The temper of administration,
however, was not appreciably affected, for this clearly appears to have
grown milder as the decades passed.
The police ordinances of the several cities and other local jurisdictions
were in keeping with the state laws which they supplemented and in some
degree duplicated. At New Orleans an ordinance adopted in 1817 and little
changed thereafter forbade slaves to live off their masters' premises
without written permission, to make any clamorous noise, to show disrespect
to any white persons, to walk with canes on the streets unless on account
of infirmity, or to congregate except at church, at funerals, and at such
dances and other amusements as were permitted for them on Sundays alone and
in public places. Each offender was to be tried by the mayor or a justice
of the peace after due notice to his master, and upon conviction was to be
punished within a limit of twenty-five lashes unless his master paid a fine
for him instead.[12]
[Footnote 12: D. Augustin, _A General Digest of the Ordinances and
Resolutions of the Corporation of New Orleans_ ([New Orleans], 1831), pp.
133-137.]
At Richmond an ordinance effective in 1859 had provisions much like those
of New Orleans regarding residence, clamor, canes, assemblage and demeanor,
and also debarred slaves from the capitol square and other specified public
enclosures unless in attendance on white persons or on proper errands,
forbade them to ride in public hacks without the written consent of their
masters, or to administer medicine to any persons except at their masters'
residences and with the masters' consent.
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