Which term designates organized groups in the Southern United States tasked with enforcing slave codes and suppressing resistance?

• A. Hue and Cry
• B. Posse Comitatus
• C. Slave Patrols
• D. Mutual Pledge

Answer: (C)

Organized groups enforcing slave codes in the slaveholding South were slave patrols. Made up mainly of white men, they patrolled roads, fields, and towns to control enslaved people, prevent escapes, require passes, and break up gatherings. Their duties extended to policing behavior and suppressing resistance, helping to maintain the system of slavery and shaping early policing practices in the region. Terms like hue and cry describe an older general alarm system, posse comitatus refers to legal limits on using the military for civilian enforcement, and mutual pledge refers to community safety duties—none of these capture the specific, organized efforts to enforce slave codes that slave patrols represented.