ipl-logo

Freedmen In The Mississippi Vagrant Law

742 Words3 Pages

After the Civil War, slaves were now getting ready to experience a new life as freedmen. What most of the freedmen were not expecting, was that this transition would not be that different than the life they were already living before as slaves. The South was not ready to accept the fact that freedmen were equal to whites, and this would affect the way freedmen lived and how they were treated. Freedmen had new laws to protect them and to make them equal among the whites. By law freedmen were now allowed to vote, issued equal protection of the laws, and they were granted citizenship, but would this be the reality that freedmen would experience in the South? During the time of Reconstruction, freedmen began to move to more urban environments. …show more content…

This law states that “any freedman with no lawful employment or found unlawfully acting together, and all whites assembling themselves with the freedmen on terms of equality, or living in adultery with freed women, shall be named vagrants and be fined a sum of money and imprisoned at the discretion of the court (544).” The Vagrant Law paints a picture of separation between whites and blacks. If freedmen could not pay the fine (which almost all freedmen could not) “the freedmen would be hired out to a person until the freedman could pay off the fine at all costs (544).” With this law, white leaders could easily bring freedmen back into a different form of slavery because the freedmen did not have a choice. This goes back to the 14th Amendment of the United States. The 14th Amendment states that “anyone born or naturalized in the United States was granted citizenship and prohibited any state from allowing any citizen to be denied civil rights and equal protection of the law (538).” All laws created in the South were completely illegal, but without the proper government supporters, these laws would be allowed in the South. The Mississippi Vagrant Law violates the 14th Amendment and was just another form of black codes and segregation between blacks and

Show More
Related
740 Words | 3 Pages

However, in years to come the way of life would soon change for African Americans. Slave laws were passed denying their freedom. Although, this would eventually

Read More
1436 Words | 6 Pages

Previously indentured servants now had more freedom in America than before when Britain was still in control. However, the same freedoms did not extend to some of the slaves. While slavery was being abolished in the North, the South still held onto the idea of slavery. This caused the North to draw “a line across the new nation, creating the dangerous division between free and slave states” (241). While some free slaves were able to receive more liberties than before, the slaves in the South still lacked the freedom other men had.

Read More
256 Words | 2 Pages

The Black Codes were legal codes set into place, primarily by the Southern states, in the interest of opposing the reality of free colored slaves. Essentially, the Black Codes were passed as a means of dealing with the situation regarding the emancipation of slaves. The Black Codes dealt with vagrancy, apprenticeship, labor contracts, and civil & legal rights. In regards to the laws of vagrancy, each state expressed their definition of the word “vagrant.” These definitions, as well as other laws, sometimes specifically applied to colored people, or as most of the time, they were stated in general terms that were intended to fit the “Negro’s condition” and to be enforced with regard to colored people.

Read More
4323 Words | 18 Pages

The Mississippi Constitution of 1890 was created fourteen years after the end of Reconstruction in the South and helped usher in the Jim Crow era that would proceed almost a century after. The constitution had many different sections, but a main concern at the time was the uniform poll tax, literacy tests, and the Grandfather clause, which would disfranchise most African Americans and many whites as well. The nation had different ideas on suffrage and who should be able to vote since the end of the war. Certain events would follow that would limit more of the freedoms of African Americans as well.

Read More
722 Words | 3 Pages

While the American revolution created the United States, the Civil War determined what kind of nation it would be. Fundamentally there was one question left unresolved by the revolution: would the United States, born under the declaration that all men were created equal, continue to be one of the largest slaveholding countries in the world. Between 1775 and 1830, slaves in the north gained their freedom while the institution of slavery became more entrenched in the South; both free blacks and slaves faced challenges during this time period and they responded through religious fervor, political writings, and rebellion. To begin, religious excitement throughout the South is an important attribute to the ideology behind slavery.

Read More
540 Words | 3 Pages

The Civil War, ignited by the dispute over slavery, led to a new era of rebuilding and instituting new beliefs: The Reconstruction Era. In this new Chapter of American history, the nation attempted to abide for their wrongs against African-Americans marking the beginning of their long journey to becoming a full citizen. Through the following amendments freedmen gained full citizenship and voting rights. Though that was the claim they still were discriminated against by citizens and even a few in the government. Though the reconstruction amendments did abolish slavery, they failed to grant freedmen full citizen rights and the ability to vote.

Read More
784 Words | 4 Pages

Southern states were required to ratify the Fourteenth Amendment in order to be eligible for readmission into the Union. In June 1868, seven ex-Confederate states voted to ratify the amendment, and the amendment finally passed.” ( yahoo) . “ The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of recently freed slaves. It did this by granting citizenship to anyone born in the United States and prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or immunities of citizens of the U.S., depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

Read More
972 Words | 4 Pages

The law stated that if anyone was caught helping an escaped slave they would either be heavily fined or put in jail. One of the many issues Northerners had with this law was that a white man could take any black man, escaped or free, and claim him as his slave. Black men also could not testify for themselves to try to prove they were free, it was completely up to the judge to decide

Read More
839 Words | 4 Pages

This would initially keep southerners from revoking the laws if they ever happened to win control of Congress. In June of 1866, Congress proposed the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment acknowledges federal and state citizenship for persons born in the United States. It forbade any state to lessen the “privileges and immunities” of citizenship, which targeted a section in the Black Codes. It forbid any state to strip any person of life, liberty, or property without “due process of law.”

Read More
202 Words | 1 Pages

During the Civil War, both Northerners and Southerners debated what the status of African Americans would be after the war. With the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the passing of the 13th amendment in 1865, it became unclear as to where African Americans stood both in government and in society. While neither Northerners nor Southerners perceived enslaved African Americans and whites as equals, Northerners did recognize that African Americans were citizens not property. Northerners did recognize African Americans as citizens, whereas Southerners did not.

Read More
564 Words | 3 Pages

Additionally, the 14th Amendment, set forth in 1968, in direct opposition to the Confederate state’s Black Codes (a set of laws/rules that restricted African Americans’ rights; some of these rules include, “No negro shall be allowed to come within the limits of the town of Opelousas without special permission from his employers”, and that “No negro shall be permitted to rent or keep a house within the limits of the town under any circumstances”), granted unabridged citizenship to all African Americans. This Amendment, however, was not specific enough on its demands, allowing the Supreme Court to rule that while the state couldn’t violate the Amendment, the Amendment did not pertain to individuals, which in turn protected extremist groups like the Klu Klux

Read More
1099 Words | 5 Pages

When President Abraham Lincoln declared “...all persons held as a slave are henceforward free,” he intended for all citizens, regardless of race, to have all rights given to Americans under the constitution. However, up until the 1960’s, this was prohibited by Jim Crow laws. These laws were state and local rules that enforced segregation and discrimination between races. Consequently, racial tension grew among communities. This hostile mood is often seen as an important aspect of southern culture in the 1930’s.

Read More
477 Words | 2 Pages

The road to equality for African Americans has always been a bumpy one and still continues to this day. Using hindsight, historians determined that the Civil War and Reconstruction were vital to the fight for equality in the United States, despite the steps that the states took to keep African Americans segregated from society through Black Codes and Jim Crow laws. With the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments being written into the Constitution during the Reconstruction period as a result of the Civil War, slaves were finally seen as people rather than property. Though the Reconstruction after the Civil War did not create a society where Black people weren't oppressed, this period in time still made significant progress toward creating a more equal society.  

Read More
867 Words | 4 Pages

The 14th amendment is split into five sections. Section one is the most important of them all and it states, “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, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” (The Constitution 2014). However it was put to test in the south early on.

Read More
964 Words | 4 Pages

Although the slaves may legally be free, this new law could not, and did not, change the southerners view towards African Americans. According to the law, African Americans could no longer be slaves, nonetheless the white American people still look at them as inferior. This

Read More

More about Freedmen In The Mississippi Vagrant Law

Related Topics

Open Document