As much as the rules and punishment of the master, the laws of each colony controlled the lives of North American slaves. By colonial law, customarily, slaves could not vote, own property, or testify in court. They could not marry without the permission of their masters, and they could not travel freely. Owners had the right to beat, whip, brand, or imprison them for petty offenses or for attempted escape. Slave owners vied with each other in creating imaginative punishments, as historian Kenneth M. Stampp relates:

A Maryland tobacco grower forced a hand [slave] to eat the worms he failed to pick off the tobacco leaves. A Mississippian gave a runaway a wretched time by requiring him to sit at the table and eat his evening meal with the white family. A Louisiana planter humiliated disobedient male field-hands by giving them "women's work" such as...