1705: "christian white servant," the Indian made "mulatto," and the "Turks and Moors in amity" clause (Virginia, October 1705)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1705 · Places: Virginia, Europe
SUMMARY1705: "christian white servant," the Indian made "mulatto," and the "Turks and Moors in amity" clause (Virginia, October 1705) [Connections: Masonic color line, asylums, castles, wight, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDThe Act concerning Servants and Slaves (Hening vol. 3, pp. 447–454) forbids a master to "whip a christian white servant naked, without an order from a justice of the peace" (§VII). It penalizes "a free christian white woman" who has a child "by a negro, or mulatto" (§XVIII). It punishes the "English, or other white man or woman, being free" who marries a Black or mulatto person (§XIX). §IV makes slaves of imported servants "who were not christians in their native country," but makes an exception: "(except Turks and Moors in amity with her majesty, and others that can make due proof of their being free in England, or any other christian country...)." The same session's office-holding act (Hening vol. 3, pp. 250–252) rules that "the child of an Indian and the child, grand child, or great grand child, of a negro shall be deemed, accounted, held and taken to be a mulatto." It bars "any negro, mulatto or Indian" from holding office. HOSTILE
WITNESSthe planter assembly
PATTERNBy 1705 "white" is welded to "christian" as the free side of the line. The law also files the child of an Indian under "mulatto." Moors "in amity" are named as a group exempt from enslavement under §IV
LENS (WW9)The 1705 code reclassified the Indian's child as "mulatto." That is the paper renaming in statute form: "Renamed Black. Born Aboriginal."
OPENHow was the "Turks and Moors" exemption applied in court? Search Virginia county court records for freedom suits claiming it. The Encyclopedia Virginia page dates the office-holding act both 1705 and 1785; Hening vol. 3 supports 1705
SOURCEEncyclopedia Virginia: Act concerning Servants and Slaves (1705); Encyclopedia Virginia: Act declaring who shall not bear office (1705). ### LENS candidates for WW9 (CODE, not RECORD; for the client's use, clearly labeled)