The Reconstruction Era: The Black Codes

The black codes were a series of laws enacted in 1865 and 1866 by the Southern states. They were created during the end of the Civil war and the beginning of the Reconstruction Era. 

These were public laws that restricted the civil rights of minorities.

The black codes restricted the rights for free black people to own property, conduct business, buy and lease land, and move freely through public spaces such as Southern towns.

Examples of these codes were:

White primary

Poll tax

Literacy tests

Property ownership required to vote

Grandfather clause

White primary was the practice of keeping African Americans from voting in Southern States' primaries through arbitrary use of registration requirements and intimidation.

These practices included: poll tax, which is where voters had to pay a fee in order to vote, literacy tests, which ensured that voters could read and write prior to voting and the requirement of property ownership in order to vote.

If any of these practices applied to whites, they would still be able to vote by using the Grandfather clause, which meant that anybody whose ancestors were able to vote prior to 1867 could vote regardless of the registrations.

The purpose of the black codes were to regain control over the freed slaves, inhibit the freedom of freed slaves, prevent black uprisings, ensure the continued supply of cheap labor, maintain segregation and to maintain white supremacy.

Links:

History: Black codes

PBS: Black codes

The Underground Railroad and Missouri Compromise

The Underground Railroad was not an actual railroad, it was rather a network of houses and buildings that were used to help slaves escape from the South to freedom in the Northern states or Canada. In my yes, the underground railroad was one big code, and every part had codenames. The "passengers" were the slaves that were fleeing from the South. The "conductors" were the guides that led the slaves from one stop to another. The "stations" and "depots" were areas where the escaping slaves could rest. Whether it was a barn or a secret area in a house, the slaves would hide there to remain safe. 

The Missouri Compromise was an agreement made to keep the balance of slave and free states equal. Missouri was added as a slave state and Maine was added as a free state in 1821.  The Kansas-Nebraska act supersede the Missouri Compromise and allowed the territories in that state to decide whether or not they desired to be a free or slave territory. This was based on popular sovereignty.

Links

History: The Underground Railroad

Wikipedia: The Underground Railroad

PBS: The Underground Railroad

Library: The Missouri Compromise

History: The Missouri Compromise