Slavery in America

Despite the black codes had provided rights such as the marriage legalization and the ownership of property, they violated the free labor principle and denied the African-Americans the right to vote, and sue any white man. Foner (2014) found “In response to planter’s demands that freed people be required to work on the plantations, the Black Codes declared that those who failed to sign yearly labor contracts could be arrested and hired out to white landowners” (p. 570) . In fact, it was a totally failure of what freedom was supposed to be.

     The draftees of the Black Codes in each state were not subtle in their dislike for freedmen. They believed blacks were predestined to be agricultural laborers and under their control. In 1866, federal officials deemed black codes too harsh, and outlawed them. They decided that blacks should receive the same treatment that whites did.

Slavery was a very divided issue in early American history. It was the backbone of the southern economy and lifestyle, but also a immoral way to treat people that was contradictory to ideals which America liberated itself upon. Slavery continued to expand because of new economic growth, but many slaves were also freed from their bondage during this time because of religion and the new ideologies that America gained in becoming a country. Most slaves responded to these hardships hardship through active and passive resistance, whereas free African Americans became more outspoken and formed communities in response.

Throughout American history slave has resist their master, the system and the idea of slavery. These resistance has became of a key stone in the history of slavery. To understand what these resistance is, we will look at incident of the past to analyze how slave in the past resisted their master, the system and the idea of slavery.

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

In 1865, Louisiana created “Black Codes”, a set of rules that controlled the lifestyle of African Americans. It sounded very similar to slavery, going to extremes such as that every African American had to be of regular service to a white person. The historical significance of these codes is that although they were soon demolished with the passing of the Fourteenth Amendment, Jim Crow laws were soon established after(Document 6). All the states and territories of the

Free blacks took to the road to test out their freedom or look for loved ones i. Emancipation STRENGHTENED black families; slave marriages were legalized so as children could be legal heirs d. Others took to the city, where black communities sprung up i. “Exodusters,” i.e. the 25,000 blacks migrating from LA, TX, and MI to Kansas from 1878 to 1880 were prevented migration on the Mississippi River at one point. B. Free black life 1. The CHURCH became the focus of black community life a. They now had the opportunity to form their own churches with their own ministers i. black Baptist Church (150,000 members in 1850) reached 500,000 in 1870.

Fortunately, those in the Northern States disapproved of the “Black Codes” and wanted them to be abolished (“Reconstruction”, 2009/”Black Codes”, 2010). The United States Congress agreed with the public and quickly introduced the “Civil Rights Act” (“Reconstruction”, 2009/”Black Codes”, 2010). Despite President Andrew Johnson vetoing the bill, Congress managed to override the veto and put the bill into law (“Reconstruction”, 2009/”Black Codes”, 2010). As soon as the bill was officially signed, the US government took control of the Southern Reconstruction. As a result of the government intervening in the Reconstruction Era, Southern Blacks were soon elected into government offices, including Congressional Seats (“Reconstruction”, 2009/”Black Codes”, 2010).

By the 1630s, about 1.5 million pounds of tobacco was hauled out of Chesapeake Bay (and almost 40 million towards the 1700s). The Chespeake was hospitable for tobacco cultivation and it blew up the tobacco economy.

After the Civil War, many southern states created laws called Black Codes. These laws were were way worse than the Jim Crow laws. They tried to keep something like slavery in the south even after the war. These laws made it hard for black people to leave their jobs and allowed them be arrested for just about any reason.

“Black Codes was a name given to laws passed by southern governments established during the presidency of Andrew Johnson. These laws imposed severe restrictions on freed slaves such as prohibiting their right to vote, forbidding them to sit on juries, limiting their right to testify against white men, carrying weapons in public places and working in certain occupations”

The laws were meant to create separate but equal treatment for blacks but in reality the worst happened whereby blacks were condemned to inferior facilities and treatment. The system started with states passing legislation to segregate education and public facilities, such as restaurants, theatres, asylums, dance halls, parks, trains, restrooms, cemeteries and hotels (Kousser 480). In 1865 and the following year, state governments in the South legislated on regulations of the lives of former slaves as revisions of formers slave codes and differed

Between 1660 and 1710 slave codes were enacted and forced nearly all blacks to work as agricultural laborers.  The codes defined slavery as a system that controls black people to take advantage of their labor.  By the year 1700, the system spread to the southern colonies in America and slaves and other blacks were legally equivalent to domestic animals.

While slavery was a horrific thing that led to the mistreatment of millions of black people, it had the power to last for centuries. When looking closely at historical accounts it becomes easier to see why this horrible practice was able to sustain for so long. One of the reasons was because the economy of Colonial America relied heavily on the labor of slaves. Farming, the slave trade itself, and the harsh treatment of slaves were all driven by the greed of slave owners. Another reason that slavery lasted so long was racism. During this time, the black population was considered inferior to the white population. This helped to promote the cruel behaviors that occurred in slavery. Lastly, many whites actually felt that the slaves were treated

places. However, the South reacted by passing the "Black Codes, " which severely limited the