United States Slavery Laws and Restrictions
| YEAR | LEGAL & SOCIAL RESTRICTIONS IN SOUTHERN STATES | PURPOSE OF RESTRICTION |
| 1619 | Maryland Segregation Policy | Recommended that Black be Socially excluded |
| 1642 | Virginia Fugitive Law | Authorized branding of an in the face of runaway slaves |
| 1686 | Carolina Trade Law | Barred Blacks from all trades |
| 1691 | Virginia Marriage Law | Prescribed banishment for any white woman marrying a Black |
| 1710 | Virginia Public Office Law | Prohibited Blacks from holding or assuming any public office |
| 1712 | South Carolina Fugitive Slave Act | Criminalized runaway slaves to protect owners investment |
| 1715 | North Carolina Anti-interracial | Forbade and criminalized Black and White marriages |
| 1717 | South Carolina Anti-interracial Marriage Law | Forbade and criminalized Black and White marriages |
| 1723 | Virginia Weapons Law | Forbade Blacks from keeping weapons |
| 1740 | South Carolina Consolidated Slave Act | Forbade slaves from raising or owning farm animals |
| 1775 | Virginia Runaway Law | Allowed sale or execution of slaves attempting to flee |
| 1775 | North Carolina Manumission Law | Forbade freeing slaves except for meritorious services |
| 1790 | First Naturalization Law | Congress declares United States a white nation |
| 1792 | Federal Militia Law | Restricted peace time military enrollment to whites only |
| 1793 | Fugitive Slave Law | Discouraged slaves from running away; protected owners invested capital |
| 1793 | Virginia Migration | Forbade free Blacks from entering the State |
| 1806 | Louisiana Migration Law | Forbade immigration for free Black males over 15 years old |
| 1809 | Congressional Mail Law | Excluded Blacks from carrying U.S. mail |
| 1811 | Kentucky Conspiracy Law | Made conspiracy among slaves a capital offense |
| 1813 | Virginia Poll Tax | Exacted a $1.50 tax on Blacks who were forbidden to vote |
| 1814 | Louisiana Migration Law | Prohibited free Blacks from entering the State |
| 1815 | Virginia Poll Tax | Required free Blacks to pat a $2.50 tax so whites could vote |
| 1816 | Louisiana Jury Law | Provided that no Blacks slave could testify against a White person |
| 1819 | Missouri Literacy Law | Forbade assembling or teaching Black slaves to read or write |
| 1820 | South Carolina Migration Law | Prohibited free Blacks from entering the State |
| 1826 | North Carolina Migration Law | Forbade entry of free Blacks; violators fined $500 |
| 1827 | Florida Voting Law | Restricted Voting to whites |
| 1829 | Georgia Literacy Law | Provided fine and imprisonment for teaching a Black person to read |
| 1830 | Louisiana Expulsion Law | Required all free Blacks to leave State within 60 days |
| 1830 | Mississippi Employment Law | Forbade Blacks employment in printing and entertainment |
| 1830 | Kentucky Property Tax Law | Taxed Blacks; Forbade their voting or attending school |
| 1831 | North Carolina License Law | Required all Black traders and peddlers to be license |
| 1831 | South Carolina enacted Licensing Prohibition | Free Blacks were denied any kind of a business license |
| 1832 | Mississippi Preaching Law | Forbade Blacks to preach except with permission |
| 1832 | Alabama and Virginia Literacy Law | Fined and flogged whites for teaching Blacks to read or write |
| 1833 | Georgia Literacy Law | Provided fines and whippings for teaching Blacks |
| 1833 | Georgia Employment Law | Prohibited Blacks from working in reading or writing jobs |
| 1833 | Kentucky Licensing Prohibition | No free person of color could obtain a business license |
| 1835 | Missouri Registration Law | Required the registration and bonding of all free Blacks |
| 1835 | Georgia Employment Law | Prohibited employing Blacks in drug stores |
| 1837 | South Carolina Curfew Law | Required Blacks to be off the street by a certain hour |
| 1838 | Virginia School of Law | Forbade Blacks who had gone North to school to return |
| 1838 | North Carolina Marriage Law | Declared void all interracial marriages to 3rd generation |
| 1841 | South Carolina Observing Law | Forbade Blacks and Whites from looking out the same window |
| 1844 | South Carolina Amusement Law | Prohibited Blacks from playing games with Whites |
| 1845 | Georgia Contracting Law | Prohibited contracts with Black mechanics |
| 1846 | Kentucky Incitement Law | Provided imprisonment for inciting slaves to rebel |
| 1847 | Missouri Literacy Law | Prohibited teaching Blacks to read or write |
| 1848 | Virginia Incitement Law | Provided death penalty for advising slaves to rebel |
| 1850 | Fugitive Slave Law Enacted | Stronger enforcement provisions |
| 1852 | Georgia Tax Law | Imposed a $5 per capita tax on free Blacks |
| 1853 | Virginia Poll Tax Law | Levied tax on all free Blacks 21 to 55 years old |
| 1856 | Virginia Drug Law | Forbade selling poisonous drugs to Blacks |
| 1857 | Dred Scott Decision | Supreme Court dehumanized and disenfranchised Blacks |
| 1868 | Southern Blacks Codes | Deprived Blacks of right to vote and hold public office |
| 1883 | Civil Rights Law of 1875 Weakened | Supreme Court challenges the constitutionality of the law |
| 1898 | The Grandfather Clause | Deprived Blacks of the right to vote in Louisiana |
| YEAR | LEGAL & SOCIAL RESTRICTIONS IN NORTHERN STATES | PURPOSE OF RESTRICTION |
| 1660 | Connecticut Military Law | Barred Blacks from military service |
| 1664 | Maryland Marriage Law | Enactment of the first anti-interracial marriage statute |
| 1667 | British Plantation Act | Established codes of conduct for slaves and slaveholders |
| 1705 | Massachusetts Anti-Miscegenation Law | Criminalized interracial marriages |
| 1721 | New York Runaway Law | Prescribed execution for recaptured runaway slaves |
| 1722 | Pennsylvania Anti-Miscegenation Law | Criminalized interracial marriages |
| 1784 | Connecticut Military Law | Forbade Blacks from serving in the militia |
| 1800 | Maryland Agricultural Laws | Prohibited Blacks from raising and selling agricultural products |
| 1804 | Ohio Mobility Law | Enacted Black Laws that restricted Blacks, movement |
| 1804 | Ohio Registration Law | Required Blacks to register annually and post a bond |
| 1805 | Maryland Licensure Law | Forbade Blacks from selling tobacco or corn without a license |
| 1807 | Maryland Residence Law | Limited residence of entering free Blacks to 2 weeks |
| 1810 | Delaware Migration Law | Forbade migration of Blacks; levied $10 per week fine |
| 1811 | Connecticut Voting Law | Disenfranchised Black voters |
| 1821 | District of Columbia Registration Law | Required Blacks to register annually and post bond |
| 1827 | Maryland Occupation Acts (Petition to Legislature) | Prohibited Blacks from driving or owning hacks, carts or drays |
| 1829 | Illinois Marriage Law | Forbade Black and White marriages |
| 1831 | Indiana Mobility Law | Required Blacks to register in order to work and post bond |
| 1836 | District of Columbia Business License Law | Prohibited licensing Blacks for profit-making activities |
| 1842 | Maryland Information Law | Felonied Blacks demanding or receiving abolition newspapers |
| 1844 | Maryland Occupation Acts | Excluded Blacks from the carpentry trade |
| 1844 | Maryland Color Tax | Placed a tax on all employed Black artisans |
| 1858 | Maryland Recreation Law | Forbade Blacks and slaves from boating on the Potomac |
(SOURCE: THE HERITAGE COLLECTION, ELKINS, PA., 2004 EDITED BY: (LAWRENCE E. WALKER FOUNDATION COLLECTION)
