 The first kidnapped Africans in English North America were classed as indentured servants and freed after seven years.Virginia law codified chattel slavery in 1656, and in 1662 the colony adopted the principle of "partus sequitur ventrem", which classified children of slave mothers as slaves, regardless of paternity.By 1802, Russian colonists noted that "Boston" (U.S.-based) skippers were trading African slaves for otter pelts with the Tlingit people in Southeast Alaska.