Humanities Homework Help

Read Chapter 15 and the information included in the Mississippi Black Code. Once all reading is complete, respond to the following item(s):

During Reconstruction, Black Codes were enacted in several former states in the Confederacy. A Republican-controlled Congress would later react to suppress these codes.

• What ultimately were these codes designed to do?
• Precisely how did the codes aim to accomplish these objectives?

Response

After the Union victory, Congress passed the Thirteenth Amendment which legally abolished slavery. Unfortunately, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated before the effects of Reconstruction could be truly felt. The rights of newly freed African Americans took a major hit when Andrew Jackson was thrust into the role of president as he quickly gave many rights back to the states. All of the southern states were forced to ratify the Thirteenth Amendment which legally ended slavery, but because Jackson allowed the states to have greater power they quickly wrote the “Black Codes” so that they could take back control over African Americans while still “upholding” the Thirteenth Amendment. The Black Codes were meant to regain social and economic control over African Americans while also governing their behaviors. The Black Codes have been referred to as “Slavery by another name.”

A specific example of how these codes were meant to regain control is the right of the sheriff to “enslave” arrested black men who could not pay their fines. Although the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery it included a loophole that allowed anyone willing to pay African American fines to force labor upon them in order to recuperate their money. The Black Codes used this loophole in order to profit from “legal” forced labor.