Methods of Control Used On The African Slaves

Methods of control used on
enslaved Africans
How the enslaved africans were controlled physically, psychologically and culturally
How did the European planters control their
slaves and why?
The European plantation owners controlled the actions of the enslaved Africans via three main methods:
 Physical control( slave laws, etc..)
 Phycological control
 Cultural control
The European slave owners kept the enslaved African people oppressed in these ways due to their fear of a
possible uprising and the failure of the slavery system.
There were many methods used to keep the African slaves oppressed and they differed throughout the new
world.
Physical Control
 British Colonies
Fearing a potential uprising or revolt by an African majority, the planter class needed to ensure social control of the slave community that were overwhelming hostile and not willing to
accept their subordinate status. British planters influenced the construction of laws, known as ‘slave codes’, based on sixteenth century English common laws that dealt with English
felons, vagrants, vagabonds, and servants that absconded from their duties. Alongside the judicial laws for social control, were unwritten laws and customs that further brutalised the
living conditions of Black communities. These traditions and customs in conjunction with legal statutes were created to convince Africans to accept the European perception that they
were inferior or else be punished. As seen in the Spanish, French, Dutch, and Danish colonial islands, these laws quickly came to define the nature of slavery, the position of the
enslaved, and the extent of power of slaveholders. One of the earliest established colonial laws in the Atlantic was for the island of Barbados in 1661, known as An Act for Better
Ordering and Governing of Negroes. The Barbados slave code established that enslaved Africans be treated as chattel. The need for control and subjugation of Africans was supported
by notions of white supremacy and ultimately, any act of violence (as self-defense or otherwise) and legal rights for representation were in the hands of the slaveholders. Many slave
codes gave slaveholders the legal right to torture and murder Black subjects of colonial society without negative consequence.
Physical Control
 Spanish and French colonies

The Spanishand French codes, unlike those of the British, were drawn up and enacted in Europe and were
similar to each other. Both tried to disguise racism and the exploitation of slaves by concentrating on
paternalism, and by suggesting that if the slaves were obedient and accepted their condition this somehow
legitimised the slave-owners' rights. Each attempted to balance the need for repression with protection, and
made it plain that the owners I were entitled to exploit their slaves in return for guarding, instructing and guiding
them. The Dutch and Danish slave codes resembled the French more than either the British or Spanish, but both
concentrated on suppression rather than protection of the slaves.
Physical control in The Spanish Colonies
 The Spanish Code

The Spanish CodeThe Spanish had a slave code for their European territories before they acquired possessions
in the NewWorld and they simply transferred this code to the Indies. It was drawn up in the thirteenth century
and was called Las Siete Partidas. The basic difference between the Spanish slave code and other slave laws was
that the Spanish acknowledged that slavery was contrary to natural justice and that it was an evil, but a
necessary evil for the economic development of the colonies. This admission caused endless trouble in the
Spanish colonies, as it implied that freedom was the natural state of man and gave the slaves theirjustification
for revolting. The first slave revolt was recorded in Hispaniola as early as 1522, and there- after there was a
steady stream of revolts in Spanish territories. The authorities recognised the right of slaves to seek their
freedom, so they tried to remove the danger of revolt by other means than repressive legislation.
The Spanish Code
Charles I attempted to enforce a ratio of three to one or four to one of slaves to freemen. He also tried to enforce
a minimum proportion of female slaves and, by encouraging marriage, to create a settled family life for the
slaves and make them less inclined to revolt. The Spanish slave laws promot- ed more humane treatment for
slaves and led to a far larger proportion of free blacks and mulattoes. For example, in Puerto Rico by the end of
the eighteenth century free coloureds outnumbered slaves, and in Cuba they were nearly equal in numbers.
A slave could appeal to the courts against ill treatment. He could purchase his freedom without the consent of
his owner merely by repaying his purchase price, if necessary by periodic repay- ments. The slave had a right to
his provision ground with the consent of his owner. He had the right to marriage without the consent of his
owner.
Physical Control in the French colonies
 The French Code

The control and treatment of slaves in the French Caribbean was laid down in the Code Noir (Black Code), which was
drawn up in France in 1685. It remained in force until 1804, when it was replaced by the Code Napoleon, the basis for
the French legal system. The Code Noir was meant to be strictly applied, but in practice the milder measures among its
sixty articles were disregarded, and many modifications were made during the eighteenth century. Its provisions can
be summarised as follows:1)All slaves to be baptised.2)Slaves not to be worked on Sundays or Holy Days.3)Slave
marriage to be encouraged. The owner's consent must be given.4)Sexual intercourse between master and his slave to be
punished by the confiscation of the slave. If between another man and the slave, a fine to be imposed. Children of such
unions would take the status of the mother.5)Rations and clothes to be provided. Old and sick slaves to be fed and
maintained.6)Slaves to be forbidden to own property and anything they acquired to belong to their owners. 7)Promises,
contracts and gifts made by slaves tobe null and void.8)Slaves to be forbidden to sell sugar, or any other-produce,
without their owner's permission. 9)Death penalty to be inflicted for striking master or mistress, and in some cases any
free person.
The French Code
10)Absenteeism of one month to be punished by cutting off ears and branding on the shoulder. Absent two times
in one month to be punished by cutting off the buttock and branding the other shoulder. Absent three times in
one month to be punished by death.11 Owner to be compensated if slave executed on owner's own
denunciation.12)Torture and mutilation to be prohibited under penalty of confiscation of the slave.13)Slaves to
be regarded as movable property, and liable to be sold apart from the rest of their family.14)The plantation and
the slaves to be regarded as one.15)Owners and drivers to treat slaves humanely.16)Owners to have the right to
free a slave aftertwenty years' service.17)Manumitted slaves to have the same rights as free persons.
Christianity, marriage, manumission and humane treatment were expressly ordered. Rations and clothing were
precisely fixed. Mutilation was expressly forbidden.However, punishments were equally harsh,and in many
other ways French laws were similarto those in the British colonies, although the slaves were not so much at the
mercy of their owner because the rules of treatment were more clearly prescribed.
Psychological Control
 Psychological control of the enslaved in European colonies

Enslaved people were regarded as only three-fifths human, reared for subservience and exploitation. The slave
master was a cruel and vicious ruler, and collectively these murderous masters established a ruthless system of
law that entrenched white supremacy through the creation of a social economy and a system of military control
and punishment. This meticulously manicured system of apartheid privileged the rights of Englishmen and
relegated all others to inferior status at best and ‘non-personhood’ at worst. Enslaved Africans either adapted or
perished.
Many fundamental aspects of society were fashioned by this colonial apartheid system – the military, judiciary,
police, prisons, education and health – including, of course, mental health. In the initial period of slavery, a slave
displaying signs of severe mental illness could and would be summarily executed. Later, in 1851, an American
physician called Samuel Cartwright described dysaesthesia aethiopica – a so-called mental illness affecting
slaves, the ‘symptoms’ of which included disobedience, answering disrespectfully, or refusing to work.
Cultural Control
The planters mainly used division between the enslaved communities to gain control. Some divisions they used
was the division between Creole and Africa-born enslaved and the devision between mulattos and Africans
(lighter and darker).
Planters also attempted to deculturalize the enslaved by prohibiting their traditional song and dance and denying
them the ability to worship their traditional gods.

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Methods of control used on

 Spanish and French colonies

 The Spanish Code

 The French Code

 Psychological control of the enslaved in European colonies

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