TYPE	YEAR	LAWS/CODES	DESCRIPTION
Freedom of movement	1804	Statute	Unawful for enslaved blacks to leave the home of their master without a pass. Punishment: stripes at the discretion of the court.
Freedom of movement	1835	Statute	Enslaved blacks who were found on the plantation of another master without written permission could receive up to 10 lashes.
Weapons	1835	Statute	Unlawful for enslaved blacks to keep a gun or any other weapon. Arms and munition could be seized and would be forfeited to the seizer. Blacks were to be whipped up to 39 stripes.
Guns/free blacks	1835	Statute	Free blacks or mulattos were permitted to keep 1 gun, powder and shot. All enslaved and free blacks living on any frontier plantation were permitted to use guns with a license from a justice of the peace.
Riots	1835	Statute	Riots, routs and unlawful assemblies and seditious speeches by enslaved blacks were to be punished with stripes.
Meetings	1835	Statute	Persons who permitted any enslaved black not belonging to them to remain on their plantation more than 4 hours at any time, without persmission from the owner of such black, was to forfeit $3 for every offense to the informer. Slaveholders were permitted to allow their own blacks to gather or attend religious worship services.
Meetings	1835	Statute	White persons or free blacks who were found in the company of enslaved blacks at any unlawful meeting were to forfeit $3 to the informer. Failure to pay the fine would result in a whipping up to 20 lashes.
Meetings	1835	Statute	Justices of the peace who neglected to issue a warrant pertaining to unlawful meetings was to be fined $8 for every such failure.
Runaways	1835	Statute	In cases where enslaved blacks were thought to have run away and be hiding "and lurking in swamps, woods and other obscure places, killing hogs and committing other injuries to the inhabitants of this disctrict," any 2 justices of the peace were required to direct the sheriff to apprehend the runaways.
Rebellion	1835	Statute	Enslaved blacks found guilty of advising or conspiring to rebel or make insurrection, or conpsire to murder were deemed felons and were sentenced to die.
Medicines	1835	Statute	Any enslaved black who prepared or administered any medicine was judged guilty of a felony and was to suffer death without benefit of clergy. A black would be acquitted if it appeared to the court that the medicine was not prepared or administered with ill intent, and no harmful consequences resulted from the medicine.
Trade	1835	Statute	Illegal to buy or sell any commodity from an enslaved black. Offenders were to pay the owner of the enslaved black 4 times the value of the good bought or sold, plus $20.
Trade	1835	Statute	Any slave owner who allowed a black to go at large and trade as a freeman was to pay the sum of $30.
Hiring out	1835	Statute	If any master allowed his or her enslaved black to hire him or herself out, it was lawful to apprehend and take such black before any justice of the peace. Such slaves were to be sold by the court, with 25 percent of the sale going to the county and the remainder to the owner.
Kidnapping	1835	Statute	Persons found guilty of stealing or selling any free person for a slave was to be sentenced to death without benefit of clergy.
Ships	1835	Statute	Unlawful for any master of a ship to transport any enslaved black or mulatto without the consent of the slave owner. Penalty: $150.
Personal estate	1835	Statute	All enslaved blacks and mulattos within the Arkansas territory were considered personal estate.
Manumission	1835	Statute	Lawful for persons to emancipate enslaved blacks they owned by last will and testament. All blacks so emancipated were liable to be taken to satisfy any debt contracted by the person emancipating them. Emancipated blacks had to be of sound mind and body, and less than 45 years old. Males had to be older than 21 years of age and no females less than 18 could be freed.
Free blacks	1835	Statute	Emancipated blacks traveling out of the county of their residence were required to carry a copy of their emancipation papers. Persons without such papers could be jailed until such a copy was produced.
Taxes/ free blacks	1835	Statute	Emancipated blacks who failed to pay all taxes and levies imposed by law could be hired out by the county sheriff for as long a time as necessary to raise the taxes owed.
Gifts of enslaved blacks	1835	Statute	Gifts of any enslaved black had to be recorded by will or deed within 8 months of the transaction to be considered legal.
Freedom of movement	1835	Statute	Unlawful for enslaved blacks to travel off his or her owner's premises without a written pass. Such blacks apprehended were to be taken to the nearest justice of the peace and the owner notified.
Runaways	1835	Statute	Any person who apprehended a runaway was entitled to a $5 reward paid by the owner. If no person appeared to claim the runaway, it was the duty of the sheriff to sell such black to the highest bidder.
Patrols	1835	Statute	Circuit courts could appoint patrols to visit black quarters, and other suspected places of unlawful assemblies of enslaved blacks.
Freedom of movement	1835	Statute	Enslaved blacks found strolling from one plantation to another without a pass from his or her master could receive up to 10 lashes from a patrol member. If taken before a judge, the black could receive as many as 39 lashes.
Trade	1835	Statute	Patrol members who discovered an enslaved black trading without a written pass could receive up to 10 lashes. Blacks taken before a judge could receive up to 39 lashes.
Patrols	1835	Statute	Persons appointed to patrol duty who refused to carry out their duties were subject to a $5 fine. No citizen over the age of 45 was compelled to serve, and persons who found another person to voluntarily serve in their place were excused.
Patrol compensation	1835	Statute	The captain and assistant patrol were to each receive $1 for every 12 hours of patrol service they performed. A tax was to be levied on all enslaved blacks over 16 years of age to pay for patrol service.
Free blacks	1859	Statute	Statute required free blacks and mulattos either to leave the state by the end of the year, or to choose masters "who must give bond not to allow such Negroes to act as free."
Anti-slavery	1864	Constitution	An anti-slavery state constitution was drawn up and accepted by an all-white electorate in Arkansas.