... liberty and land; by 1660, a racially-constructed system of black slavery was in operation. It is apparent that the early colonial Southern society treated blacks in a differential manner to the white population: the first census, established in 1629, segregated blacks and whites, frequently providing no personal names for African settlers. In 1640, blacks were outlawed from bearing weapons; there is evidence to prove that blacks were treated far more harshly than their white counterparts by the criminal justice system. One example that clearly demonstrates this discrepancy in treatment is that of three runaway indentured servants, two white and one black, who when captured in 1640 received phenomenally different punishments for the same misdemeanor: the two white servants each received an extra fours years of servitude, while the black was bound for life. A southern master in 1647 was granted the right to have eight blacks "to have hold occupy ...

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