SLAVERY, CANADA, AND THE LAW DEFINITIONS SLAVERY, CANADA, AND THE LAW

Slave Code Laws Slave codes were laws each US state or colony had that defined the status of slaves and the rights of masters; the code gave slave owners near-absolute power over the right of their human property. Virtually all codes barred slaves from bringing court suits in their own behalf in court, their testimony was inadmissible in cases involving whites severely limited their rights as defendants in criminal cases subjected them to heavier punishments than whites

Slave Code Laws-cont’d All codes basically said that slaves could make no contract nor own any property they could not strike a white person, even if attacked by one they could not be away from their owner's premises without permission they could not assemble unless a white person was present they could not be taught to read or write they could not marry

Slave Code Laws-cont’d The codes authorized masters to use force against slaves in ways that would have constituted assault, battery, and manslaughter (but not willful murder) if used against a free person.

Black Codes Slavery ended after the Civil War and the passing of the Thirteenth Amendment. Soon after, the Southern states replaced their Slave Codes with the Black Codes. It was still believed that Blacks were inferior. The Codes were intended to keep the south’s cheap supply of labor, the recently emancipated slave

Black Codes Most Black codes permitted the “Negro” to sue and testify in court in cases only involving “Negroes”. Blacks were allowed to own only certain types of property. Marriages were made legal. But, Blacks could not bear arms.

Fourteenth Amendment Northerners were outraged with the enactment of these southern Black Codes. They reacted by passing Radical Reconstruction legislation and the Fourteenth Amendment (1868). Reconstruction did away with the Black Codes. Section 1 of the Fourteenth Amendment was really important in many civil rights cases involving the American Black. This section stated that:

Fourteenth Amendment “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.”

However… Nowadays people believe that this section of the Fourteenth Amendment protects all the basic civil rights of any American citizen. But this wasn’t always the case for the American Black For example, segregation was allowed to exist , even in the Washington, D.C. public schools which were under the direct control of Congress. In fact, the writers of the Fourteenth Amendment didn’t feel that this amendment even protected the black man’s basic civil right to vote, so the Fifteenth Amendment was adopted in 1870 to guarantee this right.

Jim Crow laws The name “Jim Crow” is believed to have come from a minstrel routine known originally as “Jump Jim Crow.” The author of this routine was Thomas Dartmouth, “Daddy Rice.” This minstrel routine began being performed in 1828. The term “Jim Crow” came to be a derogatory name for the American Black and represented their segregated life

Jim Crow-cont’d The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws in the United States enacted between 1876 and 1965. They mandated segregation in all public facilities, with a "separate but equal" status for Black Americans and members of other non-white racial groups

Jim Crow-cont’d Some examples of Jim Crow laws are the segregation of public schools, public places and public transportation, and the segregation of restrooms and restaurants for whites and blacks. The U.S. military was segregated. These Jim Crow Laws were separate from the 1800-66 Black Codes, which had also restricted the civil rights and civil liberties of African Americans