Gavin Howe
The history of law-making in the South is complex and deeply intertwined with the issue of slavery and the civil rights of African Americans. The South's desire to protect slavery as a way of life led to laws such as the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, which required Northerners to return escaped slaves to their Southern masters. After the abolition of slavery in 1865, Southern states passed Black Codes, restricting the civil rights of newly freed African Americans and forcing them into labor. This pattern continued with Jim Crow laws, which further entrenched racial segregation and discrimination. Southern resistance to racial equality was violent and resulted in the deaths of over 40 civil rights activists between 1955 and 1969.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| The South's stance on slavery | Slave-holding states in the South argued for states' rights and a weak federal government. |
| The South viewed slavery as necessary and a positive good, and felt that their way of life was under attack. | |
| The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was one of the only pieces of legislation clearly in favor of the South, as it required Northerners to return escaped slaves to their Southern masters. | |
| The Compromise of 1850 addressed the crisis created by territorial expansion, but its strengthened fugitive slave act threatened sectional peace. | |
| After the abolishment of slavery in 1865, Southern states passed Black Codes, restricting civil rights and forcing freed slaves to work for their former enslavers. | |
| Nine Southern states updated their vagrancy laws in 1865-1866, allowing convict leasing and prisoner labor, creating incentives to arrest Black men. | |
| South Carolina's "Domestic Relations of Persons of Color" law resembled Mississippi's vagrancy laws, allowing the state to hire out Blacks for no pay and imposing a special tax on Blacks. | |
| Resistance to change | Southerners resisted changes in racial mores, using violence and other tactics to demonstrate their objections. |
| Between 1955 and 1969, more than 40 civil rights activists were killed by whites opposed to ending segregation. | |
| The NAACP and its Legal Defense arm emerged as a key organization using the 14th Amendment to litigate changes in the laws of the country. |
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What You'll Learn
Black Codes
The defining feature of the Black Codes was the broad vagrancy law, which allowed local authorities to arrest freed Black people for minor infractions and commit them to involuntary labour. For instance, Mississippi's law required Black people to have written evidence of employment for the coming year each January; if they left before the end of the contract, they would be forced to forfeit their earlier wages and were subject to arrest. In South Carolina, a law prohibited Black people from holding any occupation other than farmer or servant unless they paid an annual tax of $10 to $100. This provision hit free Black people already living in Charleston and former slave artisans especially hard. In both states, Black people were given heavy penalties for vagrancy, including forced plantation labour in some cases.
The Black Codes were part of a larger pattern of Democrats trying to maintain political dominance and suppress the newly emancipated African Americans. The restrictive nature of the codes and widespread Black resistance to their enforcement enraged many in the North, who argued that the codes violated the fundamental principles of free labour ideology.
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Vagrancy laws
In the context of the American South, vagrancy laws took on a particularly racist character, especially after the Civil War. With the abolition of slavery in 1865, Southern states passed "Black Codes," which restricted the civil rights of newly freed African Americans. Vagrancy laws were a key component of these codes, allowing for the arrest and forced labour of Black men, who were then supplied to local governments and planters as free workers.
South Carolina's law on "Domestic Relations of Persons of Color," for example, allowed for the conviction of Black people for vagrancy, which resulted in their being "hired out" for no pay. The law also included a special tax on Black males and unmarried females, with non-payment resulting in vagrancy charges. Similar laws were passed in eight other Southern states during 1865-1866, with five of these states allowing prisoner labour for public works projects.
The Vagrancy Act of 1866, passed by the General Assembly of Virginia, forced anyone appearing to be unemployed or homeless into employment for up to three months. If they ran away and were recaptured, they were forced to work for no compensation while wearing balls and chains. While this law applied to all people regardless of race, it disproportionately affected African Americans, many of whom were recently freed from slavery and were searching for work and family members.
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Anti-miscegenation laws
In the United States, anti-miscegenation laws were a feature of the country's legislative history, with many states historically prohibiting interracial marriage and, in some cases, interracial sexual relations. Notably, these laws were not limited to the South, as they were also enacted in most states in the Western United States and the Great Plains. However, the South played a significant role in the creation and enforcement of these laws, particularly in the context of slavery and the subsequent struggle for racial equality.
The term "miscegenation" was first used during the American Civil War in 1863 by journalists seeking to discredit the abolitionist movement by stirring up debates over potential interracial marriages after the abolition of slavery. The first anti-miscegenation law in the US was passed by the Maryland General Assembly in 1691, criminalizing interracial marriage. The following year, in 1692, the Virginian House of Burgesses passed a similar law, and these laws soon spread to other colonies, including Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
The enactment of anti-miscegenation laws continued well into the 19th century, with all the new slave states, as well as several free states, adopting such laws. Notably, Abraham Lincoln, in a speech in Charleston, Illinois, in 1858, expressed his opposition to interracial marriage, stating, "I am not, nor ever have been, in favor of...qualifying [Black people] to...intermarry with white people."
After the Civil War and the abolition of slavery in 1865, Southern states passed laws known as Black Codes, which severely restricted the civil rights of newly freed African Americans. While some of these laws addressed vagrancy and labour issues, others directly targeted interracial relationships. For example, South Carolina's law on "Domestic Relations of Persons of Color" established separate courts for Black people and authorized capital punishment for crimes such as theft of cotton. Additionally, this law created a licensing and authorization system that made it challenging for Blacks to engage in normal commerce.
It is important to note that resistance to anti-miscegenation laws existed alongside their enactment. For instance, during the Reconstruction period, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, South Carolina, and Alabama legalized interracial marriage, although these laws were later overturned or rendered unenforced. In 1948, the California Supreme Court in Perez v. Sharp struck down a ban on interracial marriage, marking the first time a US court had taken such action.
Finally, in 1967, the landmark case of Loving v. Virginia resulted in the US Supreme Court ruling that anti-miscegenation laws were unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment. This decision led to the remaining state anti-miscegenation laws being repealed, with Alabama being the last state to remove such language from its constitution in 2000.
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Fugitive Slave Law
The Fugitive Slave Law, or Fugitive Slave Act, was passed by the 31st United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern interests in slavery and Northern Free-Soilers. It was one of the most controversial elements of the 1850 compromise and heightened fears in the North of a slave power conspiracy. The Act required that all escaped slaves, upon capture, be returned to their slave-owners, and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate.
The Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was a strengthened version of the earlier Fugitive Slave Act of 1793, which was a federal law enforcing the return of escaped slaves. The 1793 Act authorized local governments to seize and return escapees to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in their flight. However, the law was widely resisted, with many Northern states refusing to enforce it and passing Personal Liberty Laws to protect the rights of accused runaways and free Blacks.
The 1850 Act was drafted by Democratic Senator James M. Mason of Virginia in response to the weakening of the original Fugitive Slave Act. It included several new regulations, such as penalizing officials who did not arrest someone allegedly escaping from slavery, and requiring both federal and local law enforcement in all states to enforce the legislation and arrest suspected fugitive slaves. The Act also removed the right to a jury trial for accused fugitives and allowed enslavers to capture a fugitive by supplying an affidavit to a federal marshal.
The Fugitive Slave Law adversely affected the prospects of escape from slavery, particularly in states close to the North. It also contributed to the growing polarization of the country over the issue of slavery and was one of the factors that led to the start of the American Civil War. After the abolishment of slavery in 1865, Southern states passed laws known as Black Codes, which restricted the civil rights of newly freed African Americans and forced them to work for their former enslavers.
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Resistance to racial integration
Following the abolishment of slavery in 1865, southern states passed laws known as Black Codes, which restricted the civil rights of newly freed African Americans. These laws established wide-ranging rules on vagrancy, allowing for the conviction of African Americans as vagabonds, which in turn allowed states to "hire out" Blacks for no pay. The Black Codes also established separate courts for Black people and authorised capital punishment for crimes including the theft of cotton.
In the 20th century, the NAACP emerged as a key organisation that used the 14th Amendment to litigate changes in the laws of the country, increasing the legal rights of African Americans. In response, Southerners resisted changes in racial mores, using violence and other tactics to demonstrate their objections. Between 1955 and 1969, more than 40 civil rights activists and other individuals were killed as a result of violent actions taken by whites opposed to ending segregation.
The resistance to racial integration was not limited to violent tactics but also included legal manoeuvring, school closures, intimidation, and economic reprisals. In 1956, Virginia's influential senator, Harry Byrd, called for the organisation of the Southern states for massive resistance to racial integration, stating that "in time the rest of the country will realise that racial integration is not going to be accepted in the South". This massive resistance was endorsed in most Southern editorial pages, with influential editors like James J. Kilpatrick of the Richmond News Leader working behind the scenes against desegregation.
The call for resistance was enshrined in "The Declaration of Constitutional Rights," also known as the "Southern Manifesto," crafted by Mr. Byrd and other U.S. senators from former Confederate states. This document invoked Civil War-era theories of states' rights and ignored decades of racial violence, disenfranchisement, and lynching, claiming that the Court's ruling was "destroying the amicable relations which have existed between the white and Negro races." The Manifesto urged states to resist integration, and it was successful in garnering the support of 101 out of 128 congressmen representing the former Confederate states.
In addition to the political resistance, there were also economic reprisals against those who supported civil rights. White Citizens' Councils throughout the South capitalised on whites' dominance over financial capital, land ownership, and industry to punish civil rights participation. For example, Georgia Gov. Herman E. Talmadge said he would end public education in Georgia rather than allow Black and White children to attend school together.
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Frequently asked questions
The Black Codes were laws passed by southern states after the abolishment of slavery in 1865 that restricted the civil rights of newly freed African Americans and forced them to work for their former enslavers.
The Black Codes included vagrancy laws, which allowed the state to "'hire out' Black people for no pay". They also included special taxes on Black people, with non-paying individuals again being guilty of vagrancy. The laws also enabled the forcible apprenticeship of children of impoverished parents and separate courts for Black people.
The primary goal of the Black Codes was to maintain a system of forced labor for Black people, particularly in agriculture. This was driven by economic factors, as Southern states sought to revive their economies after the end of slavery.
Yes, there were several legal challenges to the Black Codes. The Civil Rights Act of 1866, for example, sought to remedy restrictions on Black people testifying against White people. The Fourteenth Amendment was also used by organizations like the NAACP to litigate changes in the laws and increase the legal rights of African Americans.
The legal challenges to the Black Codes had mixed outcomes. While the Fourteenth Amendment did not have a significant impact on the Black Codes in Kentucky, the Federal Department of Justice launched a wave of successful Thirteenth Amendment prosecutions against involuntary servitude in the South in the early 20th century. However, it took until the 1950s and 1960s for more substantial changes to occur, with the civil rights movement facing violent resistance from segregationists.
