Stroud's Slave Laws had extensive influence upon national legal thinking on the issue of slavery. In a blanket survey of slave codes of the period, he analyzed the statutes of twelve slaveholding states. Stroud's book exposed to the world, through its publications in 1827 and 1856, the diabolical nature of legal enactments throughout the South that debased both African people and those who held them in bondage.

Excerpt from Sketch of the Laws Relating to Slavery: In the Several States of the United States of America Be It Remembered, that on the tenth day of October, in the fifty-second year of the Independence of the United States of America, A. D. 1827. George M. Stroud, Esq. of the said district hath deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as author, in the words following, to wit: A Sketch of the Laws relating to Slavery in the several States of the United States of America. By George M. Stroud. In conformity to the Act of the Congress of the United States entitled, "An act for the Encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and brooks, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." - And also to the act, entitled, "An act supplementary to an act, entitled, "An act fro the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies during the times therein mentioned," and extending the benefits thereof the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.