Were slave-state laws regarding slavery getting better or worse for slaves leading up to the American Civil War? Was a slave in 1860 any better or worse off than a slave in the same state in 1750 or 1790?

by capnpitz

I know the typical high-school history bits about slavery at the federal level--the Missouri Compromise, the Fugitive Slave Act. Setting those aside, did the Abolitionist cause, or reaction to it, have any effect on laws at the state level in slave states? For instance, were laws prohibiting slave literacy getting more or less common over the decades leading up to the war? Were state laws in general getting more protective of slaves, or more protective of slaveholders?

Georgy_K_Zhukov

While it doesn't focus on the comparative aspect, this response from a recent AMA does focus on the laws which dictated treatment of slaves in the antebellum period. So summarize what is written there, we do see the passage of some laws in that period which in theory gave more protections to slaves from abuse, but application was limited, 'loopholes' rampant, and enforcement poor.