Black Codes Dbq

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The Black Codes were formed by the southern sates in 1865 to restrict African Americans freedom. Not only that but also to compel them to work in a labor based economy on low wages or debt. The black codes were also viewed as the whites trying to suppress African American slaves. There were many slave code and they varied from state to state but the usual ones were: they were prohibited from reading and writing, they could not posses weapons, leaving the plantation without owner permission would be a punishment or death , putting a hand on a white person no matter what the circumstance, even self defense against a white person, no trading amongst themselves, they could not drink in public within a mile of the master or public gatherings, whites …show more content…
The abolitionists that did respond to these codes would make escape routes and help free slaves. One well known abolitionist was Frederick Douglas, he was a former slave and was the first black citizen to have a government rank. He tried escaping from slavery twice and finally escaped. Another huge name in the abolitionist movement was William Lloyd Garrison, he was a huge part in this movement and started an abolitionist paper called “The Liberator”. These slave codes started to go away after the 14th and 15th amendments. The 14th amendment sated that any and all persons who are born in the united states are American citizens even the African Americans. The 15th amendment prohibits that each government in the united states from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen’s color, race, or previous condition of servitude. In the north the black codes, also know as the bloody anti black riots, lead to the radical reconstruction which is way the 14th and 15th amendments were added to the constitution. In 1865 the Freedman’s Bureau was made to help the freed