On August 12, 1681, at Thomas Cocke's orchard in Henrico County Virginia, the wife of Henry Watkins
, Katherine, drank much cider with Cocke's negros. She acted rather promiscuously, and when she was headed home, was raped by John Long. Because slave codes existed at the time, and because the evidence is irrefutable, John Long, would have been convicted of rape.
The slave codes said that slaves had no legal rights, and during that time serious crimes by slaves were met by execution without even having a trial. (Goldfield p49) The slave codes must be in practice at this time because none of the negros testified. Surely if slaves had legal rights, at the very least the court would hear testimony from the accused John Long. Since at this time a negro raping a white woman was considered a serious crime, it leads us to ask: "Why did this crime go to trial?". The answer to this is religion, Henry Watkins was a quaker, and quakers believe in forgiveness, rather then in punishment.
The majority of the testimonies talk about Katherine's drunkardness, or her promiscuity, they do no deny or prove counter evidence of the rape. These testimonies serve only to try and ruin Katherine's personal credibility, in hopes that this will make it seem that she is untrustworthy and her testimony is untrue. Even if you buy this, there is no denying the testimony of Humphrey Smith. He saw Katherine's bloody and swelled lips, and the bloody handkerchief John Long covered her mouth with.
Because John is on the wrong side of the slave codes, and because of the non-contradictory evidence, he will be convicted of rape.
Citation:
Goldfield, David. The American Journey. Fourth. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006.
