The Negation Theory

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Jamestown Virginia The first twenty Africans to arrive in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619 were eventually traded by the Dutch for food and supplies. A point worth noting, the first twenty Africans were not identified as legal property(slave). The former Spanish owners had baptized and given each a Christian name. In fact, Africans worked as indentured servants for a specified time because English law disallowed the enslaving of Christians. Africans became landowners and were of equal standing with the poor English Pilgrims. However, by 1640, Virginia court documents started displaying verdicts for a life of servitude. These were verdicts given to runaway indentured servants. African indentured servants to be exact. Between 1661 and 1662, a child’s status in the colonial United States depended on whether the mother was free or a slave. Laws were passed that degraded blacks and forbid interracial marriage and sexual relations. Other laws prohibited blacks from bearing arms, traveling without written permission and …show more content…

What caused the division can be explained with the Axiom 5, Rule of Negation theory established in the Death of the Negro. The Negation Rule was the method used to exclude certain groups that are in turn classified as inferior. This distinction allowed the preferred group to name the lesser group, therefore, indicating a form of separation. An argument worth repeating, the Saints and the Strangers penned the Mayflower Compact to establish a united front. In other words, it was a distinction between equals as a suggestion of supremacy later enforced by laws and legal codes. These laws and legal codes were established to control Native American Indians, poor Europeans, mulatto and African populace. As well as to prevent rebellions similar to Bacon’s Rebellion

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