free blacks in the north

If you ask me, if blacks were really free in the north, I would probably say "no". Even though they were classified as free, they did not actually have the same rights or privileges as all white people. I do not to me a person is a person, no matter the size, race, strength or religious belief of that individual.

Political freedoms were very limited for states in the north. The only state that was completely against slavery was Massachusetts, allowing blacks to vote and serve on a jury as a juror. In some other northern states, after the Emancipation Proclamation was enacted, blacks were allowed by law to vote, marry whites, and file lawsuits. Even when the rights were extended by the laws,the white majority did not allow it to happen. For example, in Massachusetts in 1795, judges came down with a decision that blacks could vote nor be elected to office because public opinion overruled the law.

Economically, blacks obtaining jobs in the north succeeded in making more money, but then began to understand what they thought was impossible, that they could be on equal footing with whites. Blacks were free, but could not share the wealth of the money earned by working communities, as they were not respected by the white population because almost all of their jobs were of being common laborers or washerwomen. They began living in ghettoes and slums within the larger cities throughout the north. Northern freemen needed to carry passes when traveling in some states and were sometimes forbidden to own property. Finally, they could, in some areas, not own businesses, so their economic resources were limited.

The restrictions, socially, for blacks in the north was much more complex. While they had freedom to believe in whatever religion they chose, they could not marry any white woman in their churches, or they would be sold into slavery for life. Punishments for blacks breaking the law were much more severe than for whites, including servitude and even castration.

So in Conclusion The north allowed all blacks to be free, but in actuality the northern blacks were not much better off than the southern black slaves. Despite the many laws allowing blacks "freedoms," they were heavily restricted by actual practices and white public opinion.