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according to the theory of the gentleman from Pennsylva-

nia, would become the successors, the inheritors, of its

debts and assets, and we must pay them.

* * *

Now, if according to the view I have presented, we are to

deal with those States as States within the Union, the next

question that recurs is, how are we to deal with them? . . .I

think we have a full and perfect right to require certain

conditions, in the nature of guarantees for the future, and

that right rests, primarily and technically, on the surrender

we may and must require at their hands. . . . In a political

sense a surrender implies more than the transfer of the

arms used on the field of battle. It implies, in the case of

civil war, a surrender of the principles and doctrines, of all

the weapons and agencies, by which the war has been car-

ried on. The military surrender was made on the field of

battle, to our generals as the agents and representatives of

the Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the United

States. . . .

* * *

Why do we seek in this and all similar cases a surrender of

the principles for which they fought? It is that they may

never again be made the basis of controversy and rebellion

against the Government of the United States.

Now, what are those principles which should be thus

surrendered? The principle of State sovereignty is one of

them. It was the cornerstone of the rebellion—at once its

animating spirit, and its fundamental basis. . . . Now there

is another thing to be surrendered by the defeated rebel-

lion, and that is the obligation to pay the rebel war debt.

* * *

There is another thing which we have the right to require;

and that is the prohibition of slavery. We have the right to

require them to do this, not only in their State constitu-

tions, but in the Constitution of the United States. And we

have required it, and it has been conceded. They have also

conceded that Congress may make such laws as may be

requisite to carry that prohibition into effect, which

includes such legislation as may be required to secure for

them protection of their civil and personal rights—their

“right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” This I

am sure the gentleman will concede to be a substantial

guarantee—one placed beyond the power of any State to

recall or repeal.

These things the President of the United States has

deemed it his right as Commander-in-Chief of the armies

of the United States, to demand at the hands of the States

which have been defeated in their attempt to separate

themselves from the Union, as the condition of relaxing

the bonds of military authority over them and restoring to

them again the control of their local State affairs. He

made these the conditions upon which they would be

allowed, so far as his rightful authority extended, to

resume the practical exercise of their functions as mem-

bers of the Union, which had been suspended by their

rebellion. . . . I am here to act with those who seek to com-

plete the restoration of the Union, as I have acted with

those through the last four years who have sought to

maintain its integrity and prevent its destruction. I shall

say no word and do no act and give no vote to recognize

its division, or to postpone or disturb its rapidly-approach-

ing harmony and peace. . . .

. . . I would exact of them all needed and all just guar-

antees for their future loyalty to the Constitution and laws

of the United States. I would exact from them, or impose

upon them through the constitutional legislation of

Congress, and by enlarging and extending, if necessary, the

scope and powers of the Freedmen’s Bureau, proper care

and protection for the helpless and friendless freedmen, so

lately their slaves. I would exercise a rigid scrutiny into the

character and loyalty of the men whom they may send to

Congress, before I allowed them to participate in the high

prerogative of legislating for the nation. But I would seek

to allay rather than stimulate the animosities and hatred,

however just they may be, to which the war has given rise.

But for our own sake as well as for theirs I would not visit

upon them a policy of confiscation which has been dis-

carded in the policy and practical conduct of every civi-

lized nation on the face of the globe.

I believe it important for us as well as for them that we

should cultivate friendly relations with them, that we

should seek the promotion of their interests as part and

parcel of our own. We have been their enemies in war, in

peace let us show ourselves their friends. Now that slavery

has been destroyed—that prolific source of all our alien-

ations, all our hatreds, and all our disasters—there is noth-

ing longer to make us foes. They have the same interests,

the same hopes, the same aspirations that we have. They

are one with us; we must share their sufferings and they

will share our advancing prosperity. They have been pun-

ished as no community was ever punished before for the

treason they have committed. I trust, sir, the day will come

ere long when all traces of this great conflict will be

effaced, except those which mark the blessings that follow

in its train.

I hope and believe we shall soon see the day when the

people of the southern States will show us, by evidences

that we cannot mistake, that they have returned, in all sin-

cerity and good faith, to their allegiance to the Union; that

they intend to join henceforth with us in promoting its

prosperity, in defending the banner of its glory, and in

fighting the battles of democratic freedom, not only here,

but wherever the issue may be forced upon our accep-

912 ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction

tance. I rejoice with heartfelt satisfaction that we have in

these seats of power—in the executive department and in

these halls of Congress—men who will cooperate for the

attainment of these great and beneficent ends. I trust

they will act with wisdom; I know they will act from no

other motives than those of patriotism and love of their

fellowmen.

Samuel Shellabarger, Speech on Reconstruction,

1866

I shall inquire whether the Constitution deals with States.

I shall discuss the question whether an organized rebellion

against a Government is an organized “State” in that Gov-

ernment; whether that which cannot become a “State”

until all its officers have sworn to support the Constitution,

remains a State after they have all sworn to overthrow that

Constitution; and if I find it does continue to be a State

after that, then I shall strive to ascertain whether it will so

continue to be a government, a State, after, by means of

universal treason, it has ceased to have any constitution,

laws, Legislature, courts, or citizens in it.

What is before this Congress—by far the most

momentous constitutional question ever here consid-

ered—I at once condense and affirm in a single sentence.

It is under our Constitution possible to, and the late

rebellion did in fact, so overthrow and usurp in the insur-

rectionary States the loyal State governments as that, dur-

ing such usurpation, such States and their people ceased to

have any of the rights or powers of government as States of

this Union; and this loss of the rights and powers of gov-

ernment was such that the United States may and ought to

assume and exercise local powers of the lost State govern-

ments, and may control the readmission of such States to

their powers of government in this Union, subject to and

in accordance with the obligation to “guaranty to each

State a republican form of government.”

* * *

What, then, is required to constitute a State by the law of

nations?

We answer:

1. “A fixed abode and definite territory belonging to

the people who occupy it.” (Wheaton 33.)

2. “A society of men united together for the purpose

of promoting their mutual safety and advantage by their

combined strength.” (Ibid. 32.)

3. “The legal idea of a State, necessarily implies that of

habitual obedience of its members to those in whom the

superiority is vested.” (Ibid. 33.)

This third necessary element of a State is the only

important one in this discussion. . . .

* * *

I might add to these all the writers on public law for cen-

turies, in confirmation of what is self-evident without

proof, that there can be no State where the people do not

habitually obey the laws. For four hundred years the unan-

imous conscience and common sense of the civilized world

has refused to recognize the existence of a people who

were habitually disobedient to their own laws, or the law of

nations. Such a people is blotted out.

Now, surely, if habitual obedience to law “was neces-

sary to the legal idea of a State,” even under the vague and

general precepts of the international code, it will not be

insisted that habitual, persistent, and universal disobedi-

ence will be tolerated by the well-defined, express, and rig-

orous provisions of the American Constitution in the

citizens of one of its States.

* * *

Surely, Mr. Chairman, it is not too much to say that even

under the settled precepts of public law those eleven dis-

tricts, called “confederate States,” ceased to be States. . . .

* * *

. . . That which is required . . . in order to constitute a State

of our Union, is—1. Its citizens must owe, acknowledge,

and render supreme and habitual allegiance and obedi-

ence to the Constitution, laws, and treaties of the United

States in all Federal matters, these being the supreme laws

to the States and their citizens. (Constitution, article VI.)

2. All “the members of the State Legislatures, and its

executive and judicial officers, shall be bound by oath or

affirmation to support the Constitution” of the United

States. (Constitution, article VI.)

3. That the United States shall have so “admitted it

into this Union” (Constitution, article V, section 3) as to

have assumed “to guaranty to it a republican form of gov-

ernment, and to protect it against invasion, and,” on appli-

cation, “against domestic violence.”

4. And by such recognition and “admission into this

Union” to have secured to it, as a body-politic, or “State,”

certain rights of participation in the control of the Fed-

eral Government; which rights I shall name hereafter.

(See also 1 Bishop on Criminal Law, sections 128 to 137,

inclusive.)

No one who can read the Constitution will deny that

each State in this Union must have every one of these

properties before it can commence to exist in the Union,

because the Constitution so declares. Now the question I

consider is, whether if shall continue to be a State, in the

sense that it holds the powers and rights of a State, after it

has lost every property which it must have before it could

commence to exist in the Union.

* * *

Reconstruction 913

The Constitution. It deals with States, in the way of impos-

ing restraints and obligations upon them as States, in the

following matters: regulating commerce among the States;

requiring Representatives, also United States Senators, to

reside in their respective States; prohibiting States from

entering into any treaty, alliance, or confederation, coining

money, emitting bills of credit [etc.].

* * *

My object, Mr. Chairman, in reciting these fifty or more

supremely important provisions of the Constitution, in

every one of which it is evident, both by the nature and

express terms of the provisions themselves, and by the

innumerable adjudications of the courts, that the Consti-

tution “deals with” the States, as such, was not the frivolous

one of showing that there were more than “one or two” of

these. My purpose was the higher one of showing how

baseless that argument was which was based upon the

assertion that the Constitution did not deal with States but

individuals only. . . .

* * *

. . . The most solemn and deliberate action of your Gov-

ernment in all its departments, and recently all its actions,

proceeds upon the assumption that these rebel States had

lost all the rights of States.

* * *

The President has assumed that the rebel States ceased to

be States in the sense I am considering. . . .

* * *

. . . The third or judicial branch of the Government is, by

solemn and unanimous judgments, twice repeated, com-

mitted, in principle, to the same exact conclusions.

* * *

I ask when and by what specific act does “tumult” become

“war” in law? I answer, in the language of Chief Justice

Marshall, when it, in fact, assumes “warlike array and

strength.” What in a civil war is the specific act and time

which changes, in law, an “insurrectionary party” into a

“belligerent”? I answer, in the language of the Supreme

Court, when in fact “the regular course of justice is inter-

rupted by revolt, rebellion, or insurrection, so that the

courts of justice cannot be kept open.” When, in law, does

a revolt become civil war? I answer, in the language of

Wheaton, when “the insurrection becomes, in fact, so

strong as no longer to obey the sovereign, and to be able

by war to make head against him.” When, in law, and by

what specific act, did the entire population of Virginia,

including the loyal men, cease to be “friends,” and become

“enemies of the United States”? I answer, when, in fact,

they became “belligerents.”

* * *

These rebel States,

1. Acted as States in organizing the rebellion.

2. That all their citizens, innocent and guilty, were

thereby made “enemies of the United States.”

3. That though they became “enemies” that did not

make them “foreign” States so as that when we take them

back we must pay their debts.

4. That, as the court decides that the United States

may exercise over these people both “belligerent” and

“sovereign” rights, therefore we may, as sovereign, try

[Confederate President Jefferson] Davis for treason,

although we did treat and hold these States as an “enemy’s”

country.

5. As these States became “enemies” territory, and all

persons residing within it became “enemies of the United

States,” they cannot at the same time have been a people

having any political rights to govern in this Union, unless

indeed this Union can be governed by a body of people,

every one of whom are held by its law to be the “public

enemies of the United States.”

* * *

Now, Mr. Chairman, if the combined forces of the Consti-

tution and the Public Law, the obvious dictates of reason,

justice, and common sense, and these enforced by the

approval of repeated and unanimous judgments of the

Supreme Court can settle for our own Government any

principle of its law, then it is established that organized

rebellions are not “States,” and that these eleven distinct

political treasons, which they organized into one, and

called it “the confederate States,” had no powers or rights

as States of this Union, nor had the people thereof.

ESTORATION OF THE

TATES

If these States lost their powers and rights as States, by

what authority and means are they restored? It is accom-

plished by mere cessation of war and the determination of

the rebel inhabitants to resume the powers of State; or is

this Government entitled to take jurisdiction over the time

and manner of their return?

I hold that the latter is the obvious truth.

* * *

. . . Let this noble utterance—“Irreversible guarantees for

the rights” of American citizens of every race and condition

—be written with pen of iron and point of diamond in your

constitution. Let it thus be made “irreversible” indeed, by

the action of the State, in the only way it can be made irre-

914 ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction

versible; and then, to establish this and every other guar-

antee of the Constitution upon the only sure foundation of

a free republic—the equality of the people and of the

States—make, by the same organic law, every elector in

the Union absolutely equal in his right of representation in

that renovated Union, and I am content.

Let the revolted States base their republican State

governments upon a general and sincere loyalty of the peo-

ple and come to us under the guarantees of this renewed

Union, and we hail their coming and the hour that brings

them.

If you ask again, “Suppose such general loyalty should

never reappear, shall they be dependencies forever?”

Sir, convince me that the case is supposable, then with

deepest sorrow I answer—FOREVER!

Source:

John Scott, ed., Living Documents in American History, New

York: Washington Square Press, 1964–68, pp. 19–33; 36–63;

66–87.

Black Codes, 1865–1890

The black codes were statutes passed by the former Confeder-

ate states between 1865 and 1908 regulating the status of

some 4 million newly freed black slaves. Though the codes

differed from state to state, all were intended to control and

suppress freedom, ensure a supply of cheap labor, and con-

tinue white supremacy. While African Americans were granted

rights to marry, to own personal property, and to sue other

blacks in court, they were denied the rights to testify against

whites in court, to vote, or to serve on juries. Employment,

freedom of speech and movement, and ownership of real

estate were restricted. In an attempt to override these codes,

Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Four-

teenth Amendment (1868). Between the end of Reconstruction

and the beginning of the Civil Rights movement (from 1877

through the 1950s), state statutes were passed that enforced

racial segregation. These laws, called Jim Crow laws after a

minstrel show character, were enacted primarily in the South

and border states. They were designed to deny blacks the civil

rights they had gained during Reconstruction by forcing segre-

gation between blacks and whites in public transportation,

schools, restaurants, hospitals, factories, housing, and other

public institutions. Supreme Court rulings in the Civil Rights

Cases of 1883 and

Plessy v. Ferguson

(1896) upheld Jim Crow

laws. It was not until

Brown

Board of Education of Topeka

in 1954 that the Court overturned constitutional protection for

racial segregation.

________________________

_______________________

Black Codes, 1865

I. An Act

To confer Civil Rights on freedmen, and for other

purposes.

(1) Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of

Mississippi, That all freedmen, free Negroes and mulat-

toes may sue and be sued, implead and be impleaded, in

all the courts of law and equity of this State, and may

acquire personal property and choses, in action, by descent

or purchase, and may dispose of the same, in the same

manner, and to the same extent that white persons may:

Provided that the provisions of this section shall not be so

construed as to allow any Negro, freedman, free Negro, or

mulatto, to rent or lease any lands or tenements, except in

incorporated towns or cities in which places the corporate

authorities shall control the same.

(2) Be it further enacted, That all freedmen, free

Negroes and mulattoes may intermarry with each other, in

the same manner and under the same regulations that are

provided by law for white persons: Provided, that the clerk

of probate shall keep separate records of the same.

(3) Be it further enacted, That all freedmen, free

Negroes and mulattoes who do now and have heretofore

lived and cohabited together as husband and wife shall be

taken and held in law as legally married, and the issue shall

be taken and held as legitimate for all purposes. That it

shall not be lawful for any freedman, free Negro, or

mulatto to intermarry with any white person; nor for any

white person to intermarry with any freedman, free Negro,

or mulatto; and any person who shall so intermarry shall be

deemed guilty of felony, and on conviction thereof, shall be

confined in the State Penitentiary for life; and those shall

be deemed freedmen, free Negroes, and mulattoes who

are of pure Negro blood, and those descended from a

Negro to the third generation inclusive, though one ances-

tor of each generation may have been a white person.

(4) Be it further enacted, That in addition to cases in

which freedmen, free Negroes, and mulattoes are now by

law competent witnesses, freedmen, free Negroes, or

mulattoes shall be competent in civil cases when a party or

parties to the suit, either plaintiff or plaintiffs, defendant

or defendants, also in cases where freedmen, free

Negroes, and mulattoes is or are either plaintiff or plain-

tiffs, defendant or defendants, and a white person or white

persons is or are the opposing party or parties, plaintiff or

plaintiffs, defendant or defendants. They shall also be

competent witnesses in all criminal prosecutions where

the crime charged is alleged to have been committed by a

white person upon or against the person or property of a

freedman, free Negro, or mulatto: Provided that in all

cases said witnesses shall be examined in open court on the

Reconstruction 915

stand, except however, they may be examined before the

grand jury, and shall in all cases be subject to the rules and

tests of common law as to competence and credibility.

(5) Be it further enacted, That every freedman, free

Negro, and mulatto, shall, on the second Monday of

January, one thousand and eight hundred and sixty-six,

and annually thereafter, have a lawful home or employ-

ment, and shall have written evidence thereof, as follows,

to wit: if living in an incorporated city, town or village, a

license from the mayor thereof; and if living outside of

any incorporated city, town or village, from the member

of the board of police of his beat, authorizing him or her

to do irregular and job work, or a written contract, as pro-

vided in section sixth of this act, which licenses may be

revoked for cause, at any time, by the authority granting

the same.

(6) Be it further enacted, That all contracts for labor

made with freedmen, free Negroes, and mulattoes, for a

longer period than one month shall be in writing or dupli-

cate, attested and read to said freedman, free Negro, or

mulatto, by a beat, city, or county officer, or two disinter-

ested white persons of the county in which the labor is to

be performed, of which each party shall have one; and

said contracts shall be taken and held as entire contracts,

and if the laborer shall quit the service of the employer,

before expiration of his term of service, without good

cause, he shall forfeit his wages for that year, up to the

time of quitting.

(7) Be it further enacted, That every civil officer shall,

and every person may arrest and carry back to his or her

legal employer any freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, who

shall have quit the service of his or her employer before

the expiration of his or her term of service without good

cause, and said officer and person shall be entitled to

receive for arresting and carrying back every deserting

employee aforesaid, the sum of five dollars, and ten cents

per mile from the place of arrest to the place of delivery,

and the same shall be paid by the employer, and held as a

set-off for so much against the wages of said deserting

employee: Provided that said arrested party after being so

returned may appeal to a justice of the peace or member

of the board of police of the county, who on notice to the

alleged employer, shall try summarily whether said appel-

lant is legally employed by the alleged employer and has

good cause to quit said employer; either party shall have

the right of appeal to the county court, pending which the

alleged deserter shall be remanded to the alleged

employer, or otherwise disposed of, as shall be right and

just, and the decision of the county court shall be final.

(8) Be it further enacted, That upon affidavit made by

the employer of any freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, or

other credible person, before any justice of the peace or

member of the board of police, that any freedman, free

Negro, or mulatto, legally employed by said employer, has

illegally deserted said employment, such justice of the

peace or member of the board of police, shall issue his

warrant or warrants, returnable before himself, or other

such officer, directed to any sheriff, constable or special

deputy, commanding him to arrest said deserter and

return him or her to said employer, and the like proceed-

ings shall be had as provided in the preceding section; and

it shall be lawful for any officer to whom such warrant shall

be directed, to execute said warrant in any county of this

State, and that said warrant may be transmitted without

endorsement to any like officer of another county, to be

executed and returned as aforesaid, and the said employer

shall pay the cost of said warrants and arrest and return,

which shall be set off for so much against the wage of said

deserter.

(9) Be it further enacted, That if any person shall per-

suade or attempt to persuade, entice, or cause any freed-

man, free Negro, or mulatto, to desert from the legal

employment of any person, before the expiration of his or

her term of service, or shall knowingly employ any such

deserting freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, or shall know-

ingly give or sell to any such deserting freedman, free

Negro, or mulatto, any food, raiment, or other thing, he or

she shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction,

shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars and not

more than two hundred dollars and the costs, and if said

fines and costs shall not be immediately paid, the court

shall sentence said convict to not exceeding two months

imprisonment in the county jail, and he or she shall more-

over be liable to the party injured in damages: Provided, if

any person shall, or shall attempt to persuade, entice, or

cause any freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, to desert

from any legal employment of any person, with the view to

employ said freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, without the

limits of this State, such person, on conviction, shall be

fined not less than fifty dollars and not more than five hun-

dred dollars and costs, and if said fines and costs shall not

be immediately paid, the court shall sentence said convict

to not exceeding six months imprisonment in the county

jail.

(10) Be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for

any freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, to charge any white

person, freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, by affidavit,

with any criminal offence against his or her person or

property, and upon such affidavit the proper process shall

be issued and executed as if said affidavit was made by a

white person, and it shall be lawful for any freedman, free

Negro, or mulatto, in any action, suit, or controversy pend-

ing, or about to be instituted, in any court of law or equity

of this State, to make all needful and lawful affidavits, as

916 ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction

shall be necessary for the institution, prosecution or

defense of such suit or controversy.

(11) Be it further enacted, That the penal laws of this

State, in all cases not otherwise specially provided for, shall

apply and extend to all freedmen, free Negroes, and

mulattoes.

(12) Be it further enacted, That this act take effect and

be in force from and after its passage.

II. An Act

To regulate the relation of master and apprentice, as relates

to freedmen, free negroes, and mulattoes.

(1) Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of

Mississippi, That it shall be the duty of all sheriffs, justices

of the peace, and other civil officers of the several counties

in this State, to report to the probate courts of their

respective counties, semi-annually, at the January and July

terms of said courts, all freedmen, free Negroes, and

mulattoes, under the age of eighteen, within their respec-

tive counties, beats, or districts, who are orphans, or whose

parent or parents have not the means, or who refuse to

provide for and support said minors, and thereupon it shall

be the duty of said probate court, to order the clerk of said

court to apprentice said minors to some competent and

suitable person, on such terms as the court may direct,

inviting a particular care to the interest of said minor: Pro-

vided, that the former owner of said minors shall have the

preference, when in the opinion of the court, he or she

shall be a suitable person for that purpose.

(2) Be it further enacted, That the said court shall be

fully satisfied that the person or persons to whom said

minor shall be apprenticed, shall be a suitable person to

have the charge and care of said minor, and fully to protect

the interest of said minor. The said court shall require of

the said master or mistress to execute bond and security,

payable to the State of Mississippi, conditioned that he or

she shall furnish said minor with sufficient food and cloth-

ing, to treat said minor humanely, to furnish medical atten-

tion in case of sickness; teach or cause to be taught him or

her to read and write, if under fifteen years old, and will

conform to any law that may be hereafter passed for the

regulation of the duties and relation of master and appren-

tice: Provided, that said apprentice shall be bound by

indenture, in cases of males until they are twenty-one

years old, and in case of females until they are eighteen

years old.

(3) Be it further enacted, That in the management and

control of said apprentices, said master or mistress shall

have power to inflict such moderate corporeal chastise-

ment as a father or guardian is allowed to inflict on his or

her child or ward at common law: Provided, that in no case

shall cruel or inhuman punishment be inflicted.

(4) Be it further enacted, That if any apprentice shall

leave the employment of his or her master or mistress,

without his or her consent, said master or mistress may

pursue and recapture said apprentice, and bring him or her

before any justice of the peace of the county, whose duty

shall be to remand said apprentice to the service of his or

her master or mistress; and in the event of a refusal on the

part of said apprentice to return, then said justice shall

commit said apprentice to the jail of said county on failure

to give bond, until the next term of the county court; and it

shall be the duty of said court, at the first term thereafter,

to investigate said case, and if the court shall be of opinion

that said apprentice left the employment of his or her mas-

ter or mistress without good cause, to order him or her to

be punished, as provided for the punishment of hired

freedmen, as may be from time to time provided by law, for

desertion, until he or she shall agree to return to his or her

master or mistress: Provided, that the court may grant con-

tinuances, as in other cases; and provided, further, that if

the court shall believe that said apprentice had good cause

to quit his said master or mistress, the court shall discharge

said apprentice from said indenture, and also enter a judg-

ment against the master or mistress, for not more than one

hundred dollars, for the use and benefit of said apprentice,

to be collected on execution, as in other cases.

(5) Be it further enacted, That if any person entice

away any apprentice from his or her master or mistress, or

shall knowingly employ an apprentice, or furnish him or

her food or clothing, without the written consent of his or

her master or mistress, or shall sell or give said apprentice

ardent spirits, without such consent, said person so offend-

ing shall be deemed guilty of a high misdemeanor, and

shall, on conviction thereof before the county court, be

punished as provided for the punishment of persons entic-

ing from their employer hired freedmen, free Negroes, or

mulattoes.

(6) Be it further enacted, that it shall be the duty of all

civil officers of their respective counties to report any

minors within their respective counties, to said probate

court, who are subject to be apprenticed under the provi-

sions of this act, from time to time, as the facts may come

to their knowledge, and it shall be the duty of said court,

from time to time, as said minors shall be reported to them

or otherwise come to their knowledge, to apprentice said

minors as hereinbefore provided.

(7) Be it further enacted, That in case the master or

mistress of any apprentice shall desire, he or she shall have

the privilege to summon his or her said apprentice, to the

probate court, and thereupon, with the approval of the

court, he or she shall be released from all liability as mas-

ter of said apprentice, and his bond shall be cancelled, and

it shall be the duty of the court forthwith to re-apprentice

Reconstruction 917

said minor: and in the event any master of an apprentice

shall die before the close of the term of service of said

apprentice, it shall be the duty of the court to give the pref-

erence in re-apprenticing said minor to the widow, or

other member of said master’s family: Provided, that said

widow, or other member of said family shall be a suitable

person for that purpose.

(8) Be it further enacted, That in case any master or

mistress of any apprentice, bound to him or her under this

act, shall be about to remove, or shall have removed to any

other State of the United States by the laws of which such

apprentice may be an inhabitant thereof, the probate court

of the proper county may authorize the removal of such

apprentice to such State, upon the said master or mistress

entering into bond, with security, in a penalty to be fixed

by the judge, conditioned that said master or mistress will,

upon such removal, comply with the laws of such State in

such cases: Provided, that said master shall be cited to

attend the court at which such order is proposed to be

made, and shall have a right to resist the same by next

friend, or otherwise.

(9) Be it further enacted, That it shall be lawful for any

freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, having a minor child or

children, to apprentice the said minor child or children as

provided for by this act.

(10) Be it further enacted, That in all cases where the

age of the freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, cannot be

ascertained by record testimony, the judge of the county

court shall fix the age.

(11) Be it further enacted, That this act take effect and

be in force from after its passage.

III. An Act

To amend the vagrant laws of the State

(1) Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of

Mississippi, That all rogues and vagabonds, idle and dissi-

pated persons, beggars, jugglers, or persons practicing

unlawful games or plays, runaways, common drunkards,

common night-walkers, pilferers, lewd, wanton, or lascivi-

ous persons in speech or behavior, common railers and

brawlers, persons who neglect their calling or employ-

ment, misspend what they earn, or do not provide for the

support of themselves or their families or dependents, and

all other idle and disorderly persons, including all who

neglect all lawful business, or habitually misspend their

time by frequenting houses of ill-fame, gaming-houses, or

tippling shops, shall be deemed and considered vagrants

under the provisions of this act, and on conviction thereof

shall be fined not exceeding one hundred dollars, with all

accruing costs, and be imprisoned at the discretion of the

court not exceeding ten days.

(2) Be it further enacted, That all freedmen, free

Negroes, and mulattoes in this State, over the age of eigh-

teen years, found on the second Monday of January, 1866,

or thereafter, with no lawful employment or business, or

found unlawfully assembling themselves together either in

the day or night time, and all white persons so assembling

with freedmen, free Negroes, or mulattoes, or usually

associating with freedmen, free Negroes, or mulattoes on

terms of equality, or living in adultery or fornication with a

freedwoman, free Negro, or mulatto, shall be deemed

vagrants, and on conviction thereof, shall be fined not

exceeding, in the case of a freedman, free Negro, or

mulatto, fifty dollars, and a white man two hundred dol-

lars, and imprisoned at the discretion of the court, the free

Negro not exceeding ten days, and the white man not

exceeding six months.

(3) Be it further enacted, That all justices of the peace,

mayors and aldermen, of incorporated towns and cities of

the several counties in this State, shall have jurisdiction to

try all questions of vagrancy, in their respective towns,

counties and cities, and it is hereby made their duty, when-

ever they shall ascertain that any person or persons, in their

respective towns, counties and cities, are violating any of

the provisions of this act, to have said party or parties

arrested and brought before them, and immediately inves-

tigate said charge, and on conviction, punish said party or

parties as provided for herein. And it is hereby made the

duty of all sheriffs, constables, town constables, city mar-

shals and all like officers, to report to some officer having

jurisdiction, all violations of any of the provisions of this act;

and it shall be the duty of the county courts to inquire if any

officers have neglected any of the duties required by this

act, and in case any officer shall fail or neglect any duty

herein, it shall be the duty of the county court to fine said

officer upon conviction, not exceeding one hundred dollars,

to be paid into the county treasury for county purposes.

(4) Be it further enacted, That keepers of gaming

houses, houses of prostitution, all prostitutes public or pri-

vate, and all persons who derive their chief support in

employments that militate against good morals or against

law, shall be deemed and held to be vagrants.

(5) Be it further enacted, That all fines and forfeitures

collected under the provisions of this act shall be paid into

the county treasury for general county purposes, and in

case any freedman, free Negro, or mulatto shall fail for five

days after the imposition of any fine or forfeiture upon him

or her for violation of any of the provisions of this act, to

pay the same, that it shall be, and is hereby made the duty

of the sheriff of the proper county, to hire out said freed-

man, free Negro, or mulatto, to any person who will, for

the shortest period of service, pay said fine or forfeiture

and all costs: Provided, a preference shall be given to the

employer, if there be one, in which case the employer shall

be entitled to deduct and retain the amount so paid from

the wages of such freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, then

918 ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction

due or to become due; and in case such freedman, free

Negro, or mulatto cannot be hired out he or she may be

dealt with as a pauper.

(6) Be it further enacted, That the same duties and lia-

bilities existing among white persons of this State shall

attach to freedmen, free Negroes, and mulattoes, to sup-

port their indigent families, and all colored paupers; and

that in order to secure a support for such indigent freed-

men, free Negroes, and mulattoes, it shall be lawful, and it

is hereby made the duty of the boards of county police of

each county in this State, to levy a poll or capitation tax on

each and every freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, between

the ages of eighteen and sixty years, not to exceed the sum

of one dollar annually, to each person so taxed, which tax,

when collected, shall be paid into the county treasurer’s

hands, and constitute a fund to be called the Freedman’s

Pauper Fund, which shall be applied by the commission-

ers of the poor for the maintenance of the poor of the

freedmen, free Negroes, and mulattoes of this State, under

such regulations as may be established by the boards of

county police, in the respective counties of this State.

(7) Be it further enacted, That if any freedman, free

Negro, or mulatto shall fail, or refuse to pay any tax levied

according to the provisions of the sixth section of this act,

it shall be prima facie evidence of vagrancy, and it shall be

the duty of the sheriff to arrest such freedman, free Negro,

or mulatto, or such person refusing or neglecting to pay

such tax, and proceed at once to hire, for the shortest time,

such delinquent tax payer to any one who will pay the said

tax, with accruing costs, giving preference to the employer,

if there be one.

(8) Be it further enacted, That any person feeling

himself or herself aggrieved by the judgment of any justice

of the peace, mayor, or alderman, in cases arising under

this act, may, within five days, appeal to the next term of

the county court of the proper county, upon giving bond

and security in a sum not less than twenty-five, nor more

than one hundred and fifty dollars, conditioned to appear

and prosecute said appeal, and abide by the judgment of

the county court, and said appeal shall be tried deb novo

in the county court, and the decision of said court shall be

final.

IV. An Act

In Relation to Railroads and for other purposes

[. . .] (6) Be it further enacted, That it shall be unlaw-

ful for any officer, station agent, conductor, or employee

on any railroad in this State, to allow any freedman, Negro,

or mulatto, to ride in any first-class passenger cars, set

apart, or used by and for white persons; and any person

offending against the provision of this section, shall be

deemed guilty of a misdemeanor; and on conviction

thereof, before the circuit court of the county in which said

offence was committed, shall be fined not less than fifty

dollars, nor more than five hundred dollars; and shall be

imprisoned in the county jail, until such fine and costs of

prosecution are paid. Provided, that this section, of this

act, shall not apply, in the case of Negroes or mulattoes,

travelling with their mistresses, in the capacity of nurses.

V. An Act

To punish certain offences therein named and for

other purposes.

(1) Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of

Mississippi, That no freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, not

in the military service of the United States Government,

and not licensed so to do by the board of police of his or

her county, shall keep or carry fire-arms of any kind, or any

ammunition, dirk, or bowie knife, and on conviction

thereof, in the county court, shall be punished by fine, not

exceeding ten dollars, and pay the costs of such proceed-

ings, and all such arms or ammunition shall be forfeited to

the informer, and it shall be the duty of every civil and mil-

itary officer to arrest any freedman, free Negro, or mulatto

found with any such arms or ammunition, and cause him

or her to be committed for trial in default of bail.

(2) Be it further enacted, That any freedman, free

Negro, or mulatto, committing riots, routes, affrays, tres-

passes, malicious mischief, cruel treatment to animals,

seditious speeches, insulting gestures, language, or acts, or

assaults on any person, disturbance of the peace, exercis-

ing the function of a minister of the Gospel, without a

license from some regularly organized church, vending

spirituous or intoxicating liquors, or committing any other

misdemeanor, the punishment of which is not specifically

provided for by law, shall, upon conviction thereof, in the

county court, be fined, not less than ten dollars, and may

be imprisoned, at the discretion of the court, not exceed-

ing thirty days.

(3) Be it further enacted, That if any white person shall

sell, lend, or give to any freedman, free Negro, or mulatto,

any fire-arms, dirk, or bowie-knife, or ammunition, or any

spirituous or intoxicating liquors, such person or persons so

offending, upon conviction thereof, in the county court of

his or her county, shall be fined, not exceeding fifty dollars,

and may be imprisoned, at the discretion of the court, not

exceeding thirty days: Provided, that any master, mistress,

or employer of any freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, may

give to any freedman, free Negro, or mulatto, apprenticed

to or employed by such master, mistress, or employer, spir-

ituous or intoxicating liquors, but not in sufficient quanti-

ties to produce intoxication.

(4) Be it further enacted, That all the penal and crim-

inal laws now in force in this State, defining offences and

prescribing the mode of punishment for crimes and mis-

demeanors committed by slaves, free Negroes, or mulat-

Reconstruction 919

toes, be, and the same are, hereby reenacted, and declared

to be in full force and effect, against freedmen, free

Negroes, and mulattoes, except so far as the mode and

manner of trial and punishment have been changed or

altered by law.

(5) Be it further enacted, That if any freedman, free

Negro, or mulatto, convicted of any of the misdemeanors

provided against in this act, shall fail or refuse, for the

space of five days after conviction, to pay the fine and costs

imposed, such person shall be hired out by the sheriff or

other officer, at public outcry, to any white person who will

pay said fine and all costs, and take such convict for the

shortest time.

(6) Be it further enacted, That this act shall be in force

and take effect from and after its passage.

Amendments to the Constitution Articles

XIII, XIV, AND XV

RTICLE

XIII

ECLARED IN FORCE

, D

ECEMBER

18, 1865]

Section 1. 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 their jurisdiction.

Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this

article by appropriate legislation.

RTICLE

XIV

ECLARED IN FORCE

, J

ULY

23, 1868.]

Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United

States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens

of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.

No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge

the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United

States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, lib-

erty, or property without due process of law; nor deny to

any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of

the laws.

Section 2. Representatives shall be apportioned

among the several states according to their respective

numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each

state, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to

vote at any election for the choice of electors for President

and Vice-President of the United States, representatives in

Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or

the members of the legislature thereof, is denied to any of

the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years

of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way

abridged, except for participation in rebellion or other

crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced

in the proportion which the number of such male citizens

shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-

one years of age in such state.

Section 3. No person shall be a Senator or Represen-

tative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-Pres-

ident, or hold any office, civil or military, under the

United States, or under any state, who, having previously

taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer

of the United States, or as a member of any state legisla-

ture, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to

support the Constitution of the United States, shall have

engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or

given aid and comfort to the enemies thereof. But

Congress may, by a vote of two-thirds of each House,

remove such disability.

Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United

States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for pay-

ment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing

insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But nei-

ther the United States nor any state shall assume or pay

any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or

rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the

loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obli-

gations, and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5. The Congress shall have power to enforce,

by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

RTICLE

ECLARED IN FORCE

, M

ARCH

30, 1870.]

Section 1. The right of the citizens of the United States to

vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States

or by any state, on account of race, color, or previous con-

dition of servitude.

Section 2. The Congress shall have power to enforce

this article by appropriate legislation.

Source:

John A. Scott, ed., Living Documents in American History. Vol 1.

New York: Washington Square Press, 1964–1968, pp.

597–609.

________________________

_______________________

Black Codes (Louisiana), 1865

An Act

Relative to apprenticas and indentured servants.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of

Representatives of the State of Louisiana, in General

Assembly convened, That it shall be the duty of Sheriffs,

Justices of the Peace and other civil officers of this State,

to report to the Clerks of the District Courts of their

respective Parishes, and in the Parish of Orleans (left

bank) to the Mayor of the City of New Orleans, and on the

right bank to tee President of the Police Jury, on the first

Monday of each month, for each and every year, all per-

sons under the age of eighteen years, if females, and

920 ERA 5: Civil War and Reconstruction

twenty-one, if males, who are orphans, or whose parent,

parents, or tutor, have not the means, or who refuse to pro-

vide for and maintain said minors; and, thereupon, it shall

be the duty of the Clerks of the District Courts, Mayor and

President of the Police Jury aforesaid, to examine whether

the party or parties, so reported from time to time, come

within the purview and meaning of this Act, and if so, to

apprentice said minor or minors, in manner and form as

prescribed by the Civil Code of the State of Louisiana;

provided, that orphans coming under the provisions of this

Act shall be authorized to select said employers when they

have arrived at the age of puberty, unless they shall have

been previously apprenticed; provided, that nay indenture

of apprentice or indented servant, made before a Justice of

the Peace and two disinterested witnesses, and the original

deposited with and recorded by the Recorder of Mort-

gages for the Parish, in a book provided for that purpose,

shall be valid and binding on the parties, and when made

by the clerk, shall be also deposited with the Recorder of

Mortgages, and all expenses for passing said acts of inden-

ture shall be paid by the employer.

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, &c., That persons who

have attained the age of majority, whether in this State or

any other State of the United States, or in a foreign coun-

try, may bind themselves to services to be performed in this

country, for the term of five years, on such terms as they

may stipulate, as domestic servants and to work on farms,

plantations or in manufacturing establishments, which con-

tracts shall be valid and binding on the parties to the same.

Sec. 3. Be it further enacted, &c., That in all cases,

when the age of the minor cannot be ascertained by record

testimony, the Clerks of the District Courts, Mayor and

President of the Police Jury, or Justices of the Peace afore-

said, shall fix the age, according to the best evidence

before them.

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, &c., That all laws or parts

of laws conflicting with the provisions of this Act, be, and

the same are hereby repealed, and that this Act take effect

from and after its passage.

Source:

Acts Passed by the General Assembly of Louisiana, 1865, pp.

28–30.

________________________

_______________________

Mississippi Code of 1890, Sections 1276, 3562

Section 1276

The same, not providing separate cars, etc.—If any per-

sons or corporation operating a railroad shall fail to provide

two or more passenger-cars for each passenger-train, or to

divide the passenger-cars by a partition, to secure separate

accommodations for the white and colored races, as pro-

vided by law, or if any railroad passenger conductor shall

fail to assign each passenger to the car or the compartment

of the car used for the race to which the passenger

belongs, he or it shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, on

conviction, shall be fined not less than twenty dollars nor

more than five hundred dollars.

Section 3562

Equal but separate accommodations for the races.—Every

railroad carrying passengers in this state shall provide

equal but separate accommodations for the white and col-

ored races by providing two or more passenger-cars for

each passenger-train, or by dividing the passenger-cars by

a partition to secure separate accommodations; and the

conductor of such passenger-train shall have power, and is

required, to assign each passenger to the car, or the com-

partment of a car, used for the race to which such passen-

ger belongs; and should any passenger refuse to occupy

the car to which he or she is assigned by the conductor, the

conductor shall have power to refuse to carry such passen-

ger on the train, and for such refusal neither he nor the

railroad company shall be liable for damages in any court.

Source:

Annotated Code of the Public Statute Laws of the State of Missis-

sippi. Mississippi Legislature, 1890, pp. 371–797.

________________________

_______________________

Louisiana Act 64 of 1902

An Act

To promote the comfort of passengers on street railways,

requiring all street railways in this State to provide equal

but separate accommodations for the white and colored

races, by providing separate cars or compartments so as to

secure separate accommodations; defining the duties of the

officers of such street railways; directing them to assign pas-

sengers to the cars or compartments set aside for the use of

the races to which such passengers belong; authorizing them

to refuse to carry on their cars such passengers as may

refuse to occupy the car or compartment to which he or she

is assigned; to exonerate such street railway companies from

any or all blame and damages that might proceed or result

from such a refusal; to prescribe penalties for all violations

of this act; to put this act into effect ninety (90) days after its

promulgation; and to repeal all laws or parts of laws con-

trary to or inconsistent with the provisions of this act.

Section 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of

the State of Louisiana, That all street railway companies

carrying passengers in their cars in this State shall provide

equal but separate accommodations for the white and col-

ored races by providing two or more cars or by dividing

their cars by wooden or wire screen partitions so as to

Reconstruction 921