Final answer:
Southern states got the idea for Black Codes from the Slave Codes of the pre-emancipation period. They enacted these discriminatory state laws to maintain the social and economic structure of racial slavery. They took advantage of the separation of state and federal law to enforce these codes and circumvent federal protections.
Step-by-step explanation:
Southern states got the idea for Black Codes from the Slave Codes that were common before emancipation. The Black Codes were a set of discriminatory state laws passed in most southern states in 1865-1866. They were designed to maintain the social and economic structure of racial slavery in the absence of slavery itself.
These laws granted some rights to African Americans, such as the right to own property, marry, or make contracts. However, they also denied fundamental rights such as the right to serve on juries or in state militias, the right to give testimony against white people, and the right to vote. The Black Codes effectively criminalized black leisure, limited their mobility, and locked many into exploitative farming contracts.
The southern states took advantage of the separation of state and federal law by enacting these laws at the state level, which allowed them to circumvent the protections provided by the federal government. The Black Codes were a way for the southern states to maintain control, enforce racial segregation and keep freed African Americans in a subordinate position.