Virginia 1680 Act: Whipping and Death for Enslaved People Who Resist or Assemble

Virginia's 1680 Act 'for preventing Negro Insurrections' imposed up to thirty lashes for any enslaved person who lifted a hand against a Christian (i.e., white) person, and authorized execution for enslaved people who resisted arrest or attempted to escape by force. The law also prohibited enslaved people from carrying weapons or leaving their enslaver's property without a written pass. Passed directly in the wake of Bacon's Rebellion, it was one of the founding documents of the terror-based enforcement system that would sustain chattel slavery.