TYPE	YEAR	LAWS/CODES	DESCRIPTION
Slavery legalized	1807	Statute	This was an indenture law which provided virtual slavery.
Slavery outlawed	1816	Constitution	Prohibited slavery.
Runaways	1831	Statute	It was illegal to encourage the escape of enslaved blacks or to provide a certificate of freedom. Fine: $500.
Free blacks	1831	Statute	Black or mulattos seeking residency in Indiana were required to post a bond of $500. A conviction of such black or mulatto for any crime or misdemeanor against the laws of the State would result in forfeiture of the bond.
Free blacks	1831	Statute	Free blacks who failed to post bond were to be brought before a justice of the peace. It was the duty of the overseers of the poor in townships to hire out such blacks for six months. Persons who hired out free blacks who had not posted bond were subject to a fine of between $5-$100.
Testimony/ Racial status	1831	Statute	No black, mulatto or Indian was permitted to serve as a witness, except in cases against blacks, mulattos, or Indians. Any person having one fourth part or more of black blood, "or any one of whose grandfathers or grandmothers shall have been a black, shall be deemed a mulatto."
Travel with slaves	1831	Statute	Masters had the right to travel with their enslaved blacks through the State with no unnecessary delay.
Suffrage	1852	Constitution	No black or mulatto had the right to vote.
Residency	1852	Constitution	No black or mulatto could settle in the State after the adoption of this Constitution.
Contracts	1852	Constitution	All contracts made with any black or mulatto coming into the State were void. Any person who employed such black, or encouraged him to remain in the State would be fined between $10-$500. Fines collected for a violation of this article were to be appropriated for the colonization of such blacks and their descendants.
Colonization	1852	Statute	State appropriated $5,000 for the year 1852, plus all fines collected for the violation of laws by free blacks, to establish a State colonization fund for the colonization in Liberia of free blacks and mulattos and their descendants. Three thousand dollars of the money appropriated would be used for the purchase of land in Africa, which would be appropriated in 100-acre lots. The first emigrants were to have their choice of land. The State Board of Colonization was authorized to give each black or mulatto $50 for financial aid.
Miscegenation	1852	Statute	Marriages between a white person and a person possessed of one eighth or more of black blood were null and void.
Free blacks	1852	Statute	Circuit court clerks were to publish a notice in local newspapers or post a hand bill requiring all blacks and mulattos who were inhabitants of the State prior to November 1851 to register. Clerks were to maintain a book called "the register of negroes and mulattoes," in which was recorded the name, age, description, place of birth, and residence of each black who registered. Clerks were to provide blacks who were properly registered with a certificate.
Contracts	1852	Statute	All contracts made with blacks or mulattos who came into the State prior to November 1851 were null and void.
Free blacks	1852	Statute	Persons who employed a black or mulatto who had come into Indiana prior to October 31, 1851, or who encouraged such blacks to remain in the State, were to be fined between $10 and $500.
Free blacks	1852	Statute	Blacks who came into Indiana to settle and violated the provisions of the State constitution were to be fined between $10-$500.