"An Act to Establish and Regulate the Domestic Relations of Persons of Color..." or the Black Codes of South Carolina, December 1865



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At the end of the Civil War, South Carolina’s legislature drafted a new constitution in December 1865.  The constitution included a section now referred to as the Black Codes – articles that regulated and restricted the lives of African Americans.  These Codes stipulated where blacks could travel, what professions they could choose, and greatly restricted the use of firearms.  The period of Reconstruction was a time of great resentment and uncertainty, and many white South Carolinians were unsure how to feel about the new status of black men and women in their lives.


The Constitution of 1865 enacted strict legislation regarding the actions of black citizens in South Carolina, and the Black Codes offer a foreshadowing to the Jim Crow era.


Constitutional Convention (1865).  Constitution of 1865.  S 131071.  State Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.

The Statutes at Large of South Carolina Vol. XII containing the Acts from December 1861 to December 1866An Act to Establish and Regulate the Domestic Relations of Persons of Color and to Amend the Law in Relation to Paupers and Vagrancy, Act No. 4733. General Assembly, 19 December 1865 (Columbia, SC: Republican Printing Corp., 1875): 269-285.  South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Columbia, South Carolina.

Correlating SC Social Studies Academic Standards:


Indicator 5-1.1 Summarize the aims of Reconstruction and explain the effects of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination on the course of Reconstruction.

Indicator 5-1.2 Summarize the provisions of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution, including how the amendments protected the rights of African Americans and sought to enhance their political, social, and economic opportunities.

Indicator 5-1.3 Explain the effects of Reconstruction on African Americans, including their new rights and restrictions, their motivations to relocate to the North and the West, and the actions of the Freedmen’s Bureau.



Indicator 8-4.1 Explain the purposes of Reconstruction with attention to the economic, social, political, and geographic problems facing the South, including reconstruction of towns, factories, farms, and transportation systems; the effects of emancipation; racial tension; tension between social classes; and disagreement over voting rights.



Indicator 8-4.4 Explain how events during Reconstruction improved opportunities for African Americans but created a backlash that, by the end of Reconstruction, negated the gains African Americans had made, including the philanthropy of northern aid societies, the assistance provided by the federal government such as the Freedmen’s Bureau, and their advancement in politics and education.

Indicator 8-4.5 Summarize the successes and failures that occurred in South Carolina during Reconstruction, including the bribery of legislators, corruption in political parties, the development of public education, and violence during the election of 1876.

Standard 8-5: The student will demonstrate an understanding of major social, political, and economic developments that took place in the United States during the second half of the nineteenth century.

Indicator 8-5.1 Summarize the political, economic, and social conditions in South Carolina following the end of Reconstruction, including the leadership of Wade Hampton and the so-called Bourbons or Redeemers, agricultural depression and struggling industrial development, the impact of the temperance and suffrage movements, the development of the 1895 constitution, and the evolution of race relations and Jim Crow laws.


Indicator USHC-4.1 Summarize the effects of Reconstruction on the southern states and the roles of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments in that era.

Indicator USHC-4.2 Summarize the progress made by African Americans during Reconstruction and the subsequent reversals brought by Reconstruction’s end, including the creation of the Freedmen’s Bureau, gains in educational and political opportunity, & the rise of anti–African American factions and legislation.


Related Documents

South Carolina Constitution of 1868

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Related Lessons

SC Black Codes: Reconstruction Legislation and Amendments


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