Racial Restrictions Quotes
There was a fear of free Blacks gambling which did not extend to whites as there was much gambling at the time.
Incredibly enough, after the Civil War and emancipation, most Virginia leaders opposed any form of rights for Blacks with one of the major reasons being that they were ignorant and uneducated. It was actually a crime to teach even a free Black to read.
This was the Illinois solution to the problem caused by the Fugitive Slave Act. Pennsylvania and other States had experienced pitched battles over slave owners or their agents trying to forcibly remove blacks. Illinois could claim to the slave catchers that there were no runaway slaves in the State as a result of their law. As anti Black as the second part seems to indicate, there was a catch. The Blacks could enter Illinois and stay for 10 days—enough time to rest and obtain nourishment and then be on their way to Canada. It turned out that the law offended everyone as often happens when compromise is attempted on fundamental principles like slavery and racism.
This gun control was not even the first in the nation. See {613055}. However it even applied to free Negroes, halfbreeds, as well as slaves. Five years later even though Virginia needed militia for the French and Indian Wars they passed a law barring even Free Blacks from serving in the Militia except “as drummers or trumpeters.” This the whites felt was critical in that most whites did not own firearms. See {613056}.
