Laws restricting enslaved people's movement and gatherings are known as?

• A. Slave patrols
• B. Black codes
• C. Slave codes
• D. Predecessors of modern policing

Answer: (C)

Slave codes were laws that defined and restricted the status of enslaved people, including strict limits on movement and gatherings. They were enacted in many colonies and states to control enslaved populations and prevent rebellion, requiring passes for travel, banning unsupervised assemblies, restricting education, and outlining punishments for disobedience. This framework existed specifically to maintain the institution of slavery by legal means.

The other options refer to different concepts: slave patrols were organized groups that enforced these restrictions rather than the laws themselves; Black codes arose after the Civil War to limit the rights of freed people, not enslaved individuals; and predecessors of modern policing is a broad idea about policing evolution rather than a name for these laws.