Nothing But Freedom

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by the former slaves. Generally, blacks were accorded the right to acquire and own property, marry, make contracts, sue and be sued, and testify in court cases involving persons of their own color. But the main focus of the laws was labor. (49)

Other than these codes, the great experiment of emancipation in a republic was new and aimed to be optimistic. In America, African Americans demanded full participation in the political life of the nation. Nowhere else in the world did blacks achieve a comparable degree of political influence after the end of slavery. State and local government in America became a battleground between contending social classes, including black laborers. In this Radical Reconstruction, the role of the state was transformed and the freedmen won, in the vote, a form of leverage their counterparts in other societies did not possess (46).
The remnants of the Black Codes had been repealed during Radical Reconstruction and laws were passed to protect blacks ...

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