# Old U.S. slavery laws...what races could be enslaved? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 23, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-u-s-slavery-laws-what-races-could-be-enslaved/183659 "2003-06-23T01:02:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-u-s-slavery-laws-what-races-could-be-enslaved/183659/1 "2003-06-23T01:02:20Z")
…It’s an uncomfortable topic, so I’ll just get down to the meat of it. That is; In the United States, when slavery was still legal, where there any legal restrictions on who could be enslaved? I kind of have a sinking feeling that “white” people could be slaves, as such, even if that only meant that they would be “Indentured Servants” instead. But what about other “non-white” peoples, like Indians, or Asian immigrants? Well, thanks for your patience, Ranchoth ---
**Author:** ![andy\_fl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@andy\_fl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andy_fl)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-u-s-slavery-laws-what-races-could-be-enslaved/183659/2 "2003-06-23T01:36:27Z")
I donno abt the laws, but Chang and Eng, the Chinese Siamese twins (among the first arrivals in America), married White girls - Adelaide and sarah in North Carolina and had 15 or so kids between them.[from here](http://blueridgecountry.com/newtwins/twins.html) **They also owned Slaves.** and got US citizenship. Their sons fought in the Civil War. Maybe this is relevant that is to the info you seek. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-u-s-slavery-laws-what-races-could-be-enslaved/183659/3 "2003-06-23T01:39:53Z")
In the English colonies of North America, and later, for a time, the United States, anyone could be an indentured servant, because the origin of the servitude was a (nominally) voluntary contract. Parents or courts could arrange for such contracts, but they were set for a specific period of time. A similar situation occurred between a trade apprentice and the apprentice’s master. When chattel slavery was introduced, it was written to apply solely to people imported from Africa and their descendants. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-u-s-slavery-laws-what-races-could-be-enslaved/183659/4 "2003-06-23T02:03:11Z")
In the United States, you became a slave in one of two ways: (1) by being born to a slave mother; or (2) by being imported as a slave. If you were born to a slave mother, the father’s race didn’t matter. In many cases masters would enslave their own mixed-race children. Over the generations you could get slaves who were fairly white in appearance. Likewise in some cases a slave could have Indian or even (in very rare cases) Asian blood. Concerning importation, depending on the time and place, the laws of Great Britain, the colonies, or (after 1776) the American states would apply. Most American states had forbidden slave importation by the 1780’s. The United States federal government forbade slave importation into any state after 1807, although some illegal imports continued until the Civil War. I don’t have the text of any of these laws available, but whether by law or by custom, only Africans were imported. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-u-s-slavery-laws-what-races-could-be-enslaved/183659/5 "2003-06-23T04:24:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by tomndebb \* > \*\*When chattel slavery was introduced, it was written to apply solely to people imported from Africa and their descendants. \*\* Didn’t it also apply, in some cases, to Native Americans? I know that some states (well, colonies), including Mass. and Virginia, had Indian slaves, ---
**Author:** ![Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@Moo\_the\_Magic\_Cow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moo_the_Magic_Cow)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-u-s-slavery-laws-what-races-could-be-enslaved/183659/6 "2003-06-23T04:39:37Z")
Were there even enough Asian immigrants at the time for this to be an issue? According to [these](http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/et/shimoda/s3.htm)[sources](http://historyliterature.homestead.com/files/extended1.html#The%20Closed%20China) and memories from World History classes, trade wasn’t open with China and Japan til the 1840s and 1850s respectively. I found no stats on India and the rest of South Asia but I doubt they’re dissimilar. Immigration is a whole 'nother can of worms. I believe there would have been too few Asians in the U.S. for it to have been an issue. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-u-s-slavery-laws-what-races-could-be-enslaved/183659/7 "2003-06-23T05:23:10Z")
> [@](#): > > In the United States, you became a slave in one of two ways: (1) by being born to a slave mother; or (2) by being imported as a slave. Not true in practice. One of the most controversial aspects of the federal Fugitive Slave Law was how easy it was to claim ownership of a black person. Essentially all someone had to do was apprehend a black person and take them to a slave state (and the law made it a crime for anyone else to interfere) and then sign an affidavit stating that that person was an escaped slave. The southern states did not have any due process to establish whether or not the claim was true or to allow the black person to dispute it.