What does the following newspaper excerpt mean for free black people (more context in the description): "[The County Judge] gives notice that all free blacks must be dealt with according to law, unless they come forward and give bonds to leave the State."

by ProfessorGigs

I'm currently gathering info on one county judge for an independent research project that will then become a book. The excerpt comes from a Texas newspaper from 1848 from a growing region of the state.

I'm not quite sure what this means in the context of free black people before the Civil War, as it's out of my area of expertise. Any help is much appreciated!

MessageToObserver

The Constitution of the Republic of Texas removed the rights of citizenship from free blacks, which they had previously enjoyed under Mexican rule.

In 1840, Texas passed a law which noted that any free black person who entered Texas should be arrested and sold into slavery for one year. If they could not come up with a $1000 bond conditioned on leaving Texas, they would be enslaved for life.

Any free blacks already living in Texas were given two years to leave Texas, or else they would be subject to similar arrest and enslavement.

http://www.texasslaveryproject.org/sources/LawsOfTexas/display.php?f=TSP0155.xml