Obviously slaves were often beaten horrifically, and often to the point of death -- and this was perfectly legal. But were there any laws designed to limit abuse of slaves, or were they truly considered property just the same as furniture and livestock, with the owner granted rights to do literally anything, up to and including wanton destruction?
It's easy to conjure up a hypothetical scenario where some psychopath buys up slaves with the express purpose of murdering them, and I can only imagine this sort of thing would shock even the consciences of antebellum slaveowners. So were there any limits on "excessive" abuse?
I get the feeling that the answer here is probably -- "in theory, yes; in practice, no." But I'm curious.
In the annotated version of the book 12 Years a Slave, it is mentioned that in the area of Louisiana where Solomon Northup lived, not sure if the law was across all of Louisiana or not, if a master too severely mistreated his slaves, they would be taken by the law and sold and he would be given the proceeds of the sale. But given how horrifically badly slaves have been treated, such protections were vastly inadequate. Whipping was normal and routine--an integral part of the way slaves were supposed to be treated by good plantation runners. Even though it's torture. Rape of slaves, too, was normal and conducted more or less openly. You can see this from reading accounts of life there. Technically, killing slaves for no reason was also illegal. There were no protections from some of the most cruel parts of slavery, such as separating families. Slaves in Louisiana were not allowed to be worked by their master on Sundays, though if they worked, they were to be paid for that day.