work of the Southern legislatures in 1865-1867 in the general area of attention to the enactment of laws affecting Negroes. This is understandable, for the black codes enacted within a year following the Civil War were the greatest concern of the Southern legislatures. They forecast, to a remarkable degree, the future attitude of former Confederates toward the place of the Negro in the South and in American life. While there were variations from state to state, they embodied some common features. They recognized the right of Negroes to hold property, to sue and be sued, and to have legal marriages and offspring. There were important qualifications, however: Negroes were competent witnesses only in cases where one or both parties were Negroes; Negroes who intermarried with whites were guilty of a felony, punishable by a long prison termK. (Franklin, 48)Other state laws and town ordinances were designed to maintain what the legislators considered due subordination of the freedmen. They were to handle no firearms or other weapons, and they were to possess no alcoholic beverages. In Opelousas, Louisiana, no Negro was allowed to come within the limits of the town wthout special permssion of his employer. Many communities required Negroes to be off the streets by a specified hour, while others had laws against Negroes using insulting gestures or exercising the function of a minister of the Gospel without a license. Most of the laws employed such terms as master and servant and clearly implied a distinction that consigned the Negro to a hopelessly inferior statusK (Franklin, 49) The Northern states basically supported the actions of the South allowing this occur and thus became a key element in establishing this newer form of racism. These Black codes were among one of their worst fears when readmitting the Southern states into the Union. Their concern with the Black codes dealt was politically motivated. They were threatened b...
