Slave Codes In The Pre-Civil War

The white southerners have grown up with the idea that enslaving black men and tearing them down is alright since they have the idea that African American people are not real humans. Without the African Americans stating how they view slavery as unjust and cruel, it is doubtful those ideas would ever change. As stated at the end of previous chapter, Douglass began to teach other slaves how to read the Bible, and that, later on, led to the plans of escaping to freedom. “The week before our intended start, I wrote several protections, one for each of us.” (95) When people see African Americans reading or writing in public away from any plantation, most people assume they are free slaves, since it is common knowledge that teaching a slave how to read is illegal. When Douglass finally took the chance to escape after the first attempt was revealed and he was sent to a different plantation, he fled to New York and New Bedford and almost immediately joined a conference about black equality. He was the only fugitive slave out of all of the other men in the room, so his input and memories were crucial to the

Following the Civil War, America was in shambles. There were many groups with strong, conflicting ideas of how things should be. However, most groups had one idea in common: reducing the rights of African Americans as much as possible. Freed slaves had very little freedom under the law, were treated like a lesser species by those around them, and faced dangerous environments everywhere they went. Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation may have legally freed slaves, but African Americans were barely more than paid slaves.

Both free and enslaved Africans were discriminated against in this time period but responded differently towards their challenges. African Americans found ways to cope with their situation one being religious gatherings (Doc D). They sang old traditional African songs and danced. By doing so, they can forget about life troubles for a moment and give themselves a sense of hope that someday they would by free. Some slaves where more violent than other and began rebellions against their white owners. The use of rebellion was inspired to them by the Bible and that God was pleading for their cause with earnestness and zeal (Doc G). Slaves who caused mischief was relocated deeper south where the treatment and condition was even worse. The Fugitive Slave Law forced the North to send back any slaves who escaped to the North in return for a reward. Slaves who tried to escape to the North were also relocated. By relocating them, the chances of escape decreased for them. Even

As a result of the North’s victory in the civil war and the reconstruction period that followed, African-Americans were seemingly on the verge of being able to enjoy the freedom of no longer being slaves. During the reconstruction era, important pieces of legislature were written in order to protect the rights of the newly freed men. Those pieces of legislature were essentially trying to somehow transform former slave into free productive members of society. However, a number of disgruntled southerners took it as their duty to prevent African-American from being free of their former masters. They saw the northerners demand as an infringement of the South traditional values. Although the

It did not take too much longer for the other two states to outlaw slavery shortly after the revolution. In Southern States, the revolution seemed to have opposite effects. During the time of the American Revolution, ideas of emancipation for slaves were floating around. "White folk" is the South feared slaves being equal or even close to themselves; they also feared rebellion among their workers. "They feared that without slaves, it would be necessary to recruit a servile white workforce in the South, and that the resulting inequalities would jeopardize the survival of liberties" (Brinkley 120). This fear is what pushed white southerns to reinforce their authority over slaves. They executed men who planned slave rebellions such as Thomas Jeremiah. The reason that slavery existed was human nature, slavery was nothing

In 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation declares “that all persons held as slaves with the confederate states are, and henceforward shall be free”. It was not until 1865 when the Civil War ended and the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery. As a replacement of slavery, whites created Whites in the southern states enacted the Black Codes. Black Codes were thought to uphold a social caste system, reflecting the racial hierarchy of slavery. Slavery was abolished, however it still serves as a form of punishment for those found guilty of a crime. In the Thirteenth Amendment (1865) lies a description of the policy: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to the jurisdiction.” A major contributor to blacks becoming criminalized and, in turn, enslaved again were laws that penalized the homeless and unemployed. When black people traveled without proper documents that verified their employment or a home address, they would often be charged with trespassing (Browne-Marshall 2007). As newly freed people, most had no income to pay the consequential fines, thus, they would become prisoners and their enslavement would be legally justified.

Former slaves were not allowed any weapons or access to the town, among other things. The codes stretched the law enough so that African-Americans were even forced to be “in the service of some white person or former owner”, and could not do many things without their express permission. (Document B) These laws were put into place by white men, dependent on the African-American’s continued labor for their farms and plantations to thrive. As the slave trade had greatly enhanced the economy of the South, white landowners were not eager to give up the majority of their workforce. Although legally, former slaves were considered free, the black codes forced them to stay in place and obey unfair laws. Without the word slavery ever mentioned, the black codes represented much of the South’s attitude towards African-Americans, destroying their personal rights as

The black codes, written on July 3, 1865, were “a series of discriminatory state laws” (Open Stax page 458) which made it illegal for African American men to be in town limits unless they had a written document from their employer saying that they were allowed, (Document B). These documents aimed to maintain the social and economic structure of the previous slave society in the absence of slavery itself. The black codes made strict regulations on when African American men were allowed to be in town without a white employer, including not letting them “be on the streets after 10 pm” and that they could not “live within the town limits” (Document B). The black codes aimed to reverse the effects of the 14th amendment by allowing them to own land but only under strict guidelines. In Document C, it states that “you all are not free yet and will not be until Congress sits” meaning that African Americans were not viewed as freedmen by Southerners, but still as their slaves because Congress did not enforce the 13th and 14th amendments. The black codes also influenced white men to beat and shoot any black men or women that tried to escape the South. This was cause because white plantation owners did not want to lose their workers because then they would have to pay a significantly higher wage to any other workers. The black codes also forced freedmen and women to sign contracts saying that they would only work for one employer, making it difficult for any man to raise enough money to buy their own land. As the book states. “blacks could not positively influence wages and conditions by choosing to work for the employer who gave them the best terms” (Openstax pg 459). These contracts lowered the competition between plantation owners so they were not influenced to raise wages based on other owners. The black codes deprived African Americans of their rights to vote, serve on juries, carry or

Interestingly enough, despite the new era of thinking ushered in by the enlightenment movement that highlighted man’s natural rights there was inequality in abundance affecting the majority of women, african americans, and native americans. Native americans felt the impact of manifest much differently than others with the indian removal act of 1830. African Americans were negatively impacted as a result of manifest destiny meant the expansion of slavery itself. Eventually, the southern economy would become even more dependent on slave labor due to king cotton. Once the cotton gin was invented by Eli whitney the market had greater means to supply while the demand also simultaneously grew. This resulted in slavery etching itself even deeper into the fabric of the southern economy making the south extremely paranoid to the intentions of the north. They were so protective over keeping their right to have slaves it created a great feud between north and south that would eventually end in a civil war. But before this would occur things would get tougher on slaves when fear of revolts would inspire southern legislature to develop the slave codes. These codes further restricted the freedom of slaves which were already almost unexistent. They weren’t allowed to gather amongst themselves for any reason including religious worship out of fear that such congregating could result in schemes to revolt. Furthermore, to hinder their progression into society and deny them the competence to

In the new world slaves were an extremely cheap form of labor, when a plantation owner had purchased their slaves they owned them for life. Slaves were usually taken off the ship and then auctioned off to potential owners. The owners would then bid on each slave, create and sign a contract and then take their slaves back to their, this was the start of slaves being viewed as objects instead of people. Eventually these contracts were eventually altered to state that any children that a male slave had would also be owned by that male slave’s plantation owner. In 1705, in Virginia, a law was passed stating the rights of a slave, in this law slaves were property, they could be bought and sold, they had no rights, slaves could be punished as a master feels fit.

South Carolina's Black Code connected just to "people of shading," characterized as incorporating anybody with more than one-eighth Negro blood. Its significant highlights incorporated the accompanying:

Meanwhile, in the south, Free blacks were still at risk and lived under the shadow of slavery.Free blacks were at risk of being captured and sold as a slave to wealthy plantation owners. Their

Throughout history, African Americans both free and enslaved were not treated equally nor permitted with the same rights as white men. African Americans were enslaved and not allowed to vote or hold public office. Since the 15th century, African Americans have been treated less than human, some even experienced brutal punished for justifiable mistakes. The use of African American slave labor was an enormous contribution to agriculture and labor. It became a part of southern state’s economy within America. Additionally, African Americans were forced or born into slavery where they endured harsh working conditions with zero pay and often times were punished by their masters. Even slaves that became emancipated or paid for their freedom were also treated differently than whites. Notably, blacks did not have the same privileges as whites and were forced to carry a “freedom card” wherever they went. Failing to do so would lead to severe consequences, such as being forced back into slavery. Once African Americans were considered free, they faced additional discriminations such as not being able to vote or serve as a figure in public office. Due to this and additional factors, African Americans were almost entirely incapable of defending themselves against whites. Since the start of the 17th century, African Americans, free and enslaved were punished for their skin color and were considered the lowest scale by not being allowed to the same opportunities and rights and white men.

51).Along the way, African Americans guided slaves to safety towards Canada. Blacks also provided food and clothing for these slaves along their journey. Slaves were also appointed to helpful whites and it brought attention to the fact that slaves yearned to be free. This abolitionists used to their advantage as support against slavery. Harriet Tubman was the most famous of agents to the Underground Railroad. In her lifetime, she rescued nearly 300 enslaved blacks and made 19 trips to the south before she became ill (Ronald, , para. 53).Freedom for blacks was looked upon as a gift rather than a right to each individual. After the election of Abraham Lincoln, the south broke off into the Confederate States of America. They did not want slavery to end. Lincoln thus declared a war to fight for the Union, not a war for slavery. He was afraid that he might lose some of his most loyal white supporters by allowing blacks to fight in the war. When things cooled down, blacks were allowed to fight in the war and the War Department was created in May 1863. Also in 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was to end slavery in the confederate states. Although slavery was nearly over, blacks were still being discriminated against despite their willingness to fight for America in the Civil war. Blacks were paid less, treated poorly, and simply looked down upon by whites. This began the era of Jim Crow laws in the south which were discriminatory against

Because of great support for slavery in the South, southern politics involved laws and principles that maximized the rights of slave owners and minimized the rights of African Americans. Laws called slave codes and black codes were often implemented in order to guarantee that slaves and African Americans in general remained subordinates, and never gained equality with white men. Slaveholders wanted slaves to remain property, and created many laws to treat them as such. For example, if any man