States. Most of the discussion will necessarily be of the distinctions between Caucasians and Negroes, but as distinctions applicable to Mongolians and Indians arise, they will be mentioned to show that race consciousness is not confined to any one section or race.
PERIOD COVERED FROM 1865 TO PRESENT
Race distinctions have existed and have been recognized in the law from the beginning of the settlement of the New World, long before the thirteen colonies became free and independent States, or before the Federal Constitution was adopted.. The first cargo of Negroes was landed in Virginia in 1619, only twelve years after the founding of Jamestown. In 1630, eleven years later, the Virginia Assembly passed the following resolution:[2] "Hugh Davis to be soundly whipped before an assembly of Negroes and others, for abusing himself to the dishonor of God and the shame of Christians, by defiling his body in lying with a Negro." Many of the Colonies—later States—prohibited intermarriage between Caucasians and Negroes whether the latter were slave or free. The Colonies and States prohibited or limited the movements of free Negroes from one colony or State to another, prescribed special punishment for adultery between white persons and Negroes, forbade persons of color to carry fire-*arms, and in divers other ways restricted the actions of Negroes.
It is not so profitable, however, at this day to study these early distinctions, for the distinctions based on race were then inseparably interwoven with those based on the
