Prior to the civil war, slaves and covenant   servants were treated as private possessions. The slaves and their posterities could be traded or handled as hereditary property similar to every other personality in the society. Rules and regulations of individual states strictly controlled human chattel. The laws that were formulated to control indentured servants and slaves applied to both men and women.  However, in some cases, some laws covered women only. Notwithstanding their home countries, numerous ancient   settlers were covenant servants who traded their manual labor cheaply in interchange for entry to the regions of America and acquire shelter upon their entrance in the New World. During the early period, majority of the laws enacted were for the covenant servants; nevertheless, the colonial laws took a different route during the mid-period of the 17^th century and began to mirror the disparities between the slaves and covenant servants. More substantially, the new laws formulated during the period differentiated people based on their races. The racial discrepancy was now common among the covenant servants.  The knowledge of Virginia’s servant and slave laws is not only significant in depicting the colonial economic system but also explaining historical occurrences such as racial distinctions.