Slave Patrols Become Institutionalized Law Enforcement Across the South

By 1800 all Southern states had institutionalized slave patrols — armed, mounted units empowered to stop any Black person (enslaved or free) and demand proof of freedom or a pass, enter slave quarters at will, administer summary beatings, and return freedom-seeking people to their enslavers. South Carolina's patrol system, dating to 1704, became the template. Patrols were typically composed of lower-class white men fulfilling a civic obligation and empowered to use any force necessary. Formerly enslaved people described patrols as a constant terror. The institution constituted a racially exclusive law enforcement body whose explicit purpose was to maintain the racial caste system through violence and surveillance.