State legislation of nineteenth century America was far from uniform, as American government was taking some of its earliest steps toward organization. This lack of unanimity, however, was applied only to the specifics of legislation in most cases, as the framework of each state's government seemed to reflect that of its neighbor. In the south, especially, generalities were highly prevalent And one such generality was that of a legislation that protected and supported the institution of slavery. Many states, for example, had harsh laws concerning runaway slaves, known in most regions as the Fugitive Slave Law. Some variations of this law were more abrasive than others, as in the case with one of the earliest Fugitive Slave Laws in Virginia, which in 1642 authorized the branding of the letterR? on the face of runaway slaves. (www.edcen.edu)
             Another widely accepted regulation, and means of maintaining slavery, was theone drop rule? which categorized any person as African-American who has even one drop of African-American blood in his/her family tree. This was a very powerful tool in exploiting more and more slaves. As explained at www.Africana.com,Race-based slavery was basically an economic system. It was in the system's financial interest to be able to define as many people as African, and therefore as slaves, as possible.? This method of propagating slavery was carried out in Chapter 93 of The Revised Statutes of Kentucky, Vol. II. Section two of the first article of these revisions assertedEvery person who has one fourth, or other larger part of Negro blood, shall be deemed a mulatto, and the wordNegro,? when used in any statute, shall be construed to mean mulatto as well as Negro.?
             But the most weighing fundamental practice of slavery-based legislation was the employment of laws prohibiting reading and writing among slaves. This created a multi-tiered barrier of literacy between blacks and whites?a barrier the Pro-Sl...