CODIFYING INHUMANITY: LEGAL FOUNDATIONS, RACIALIZATION, AND DEHUMANIZATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION AND PERPETUATION OF AMERICAN AND NORTH CAROLINA CHATTEL SLAVERY

Abstract

This dissertation argues that American chattel slavery, from its earliest inception, was developed through a deliberate legal framework that systematically transformed people of African descent into property, institutionalizing mechanisms of systematic dehumanization and violence to maintain the institution of racial bondage. By examining British, international, colonial, and constitutional laws, this study demonstrates how multiple legal systems actively and collectively constructed and perpetuated slavery in America rather than merely tolerating it. Furthermore, this analysis traces the legal interconnections between these systems across continents and time periods to reveal their role in codifying and legitimizing the forced commodification of human beings. Through analysis of key legal documents, including British court rulings, colonial slave codes, international treaties, and the U.S. Constitution, this dissertation challenges perspectives that position slavery as “a private matter,” underdeveloped, or merely a local matter outside or in contrast to the established legal order. Instead, the research argues that law and legal institutions were central to normalizing racial enslavement and embedding it within American jurisprudence. This study also argues that racial enslavement was enforced and sustained through systemic racial violence, institutionalizing mechanisms of “collective cruelty.” This system of "Collective Cruelty" served to suppress both individual and collective resistance among the enslaved population. The analysis contends that African enslavement and state-sanctioned violence were inextricably linked throughout both the mainland colonies and American constitutional eras. This dissertation finally explores North Carolina's unique legal foundations, where “absolute slavery” was instituted from its inception, demonstrating how legal frameworks did not merely accommodate slavery, but actively created, legitimized, and sustained a system of racial bondage through explicit mechanisms of dehumanization and commodification.