Editing Slave codes (section)

==Typical slave codes==
There are many similarities between the various slave codes. The most common elements are:

*'''Movement restrictions:''' Most regions required any slaves away from their plantations or outside of the cities they resided in to have a pass signed by their master. Many cities in the slave-states required slave tags, small copper badges that enslaved people wore, to show that they were allowed to move about.<ref name="Harlan2004">{{Cite book|title=Slave badges and the slave hire system in Charleston, South Carolina, 1783-1865|first=Harlan|last=Greene|isbn=978-0786417292|oclc=53459029|year = 2004|publisher=McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers }}</ref>
*'''[[Marriage of enslaved people (United States)|Marriage restrictions]]:''' Most places restricted the marriage rights of enslaved people, ostensibly to prevent them from trying to change masters by marrying into a family on another plantation.<ref name="Ingersoll, 1995, pp. 29-30">Ingersoll 1995, pp. 29-30</ref> Marriage between people of different races was also usually restricted.
*'''Prohibitions on gathering:''' Slave codes generally prevented large groups of enslaved people from gathering away from their plantations.
*'''Slave patrols:''' In the slave-dependent portions of North America, varying degrees of legal authority backed [[slave patrol]]s by plantation owners and other free whites to ensure that enslaved people were not free to move about at night, and to generally enforce the restrictions on slaves.<ref name="Hadden_SlavePatrols_2001">{{Cite book| title = [[Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas]]| first=Sally E. |last=Hadden|date=2001|publisher=[[Harvard University Press]]|location=Cambridge, MA |series=Harvard Historical Studies |isbn= 9780674012349 |pages=340}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last = Hadden |first=Sally E. | title = Slave Patrols: Law and Violence in Virginia and the Carolinas (Full text digital library access with registration)|year=2001 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674004702 | access-date = June 2, 2020| url = https://archive.org/details/slavepatrolslawv00hadd}}</ref>
*'''Trade and commerce by slaves:''' Initially, most places gave enslaved people some land to work personally and allowed them to operate their markets. As slavery became more profitable, slave codes restricting the rights of enslaved people to buy, sell, and produce goods were introduced.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The slaves' economy : independent production by slaves in the Americas|last=Berlin|first=Ira|date=1991|publisher=Cass|others=Morgan, Phillip D.|isbn=978-0714634364|location=London|pages=7|oclc=255388170}}</ref> In some places, slave tags were required to be worn by enslaved people to prove that they were allowed to participate in certain types of work.<ref name="Harlan2004"/>
*'''Punishment and killing of slaves:''' Slave codes regulated how slaves could be punished, usually going so far as to apply no penalty for accidentally killing a slave while punishing them.<ref name="morris 1999, 161-171">{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Thomas D. |title='' Southern Slavery and the Law, 1619-1860'' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VmPWCKh0hZAC&pg=PA172  |publisher=University of North Carolina Press|year=1999|pages=161–171| isbn=978-0807864302}}</ref> Later laws began to apply restrictions on this, but slave-owners were still rarely punished for killing their slaves.<ref name="morris 1999, 171-172">Morris 1999, pp 171-172</ref> Historian [[Lawrence M. Friedman]] wrote: "Ten Southern codes made it a crime to mistreat a slave.... Under the [[Louisiana Civil Code]] of 1825 (art. 192), if a master was ′convicted of cruel treatment,′ the judge could order the sale of the mistreated slave, presumably to a better master."<ref>Lawrence M. Friedman (2005). ''A History of American Law: Third Edition''. Simon and Schuster. p.163 {{ISBN|0743282582}}</ref>
*'''Education restrictions:''' Some codes made it [[Anti-literacy laws in the United States|illegal to teach slaves to read]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=http://www.inmotionmagazine.com/track.html|title=A History to Remember by Rose Sanders - Education Rights / In Motion Magazine|website=www.inmotionmagazine.com|access-date=2018-12-17}}</ref> [https://americanexperience.si.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Literacy-as-Freedom.pdf Slave literacy]