the other half to him or them that
sue for the same.
"c, specified in it;for țhree years afterwards,
on the petition of certain religiousThe laws in many other states are similar
"
societies, a protective act" was passed, to the above ; but the State of Georgia has
which should secure them this great religious
an additionalprovision, againstper- 2Cobb'"
privilege ; to wit țhat it should be mittingthe slave to hire himself to Dig- 284-
unlawful, before nine o'clock,
" to break another for his own benefit ; a penalty of
into a place of meeting,wherein shall be thirtydollarsis imposed for every weekly
assembled the members of any religious society
offence, on the part of the master, unless
of this state,provided a majorityof the labor be done on his own premises.
them shall be white persons,
or otherwise Savannah,Augusta, and Sunbury, are places
to disturb theirdevotion, unless such person
excepted.
shall have first obtained * * * * In Virginia,
"if the master shall permit
a warrant, "c."
his slave to hirehimself out,"the
Thirdly. It appears that many masters, slave is to be apprehended, "c., r"u ' p-
who are disposed to treat theirslaves generously,
and the master to be fined.
have allowed them to accumulate In an earlyact of the legislature of the
property țo raise domesticanimals for their orthodox and Presbyterian State of North
These laws are, in some cases, so constructed
as to make it for the interestof the
lowest and most brutal part of society that
they be enforced, by offering half the slaveto cultivatecotton for his
profits
own
B
to the
use
informer. We givethe following, as ;
or who licenses Ins slave to
specimens of slave legislation
this subject
go at large and tradeas a freeman ;
:
The law of South Carolina :
It shall not be lawful for any slave to buy,
sell,trade,"c, for any goods,"c, without a
license from the owner, "c; nor shall any slave be
permitted to keep any boat,periauger,* or canoe,
Periagua.
or raise and breed,for the benefitof such slave,
any horses,mares, cattle,sheep, or hogs, under
pain of forfeiting all the goods,"c.,and all tho
boats,periaugers, or canoes, horses, mares, cattle,
ful for any person whatsoever to 47TOUja'm^s'
shall be satisfiedthat such seizure has been
made according to law,he shall pronounce and
declare the goods so seized to be forfeited, and
order the same to be sold at publicoutcry, one
the interestsof Christiancharity,
own use, and, in the case of intelligent Carolina, itis gratifying to see how thejudicious
servants,to go at large, to hire their own
course of publicpolicyis made to
time,and to trade upon their own account. subserve
Upon all these practices the law comes
a singleingenious sentence,provision
down,with unmerciful severity. A penalty
is made for punishing the offender
is inflicted on the owner, but,with a rigoragainstsociety,
rewarding the patriotic in-
quiteaccordant with the tenor of slave-law
and feeding the poor and destitute:
the offence is considered, in law,as that of
the slave, rather than that of the All horses,cattle,hogs or sheep,that, one
master ; month after the passing of this act, shall
so that, ifthe master is generous enoughnot
former,
belong to any slave,or be of any clave 's sket^h^.
mark, in this state,shall be seized and
to regard the penaltywhich isimposedupon
sold
himself,he may be restrainedby the fear by the county wardens,and by them applied,
the one-half to
of bringing a greaterevil upon his dependent.
the support of the poor of the
county, and the other half to the informer.
In Mississippi a
dollars is
imposed upon the master who permits his
fine of fifty
. , .
-i " l x
Stroud,p. 48.
is convicted of permitting
"
or who
by the highestjudicial tribunalof
State of Mississippi, we repeat
portion of a decisionof Chief Justice
the sovereign
here a
Sharkey,which we have elsewhere given
more
in full.
his slave to keep
stock of any description."
To show how the above law has been interpreted