The Civil War And The Twenty-Negro Law

Regardless that the Civil War was an egregious time period of racist beliefs and segregation, Newton Knight held solid to what he believed was morally correct. In his eyes, everyone stood equal. He held true to his beliefs for slaves by accumulating and leading an immense rebellious group who were gathering to quarrel for what they all believed was right. It caused an enormous conflict along with the already existing one due to the civil war, but it made an everlasting impact towards the end. The disputes lead to the formation of the Free State of Jones. Where all slaves became distinctly equivalent and free, simply like every other person. Few were not thrilled about this. However, numerous were and looked forward to some new changes on the
topic. But Newton held strong in his opinions of what he thought was right. Even though it took multiple times of trial and error, he took multiple stands in order to make what he wanted happen. Little did he know that he would form the very first mixed race community in Mississippi. As for the Civil War, it was occurring at this time, which consisted of a battle between the Union, The United States, and the Confederacy, the eleven opposing slave states. Basically, the fight was between whether whites and blacks should be equal and be able to claim the same rights. This leads to Blacks and Whites bickering over rights non stop. In other words, the whites thought they should be dominant and the blacks are their slaves, when overall, they were all human and the blacks just wanted to be equal like the whites. Almost all blacks at the time were slaves. Numerous rebellions were occurring and everyone fought, day and night. And then came Newton Knight, who was born on November 10, 1830. He was the grandson of one of the largest slave owners in Jones County. Growing up in that area of Mississippi, Newton definitely experienced the use of slavery in many different ways. He saw how harshly they were treated and in his mind, he knew that wasn’t right. In order to do something about it, he had to figure out how. Not to mention that he could face the death penalty if he violated or disobeyed the law.
Anyhow, later on in his life he married Serena Turner. Unfortunately, this relationship ended quickly due to the fact that Newton fell in love with someone else. This someone else was Rachel who was a former slave of his grandfathers at the time. Serena and Newton never actually divorced, but instead, separated. Newton soon married Rachel. Then again, this was illegal at the time, but, Knight once explained, you can’t help who you fall in love with. Even though Rachel was a slave, it was obvious that it didn’t bother Newton because he thought all were created equal. Around spring time, specifically March, of 1864, the Civil war still continued and things were not getting better or were going to become better any time soon.
With this in mind, a new law was concocted. Called the Twenty-Negro Law, it stated that if a farmer that owned twenty or more slaves, could avoid the draft that forced them to fight in the war. Newton and many others saw that this was directed at the poor farmers which forced them to pay the higher taxes. Majority saw this as a massive problem, as they believed this wasn’t right. Newton was a part of the Confederacy at the time, but didn't really want any part of it, along with many others who agreed with his beliefs with him. Knowing he needed a plan to try and stop this erroneous doing, he gathered up all of his people and created the Knight Company. Consisting of one hundred twenty-five black and white individuals, Newton would be their dominant leader. This company sought to come together as one due to their same beliefs and opinions. They would attempt to make their own laws and force a new law that set slaves to be freed. Having a plan, they knew the consequences and how much hard time and effort it would take, but they're so dedicated that they were willing to do
it. Under the circumstances that the U.S.
was in a war and needed money and supplies, a law was created called the “tax-in-kind” law. Basically, it stated that Confederate soldiers had the right to raid homes and take whatever they felt like or needed. A definite ten percent tax-in-kind law was specifically set on agricultural products as well. They took things like meat from the smoke houses to eat, corn from the cribs to eat as well, and cloth from women’s looms to use for clothes and warmth. Countless were frustrated and wanted to do something about it. Trying to fight back against the soldiers to prevent them from taking their goods wasn’t the best choice. If they refused, the Confederate soldiers would take everything from the homes. Various others got arrested, and sometimes, but in rare cases, they were killed. Because of this law being established and endorsed, many people questioned the government. Everyone began to see that they government wasn’t about the people anymore. This lead to many gatherings with Newton and his beliefs so they could rebel against the government for vengeance. Multiple people revolted, but it didn’t change much, if anything at all. The only thing that happened was people got arrested for violent protesting and that was about
it. Confederate soldiers were a huge social problem due to them constantly invading homes, which caused a huge privacy problem. This brought many people together to fight in order to stop the raiding of homes and stealing of goods. Also, many grew to go against what the government said, due to how they were treating their people. Individuals also got over the fact that blacks and whites are different. Now seeing them as equal, less conflict occurred. Eventually, slaves’ right’s started to be challenged. More and more people were starting to realize how the government was treating them and how they were allowing these slaves to be treated abhorrently. The Emancipation Proclamation was established which pretty much liberated the slaves of labor. The only ones that were against the freeing of slaves were the farmers. This was beneficial for them because the slaves were the only workers that the farmers could force to work for free. The slaves only needed to be fed enough in order to keep alive. This was superb for the farmers because they were super cheap to take care of and it wasn’t a law that slaves were to be paid. But after the Free State of Jones was created, slaves were free, but were allowed to continue to work for the farmers for food, a place to stay, and a small paycheck every once in awhile. They had the choice of doing this and weren’t any longer allowed to be forced into labor. Given these points, the Civil War was coming close to an end. A new movement started about complete African- American rights. People made it to the point where slavery wasn’t as common. Every so often, some still broke the law and threatened the slaves and never got caught, but mostly the forced labor of blacks was done and over with. Now they wanted to get to the point in time where they were totally equal with whites. Racist beliefs changed towards blacks now that slavery had ended, but that wasn’t good enough because they still weren’t totally equal like I stated before. Nevertheless, Newton Knight continued to take a stand even though many were against him at first. He loved his southern home and fought to keep his people and his land free. But as time progressed and many started to see what he saw all along, they joined with him and took a stand by standing up for the slaves and their rights. Rebellious protests, of countless numbers, occurred at the time and eventually Newton earned what he fought for. The Free State of Jones was created, which freed the slaves and made Jones County, Mississippi, the first mixed free race country of all the states.