"By the temporary disfranchisement of the servant during his term, common after the middle of the 17th century, a serious public danger was avoided. There could be no guarantee, of the judicious exercise of the suffrage with this class who, for the most part, had never enjoyed the privilege before. Their servitude may be regarded as preparing them for a proper appreciation of suffrage when obtained, and the duties of citizenship...." Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, p. 90 note. [33] "To facilitate discovery, habitual runaways had their hair cut 'close around their ears' and 'were branded on the cheek with the letter R.'" Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, p. 55 note. [34] _Ibid._, pp. 53-54. [35] McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, p. 53. [36] Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, pp. 53, 60. [37] _Ibid._, p. 54; McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, p. 54. [38] _Ibid._, p. 55. [39] _Ibid._, p. 50. [40] _Ibid._, pp. 52-53; Bassett, _Slavery and White Servitude in the Col. of N. C._, p. 79; Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, p. 54. [41] McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, p. 54. [42] "Statute after statute was passed regulating the punishment and providing for the pursuit and recapture of runaways; but although laws became severer and finally made no distinction in treatment of runaway servants and slaves, it was impossible to entirely put a stop to the habit so long as the system itself lasted." _Ibid._, p. 56; Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, pp. 52, 57. [43] _Ibid._, p. 57. [44] _Ibid._, pp. 57-58; Henning, _Statutes at Large_, II, p. 458. [45] McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, pp. 51-52. [46] Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, p. 59. [47] "As a result, (my comma) the idea of the contract and of the legal personality of the servant was gradually lost sight of in the disposition to regard him as a chattel and a part of the personal estate of his master, which might be treated and disposed of very much in the same way as the rest of the estate. He became thus rated in inventories of estate, and was disposed of both by will and by deed along with the rest of the property." Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, pp. 43, 44. [48] Eddis, _Letters from Am._, p. 72. [49] Example of the advertisement of the arrival of a servantship: "Just Arrived in the Sophia, Alexander Verdeen, Master, from Dublin, Twenty stout, healthy Indented Men Servents Whose Indentures will be disposed of on reasonable Terms, by the Captain on board, or the subscribers ..., etc." McCormac, _White Servitude in Md._, p. 42. [50] _Ibid._, pp. 39, 40, 42, 52, 85-89. [51] Ballagh, _White Servitude in the Col. of Va._, pp. 31, 33, 68; Ballagh, _Hist. of Slavery in Va._, pp. 39-40; Russell, _The Free Negro in Va._, pp. 46-47. THE GRADUAL TRANSITION OF NEGRO SERVITUDE INTO NEGRO SLAVERY