 An act concerning Servants and Slaves |
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Acts passed by the Virginia General Assembly reflected increasing racialization of the colonial legal code.
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| An Act Concerning Slaves and Servants |
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This act was one of several passed by the New York State Legislature relating to the gradual abolition of slavery. It details conditions for manumission and reiterates that any child born to an enslaved woman after July 4, 1799 would be born free, and establishes rules for the care of freedmen.
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| An act declaring the Negro, Mulatto, and Indian slaves within this dominion, to be real estate |
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Acts passed by the Virginia General Assembly reflected increasing racialization of the colonial legal code.
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| An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade |
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The Act abolishes the slave trade in and among British territories, but not the slave trade itself. This came at the same time the United States ended the slave trade, although Britain abolished all slavery several decades before the United States.
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| An Act for the Gradual Abolition of Slavery |
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This act was the first of several passed by the New York State Legislature relating to the gradual abolition of slavery. It declared that any child born to an enslaved woman after July 4, 1799 would be born free, provided that the child serve the enslaver of his or her mother until they reach the age of twenty-eight years and twenty-five years respectively.
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| An Act For the removal of restrictions from part of the lands of allottees of the Five Civilized Tribes, and for other purposes |
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This congressional act established Oklahoma county probate courts as the main arbiters of land held by allottees of the Five Tribes. In particular, minors, incompetents, and deceased members of the Five Tribes were targeted for guardian interventions in the probate courts.
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| An Act Further to Protect Personal Liberty |
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This Massachusetts personal liberty law aimed to counteract the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 by forbidding state-level judges and law enforcement officers from arresting or detaining any person "for the reason that he is claimed as a fugitive slave."
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| An Act in Relation to Female Suffrage |
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This act in Washington Territory specifically denied women the right to vote. Women were given the right to vote with the passage of the 19th Amendment, nearly 50 years later.
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| An Act making compensation to Messrs. Lewis and Clarke, and their companions |
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This Congressional act showed government interest in land appropriation. Exploration by white Americans laid foundations for tribal land dispossession.
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| An Act Relating to Woman Suffrage |
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This act proposed to amend the Constitution of Washington State to grant women suffrage rights. Washington was one of 12 states to grant women the right to vote prior to the adoption of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
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| An Act Relative to Slaves and Servants |
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This act was the last of several passed by the New York State Legislature relating to the gradual abolition of slavery. It set July 4, 1827, as the date of emancipation for enslaved people in the state who had been born before July 4, 1799.
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| An Act respecting slaves, free negroes and mulattoes |
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This Missouri law is one of the Black Codes designed to ensure white supremacy prior to the Civil War, limiting literacy and assembly for enslaved people as well as preventing interstate travel for free Black people.
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| An Act to Adopt the Negroes of the Chickasaw Nation |
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This tribal law, which was adopted by the Chickasaw Nation on January 10, 1873, called for the adoption of Chickasaw Freedmen as citizens of the Chickasaw Nation. The law included three primary stipulations for the adoption of Chickasaw Freedmen as tribal citizens: first, that Chickasaw Freedmen be excluded from any financial interests in the $300,000 the tribe would receive and any other tribal invested funds or claims; second, that despite these exclusions from monetary benefits, Chickasaw Freedmen be considered fully subject to the "jurisdiction and laws" of the Chickasaw Nation; and third, that the law would go into effect after being approved "by the proper authority of the United States." The law would not be approved by the U.S. Congress until 1894.
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| An Act to Amend "An Act Relative to Crime and Punishment" |
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This Indiana state statute regarding abortion reflects the diverse landscape of abortion law in the nineteenth century. This law punished individuals for helping pregnant women obtain a miscarriage.
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| An Act to Authorize the Sale of Certain Lands to the State of Oklahoma |
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This law authorized the state of Oklahoma to buy land once under the control of tribal nations, as the U.S. government resolved to terminate the special trustee relationship tribes held with the United States, further eroding tribal sovereignty.
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| An Act to continue in force and to amend "An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees,'' and for other Purposes |
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This act of Congress extended the Freedmen's Bureau until 1868. The Freedmen's Bureau was established during Reconstruction to manage the affairs of the formerly enslaved and refugees from the Civil War. President Andrew Johnson vetoed the bill, but the veto was overridden by Congress.
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| An Act to enable persons held in slavery, to sue for their freedom |
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This territorial statute presented an opportunity for enslaved people to sue for their freedom in Louisiana Territory courts. It also specified how petitioners were to be treated by defendants while the freedom suit was being heard.
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| An act to enable the President of the United States to take possession of the territories ceded by France to the United States |
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This federal law allowed the United States to ratify the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, and reflected United States ambitions toward empire, while ignoring critical issues regarding the incorporation of Native nations.
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| An Act to establish a Bureau for the Relief of Freedmen and Refugees |
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This act of Congress created the Freedmen's Bureau in order to provide aid and support to the formerly-enslaved people across the South.
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| An Act to Grant to the Women of Wyoming Territory the Right of Suffrage and to Hold Office |
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Wyoming was the first state to grant women suffrage rights. This act was the first in the world to grant women the right to vote and access to holding public office. It came 50 years before the 19th Amendment that guaranteed women's suffrage to the entire United States. Wyoming was the first of 15 states to grant women suffrage rights prior to the passage of the 19th Amendment.
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| An Act to Prevent Kidnapping |
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This act is Pennsylvania's first personal liberty law. It was written to counteract the Fugitive Slave Act of 1793 and preserve the ability of free Black people to live in Pennsylvania. The act made kidnapping any Black person a felony punishable by large fines and lengthy imprisonment. It also fined any state official that took cognizance of the case of "any fugitive from labor."
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| An Act to Prevent the Immigration of Free Negroes into this State |
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This Illinois law was prohibited African Americans from moving into the state. Part of the series of laws known as Black Codes, this law and others like it intended to ensure racial inequality prior to the Civil War. Black people who resided in the state for longer than ten days could face arrest, fines, and sale by auction. Any white citizen who reported their presence was given half of the fine paid by the Black person.
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| An Act to provide for designation by cities and towns of segregation districts for residence of white and colored persons |
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Acts passed by the Virginia General Assembly reflected race-neutral language of the legal code after the Civil War. Application of these statutes resulted in entrenched Jim Crow segregation.
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| An Act To provide for the appointment of additional judges of the United States court in the Indian Territory, and for other purposes |
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This excerpted congressional act reorganized the federal court system in Indian Territory. The establishment of United States courts worked to undermine tribal judicial systems by asserting broad federal authority over regional criminal and civil disputes.
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| An Act To provide for the care and support of insane persons in the Indian Territory |
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This act weaponized Western medical diagnoses against tribal citizens in Indian Territory for the purpose of incarceration and confinement. Nearly four hundred Native people, from fifty different nations, were confined to the Canton Asylum during its operation from 1902-1934.
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