American History I

1.  Begin by listing the cultural categories that people were placed in, in each Virginia law:

1643:  “masters,” “mistresses,” “servants,” “freeman,” “runaways”
1658:
1661:
1662:
1667:
1670:
1672:
1680:
1691:

2.  Now, notice how these categories changed, and did not change, between 1643 and 1691.  What categories continued over time?  What old categories faded away?  What new categories were invented?  How did religion fit?  How did race fit?

3.  By 1705, after eight decades of social experimentation where there had been many “in-between” people in Virginia, Governor Robert Beverley could imagine knowing exactly what slavery was and who slaves were.  He had neat binary oppositions by which to arrange the world, with no more “in-between” people.  So, who were slaves?  Who were servants?