A Summary of Legislative Acts of Virginia Concerning Negroes
From Earliest Times to the Present
by
June Purcell Guild, LL.M Compiled by Karen Hughes White and
Joan Peters
Afro-American Historical Association of Fauquier County, 1996
With permission from the Afro-American
Historical Association
Laws That Pertain to the Civil War,
an Excerpt
1836. Resolution No. 1. This resolution,
relative to the interference of certain associations in the
Northern States with domestic slavery in the South, states
that this Commonwealth only has the right to control domestic
slavery within its limits and will maintain this right at
all hazards and calls on co-states to restrain and punish
their citizens who form abolition societies. Furthermore,
Congress has no power to abolish slavery in the District of
Columbia or territories of the United States and any act having
for its object the abolition of slavery therein would afford
just cause of alarm to the slave-holding states and bring
the Union into imminent peril.
1860. Resolution No. 31. This paper is adopted
in response to the request of South Carolina and Mississippi
for a conference of Southern States: the General Assembly
recognizes an imperative necessity for decisive measures in
our present relations with non-slave-holding states, but does
not yet distrust the capacity of the Southern States by a
wise and firm exercise of their reserved power to protect
the rights and liberties of the people, and to preserve the
Federal Union. We earnestly desire the concurrent action of
the Southern States, but submit to South Carolina and Mississippi
and all our sister states of the South that efficient co-operation
will be more safely obtained by such direct legislative action
of the several states, as may be necessary, than through the
agency of an assemblage which can exercise no legitimate power,
except to debate and advise.
1860. Chapter 425. This is an act to compensate
Andrew Hunter, of Charlestown, in the amount of $1,500.00
for his legal services in prosecution against John Brown and
others connected with the recent outrage at Harpers Ferry.
1861. Resolution No.1 passed January 8.
The government of the Union has no power to declare war against
any of the states, and when any one of the states shall determine
under existing circumstances to withdraw from the Union, we
are unalterably opposed to any attempt on the part of the
federal government to coerce the same into reunion or re-submission
and we will resist the same by all means in our power.
1861. Ordinance No. 1. The people of Virginia
do declare and ordain that the ratification of the constitution
of the United States is hereby repealed, and the union of
Virginia and the other states under the aforesaid Constitution
is hereby dissolved, to take affect when ratified by a majority
of the votes of the people on the fourth Thursday in May,
next; done in convention at Richmond, April 17, 1861.
1861. Ordinance No. 9. The governor of Virginia
is authorized to call volunteers into the service of the state
to repel invasion and protect the citizens of the state; passed
April 17.
1865. Chapter XX. The session of the Virginia
Assembly convening at Alexandria ratifies the thirteenth amendment
to the Constitution of the United States abolishing slavery.
1866. Resolution No. 1. Resolved by the
General Assembly of Virginia that the people of the Commonwealth
cordially approve the policy pursued by Andrew Johnson, President
of the United States, in the reorganization of the Union.
We accept the result of the late contest and do not desire
to renew what has been so conclusively determined. Involuntary
service, except for crime, is abolished and ought not to be
re-established; the Negro race among us should be treated
with justice, humanity and good faith.
1866. Chapter 17. The following acts are
repealed: All acts relating to slaves and slavery, and free
Negroes.
1867. Chapter 46. On January 9th the Assembly
ratifies the proposed 14th Amendment to the Constitution of
the United States state that all persons born or naturalized
in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof
are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein
they reside; and no state shall abridge the privileges of
citizens of the United States, nor deprive any person of life,
liberty or property without due process of law, not deny any
persons the equal protection of the law.
1871. Chapter 57. All male citizens twenty-one
to sixty years of age, entitled to vote and hold office, shall
be liable to serve as jurors, except persons convicted of
scandalous offense, or those guilty of gross immorality. The
judge shall prepare a list of inhabitants as he shall think
well qualified to serve, being persons of sound judgment.
1874. Chapter I. The General Assembly recognizes
the 14th amendment to the constitution of the United States
as part of that instrument and desires in good faith to abide
by its provisions as expounded by the Supreme Court of the
United States. That tribunal recently held that it is only
the privileges and immunities of the citizens of the United
States that are placed under the protection of the Constitution
and privileges of the citizens of the state are not intended
to have any additional protection.
The bill before Congress, known as the civil rights bill,
is in violation of this amendment. It is an infringement on
the constitutional powers of the state; it is sectional in
its operation and injurious alike to the white and colored
population of the Southern States; its enforced application
in these states will prove destructive of their systems of
education, arrest the enlightenment of the colored population
(in whose improvement the people of Virginia feel a lively
interest), and produce continual irritation between the races.
|
Friendly
Version