January 1807

New Jersey's 1776 constitution had allowed any resident meeting property requirements — including Black men and women — to vote. In 1807 the legislature explicitly restricted suffrage to white male taxpayers, eliminating Black and female voting. The revision demonstrated that the post-Revolutionary moment of relative inclusivity was deliberately dismantled as the early republic hardened racial boundaries alongside territorial expansion.

Ohio's Black Laws of 1804 and 1807 require Black migrants to post a $500 bond guaranteeing good behavior, register with county clerks, and produce certificates of freedom. Black residents cannot testify against white people in court. In Cincinnati, white mobs use these laws as cover for violent expulsions of Black communities in 1829, driving hundreds to Canada.

Ohio's Black Laws of 1804 and 1807 require Black migrants to post a $500 bond guaranteeing good behavior, register with county clerks, and produce certificates of freedom. Black residents cannot testify against white people in court. These laws serve as cover for violent expulsions of Black communities, most dramatically in Cincinnati in 1829.

Ohio — the first state carved from the Northwest Territory where slavery was banned — nonetheless enacted sweeping Black Laws from 1804 onward. Black residents had to register with county clerks, post $500 bond for good behavior, and could not testify against whites in court. Black children were excluded from public schools until 1849. Black men could not serve on juries or in the state militia. These laws were partially repealed in 1849 under antislavery Whig pressure, but Black Ohioans remained disenfranchised throughout the antebellum period. Cincinnati's Black community was attacked by white mobs in 1829, 1836, and 1841, driving thousands to Canada.