The correct answer is C) laws that greatly restricted the civil rights and political liberties of former slaves in the South.
The “black codes” were laws that greatly restricted the civil rights and political liberties of former slaves in the South.
During the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, some radical Republicans demanded severe punishment to the southern states for the damage created in the Civil War and also passed legislation to protect the rights of African Americans. However, the Southern states did not accept the idea of former black slaves to have the same rights as the whites, and that is when created the black codes, which were laws that greatly restricted the civil rights and political liberties of former slaves.