Page:Race distinctions in American Law (IA racedistinctions00stepiala).pdf/59

 slaves who remained in the Commonwealth more than twelve months after they became actually free, should forfeit their freedom and be reduced to slavery under such regulations as the law might prescribe. The free Negro was truly between the devil and the deep sea. If he stayed in the State, he would be reënslaved; if he went to a free State, he would be liable to prosecution there for violating the laws against the immigration of free persons of color.

As one turns to the first laws passed by the Southern States after Emancipation, he should keep in mind that these States were only grappling with the old problem of the free Negro, now on a much larger scale, which problem the free States had disposed of already in the manner just seen. As yet, the Southern States had no conception of the Negro as a citizen with inalienable rights to be recognized and protected. For instance, the Constitution of Mississippi[17] of 1832, as amended August 1, 1865, abolished slavery and empowered the legislature to make laws for the protection and security of the persons and property of freedmen, and to guard "them and the State against any evils that may arise from their sudden emancipation." And the laws of South Carolina,[18] of the same year, provided that, "although such persons [Negroes] are not entitled to social or political equality with white persons," they might hold property, make contracts, etc. except as hereinafter modified.