Virginia’s Act XII: Negro Women’s Children to Serve according to the Condition of the Mother

In December 1662 the Virginia House of Burgesses met for the second time that year and approved a set of twenty-three statutes that focused on various facets of colonial life. The most infamous of these laws, Act XII: Negro Women’s Children to Serve according to the Condition of the Mother, made the civil status of African and African American slave women inheritable by their offspring. The burgesses, convened by the governor, Sir William Berkeley, and presided over by the speaker, Captain Robert Wynne, acted in response to their perceptions of the colonists’ needs and interests. Other legislation passed during that session included the commission for a new city to be built at Jamestown, various attempts at regulating trade, several taxes and tax reforms, a law aimed at controlling brabbling (squabbling) or gossiping women, and six statutes governing the behavior and status of indentured servants.

The status of Virginia’s unfree laborers, as illustrated by the number of laws passed regarding them, was prominent among the burgesses’ concerns. These workers fell into two major categories, indentured servants and slaves. Together, these groups formed the majority of the laborers in the colony’s burgeoning tobacco economy. Indentured servants were bound under contracts that negotiated away their right to profit from their labor in exchange for food and lodging as well as protection from the colony’s enemies. These individuals hailed primarily from British Isles. Slaves, on the other hand, were of African descent and served for life.