This would have been especially effective in further dividing and controlling slaves, because the institution of the family was such a powerful tool in the development of a slaves life, even from birth.
Every aspect of a slaves life was covered by the Black Codes. They varied in particularsm but at the heart of the codes was the belief that the slave was not a person but a peice of property. The function of the codes was to protect the master from any insubordination of his slave. "it is a pity, " wrote North Carolina planter Charles Pettigrew, "that agreeable to the nature of things Slavery and Tyranny must go together and that there is no such thing as having an obedient and useful Slave without the painful exercise of undue and tyrannical authority."
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