The legislation of the Territory on slavery consists of one act, relating to the negro’s participation in court procedure. Negroes, whether bond or free, were permitted to be witnesses for and against each other, but denied this privilege in cases to which a white man was a party. Persons of mixed blood, descended from negroes or Indians, inclusive of the third generation, suffered a similar restriction. No person of mixed blood to any degree whatever, who had been held in slavery, could be a witness against a white person within twelve months of his liberation.[80]
This preliminary study suggests the general lines along which the institution of slavery developed in the succeeding decades. The social and religious phases of the negro’s life were given less attention than the economic and legal. His common law status was constantly changing to a statutory basis. He was exchanging the status of a servant at common law for that of a mere chattel at statute law. His place in judicial procedure was determined. It was in this connection that racial prejudice made its appearance. The foundation for a comprehensive patrol system was established. The state asserted its right to limit manumission. Free negroes had not become sufficiently numerous by 1796 to call for the serious consideration that they later received. Consequently, there was a relatively small amount of legislation concerning them prior to this date. Some restrictions, however, were made on their relations with the slave and on the process of manumission. On the whole, it may be concluded that there had been laid a fairly secure foundation, for the status of both the slave and the free negro, which future events only modified.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Tennessee belonged to Virginia from 1607 to 1663, to Carolina from 1663 to 1693, and to North Carolina from 1693 to 1790. Garrett, W. R., and Goodpasture, A. V., History of Tennessee, p. 14.
[2] The first settlements in Tennessee were made in 1769 and 1772. Ibid., pp. 49-52.
[3] The settlements of western North Carolina became the State of Franklin in 1785, the Southwest Territory in 1790, and the State of Tennessee in 1796. Ibid., pp. 91, 105, and 127.
[4] Doyle, J. A., The English Colonies in America, I, 331.
[5] Bassett, John Spencer, Johns Hopkins University Studies, Vol. 14, p. 18.
[6] Ibid., p. 19.
[7] Doyle, I, 389.