Читать книгу Race Distinctions in American Law - Gilbert Thomas Stephenson - Страница 19

Table of Contents

These statutes of 1865–68 are here called the “Black Laws.” This term was first applied to the laws of the border and Northern States passed before and up to the Civil War to fix the position of free persons of color. It is well to make a cursory examination of these laws of the free States, because they are prototypes of many of the statutes enacted by the Southern States while unhampered by Federal legislation. All the States, North as well as South, had previously faced the problem of the free Negro and made laws concerning him. Naturally, therefore, the South, now that all its Negroes were declared free, turned for precedents to the other States which had already had experience with the free Negro.

The following are some of the statutes that had been enacted with regard to free Negroes by States lying outside of what was later the Confederacy:

Maryland,^[56] in 1846, denied Negroes, slave or free, the right to testify in cases in which any white person was concerned, though it permitted the testimony of slaves against free Negroes. The Constitution^[57] of 1851 forbade the legislature to pass any law abolishing the relation of master and servant.

Delaware,^[58] in 1851, prohibited the immigration of free Negroes from any State except Maryland: moreover, it forbade them to attend camp meetings, except for religious worship under the control of white people, or political gatherings. A law of 1852 provided that no free Negroes should have the right to vote or “to enjoy any other rights of a freeman other than to hold property, or to obtain redress in law and in equity for any injury to his or her person or property.”

Missouri,^[59] in 1847, forbade the immigration into the State of any free Negro; enacted that no person should keep a school for the instruction of Negroes in reading and writing; forbade any religious meetings of Negroes unless a justice of the peace, constable, or other officer was present; and declared that schools and religious meetings for free Negroes were “unlawful assemblages.”

Ohio, which probably had the most notorious “Black Laws” of any free State, “required colored people to give bonds for good behavior as a condition of residence, excluded them from the schools, denied them the rights of testifying in courts of justice when a white man was party on either side, and subjected them to other unjust and degrading disabilities.”^[60]

Indiana,^[61] in 1851, prohibited free Negroes and mulattoes from coming into the State, and fined all persons who employed or encouraged them to remain in the State between ten and five hundred dollars for each offense.^[62] The fines were to be devoted to a fund for the colonization of Negroes.^[63] A law, which was submitted to a special vote and passed by a majority of ninety thousand, prohibited intermarriage between the races, provided for colonization of Negroes, and made incompetent the testimony of persons having one-eighth or more Negro blood.^[64]

Illinois,^[65] in 1853, made it a misdemeanor for a Negro to come into the State with the intention of residing there, and provided that persons violating this law should be prosecuted and fined or sold for a time to pay the fine.^[66]

Iowa,^[67] in 1851, forbade the immigration of free Negroes,^[68] and provided that free colored persons should not give testimony in cases in which a white man was a party.

Oregon,^[69] in 1849, forbade the entrance of Negroes as settlers or inhabitants, the reason being that it would be dangerous to have them associate with the Indians and incite the latter to hostility against white people.

This sketch of the “Black Laws” of some of the free States, incomplete as it is, is sufficient to show how those States regarded free Negroes. First, they tried to keep Negroes out; and, secondly, they subjected those that remained to various disabilities. When the first Civil Rights Bill was before Congress, the strongest opposition to its passage was on the ground that it would compel the free States to repeal these “Black Laws” and allow Negroes to intermarry with whites, attend the same schools, sit on juries, vote, bear firearms,^[70] etc. The free Negro constituted a distinct class between the slave and the master, his condition being more nearly that of a slave.

The Southern States had been afraid of the free Negro. He was a sort of irresponsible being, neither bond nor free, who was likely to spread and foster discontent among the slaves. When a slave was emancipated, it was desired that he leave the State forthwith. Thus, the Virginia Constitution^[71] of 1850 provided that emancipated slaves who remained in the Commonwealth more than twelve months after they became actually free, should forfeit their freedom and be reduced to slavery under such regulations as the law might prescribe. The free Negro was truly between the devil and the deep sea. If he stayed in the State, he would be reënslaved; if he went to a free State, he would be liable to prosecution there for violating the laws against the immigration of free persons of color.

As one turns to the first laws passed by the Southern States after Emancipation, he should keep in mind that these States were only grappling with the old problem of the free Negro, now on a much larger scale, which problem the free States had disposed of already in the manner just seen. As yet, the Southern States had no conception of the Negro as a citizen with inalienable rights to be recognized and protected. For instance, the Constitution of Mississippi^[72] of 1832, as amended August 1, 1865, abolished slavery and empowered the legislature to make laws for the protection and security of the persons and property of freedmen, and to guard “them and the State against any evils that may arise from their sudden emancipation.” And the laws of South Carolina,^[73] of the same year, provided that, “although such persons [Negroes] are not entitled to social or political equality with white persons,” they might hold property, make contracts, etc. except as hereinafter modified.