Many people in slave-owning areas like the American antebellum South feared slave uprisings and rebellions. Incidents like the New York Conspiracy in 1741, Gabriel's Conspiracy in Virginia in 1800, and Nat Turner's Rebellion in 1831 made slaveholders and other members of white society even more nervous. They therefore created a series of slave codes and other laws designed to keep slaves firmly in their place and prevent further rebellions.

Slave codes varied from place to place, but they contained some common elements. Slaves, for instance, could not travel away from their owners' homes without permission and a pass to indicate that permission. They could not gather together unless there was a white person with them. They could not learn how to read and write (and it was illegal to teach them). They could not bear arms. Those who did not live on a plantation were subject to strict curfews.

Further, slaves could not own property or buy and sell in their own names. They could not marry in any way that was legally recognized. They could not testify in court or serve on juries. Most of the time, they did not even receive a trial for an alleged crime. What's more, slave patrols were created to enforce all these codes, and the Fugitive Slave Act required the capture and return of runaway slaves.

We can see, then, how the fear of uprisings led to much greater restrictions on slaves in order to prevent them from gaining any sort of independence, power, or cooperation among each other. The restrictions continued to grow over time in many cases in order to try to make sure that the threat of rebellion was kept to a minimum.