was introduced "_for
punishment of ill servants_." During the earlier years of the
existence of slavery in Virginia, the term "servant" was applied to
Negroes as well as to white persons. The legal distinction between
slaves and servants was, "servants for a term of years,"--white
persons; and "servants for life,"--Negroes. In the first place, there
can be no doubt but what Negro slaves were a part of the population of
this colony from its organization;[415] and, in the second place, the
above-mentioned bill of 1637 for the "_punishment of ill servants_"
was intended, doubtless, to apply to Negro servants, or slaves. So
few were they in number, that they were seldom referred to as
"slaves." They were "servants;" and that appellation dropped out only
when the growth of slavery as an institution, and the necessity of
specific legal distinction, made the Negro the only person that was
suited to the condition of absolute property.

In 1638 there was a list of bills that reached a second reading, but
never passed. There was one bill "_for the liberties of the people_,"
that declared "all Christian inhabitants (slaves only excepted) to
have and enjoy all such rights, liberties, immunities, privileges and
free customs, within this province, as any natural born subject of
England hath or ought to have or enjoy in the realm of England, by
force or virtue of the common law or statute law of England, saving in
such cases as the same are or may be altered or changed by the laws
and ordinances of this province."[416] There is but one mention made
of "slaves" in the above Act, but in none of the other Acts of 1638.
There are certain features of the Act worthy of special consideration.
The reader should keep the facts before him, that by the laws of
England no Christian could be held in slavery; that in the Provincial
governments the laws were made to conform with those of the home
government; that, in specifying the rights of the colonists, the
Provincial assemblies limited the immunities and privileges conferred
by the Magna Charta upon British subjects, to Christians; that Negroes
were considered heathen, and, therefore, denied the blessings of the
Church and State; that even where Negro slaves were baptized, it was
held by the courts in the colonies, and was the law-opinion of the
solicitor-general of Great Britain, that they were not _ipso facto_
free;[417] and that, where Negroes were free, they had no rights in
the Church or S