![]() The law’s preamble states that “there hath lately been a great increase of idle and disorderly persons in some parts of this commonwealth,” an implicit reference to the abolition of slavery, which had displaced much of the state’s large population of African Americans. There is no record of whether Pierpont supported or opposed the legislation either way, he did not have veto power. There was little or no newspaper commentary, reports of legislators’ speeches, or explanations for their votes. The law passed in both houses by voice vote, leaving no record of which delegates and senators voted for or against it. On January 9, 1866, the House of Delegates passed the Act Providing for the Punishment of Vagrants, with the Senate of Virginia following suit six days later. After the most mature consideration I have been able to give to the subject, I think there is very little positive legislation needed in regard to this class.” “Every effort to enforce it by law, except as a punishment for crime and vagrancy, will result in failure. ![]() “To be free, labor must be voluntary,” Pierpont told the assembly. Agents of the Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands, as well as civil authorities in Virginia, were well aware of the many problems that occurred, but did not adequately address them. For reasons of mutual distrust and, in many cases, ignorance of how the free-labor system even worked, early attempts between black and white Virginians to enter into employment contracts had failed. Pierpont, a Republican, explained that many former slaves worried that if they “remained with their old master they would be in danger of re-enslavement-hence they became roving.” Pierpont noted that “where satisfactory wages are paid,” African Americans often rendered “fair service,” but that such situations were rare. In a message to the General Assembly dated December 4, 1865, Governor Francis H. Not all white politicians considered freedpeople, in general, a nuisance. It is unknown to what degree it was ever enforced, but the Vagrancy Act remained law in Virginia until 1904. Proponents argued that the law applied to all people regardless of race, but the resulting controversy, along with other southern laws restricting African American rights, helped lead to military rule in the former Confederacy and congressional Reconstruction. Terry, issued a proclamation declaring that the law would reinstitute “slavery in all but its name” and forbidding its enforcement. Shortly after its passage, the commanding general in Virginia, Alfred H. Pierpont‘s public statement discouraging punitive legislation. As such, the act criminalized freedpeople attempting to rebuild their lives and perhaps was intended to contradict Governor Francis H. More formally known as the Act Providing for the Punishment of Vagrants, the law came shortly after the American Civil War (1861–1865), when hundreds of thousands of African Americans, many of them just freed from slavery, wandered in search of work and displaced family members. If so-called vagrants ran away and were recaptured, they would be forced to work for no compensation while wearing balls and chains. The Vagrancy Act of 1866, passed by the General Assembly on January 15, 1866, forced into employment, for a term of up to three months, any person who appeared to be unemployed or homeless.
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