Slave Codes had governed the relationship between slaveholders and enslaved persons since colonial times. After the 1831 slave rebellion led by Nat Turner, harsher slave codes were enacted. Enslaved people could not own property, enter into contracts or legally marry. Slave codes also spelled out the many restrictions that applied to free African Americans. “The scenes that I have witnessed are enough to harrow (plow) up the soul; but could the slave be permitted to tell the story of his sufferings, which no white man, not linked would vomit out the horrible system, slaveholders and all, if they would not unclinch their grasp upon their defenseless victims.” Question: What effect do you think harsher slave codes would have on enslaved people?