Under various pretexts free negroes were reduced to slavery.
Freedom of worship was denied to negroes, and they were not allowed to assemble for any purpose except under the strict surveillance of white men.

Negro testimony in a court of law was invalid where the rights of a white man were involved.

The right of a negro to his freedom was decided by an arbitrary court without a jury, while the disputed right of a white man to the ownership of a horse was conditioned by the safeguard of trial by jury.
The maintenance of such policies carries with it of necessity the suppression of free discussion.

When Southern leaders adopted the policy of defending slavery as a righteous institution, abolitionists in the South either emigrated to the North or were silenced.

In either case they were deprived of a fundamental right.