Mississippi's black codes and attitudes towards African Americans in the 19th century were the cause of the lack of freedom and respect towards freedmen. Around 1865, the United States of America was embarking on a major path of reconstruction for social and economic issues, such as slavery. As the country rushed towards this movement, the leaders and upper class of the time distorted the ideas and morals of the new age. The relocation of the same leaders from the pre-Civil War time left the same concepts in place; Opinions toward blacks in the South did not change, and until later leaders of the time made little progress in improving the position of blacks in society. New laws were introduced but were not proactive in ensuring the freedom of freedmen. Mississippi's black codes were a "way in which Southern states endeavored to maintain the old order by limiting the newly acquired rights of African Americans." This quote as it stands is the very ideology of the state in 1865. They wanted to maintain order but they did not want African Americans to get all their rights back. Many of the new laws alluded to the fact that whites were still in power and that freedmen and their children were not free. In Mississippi's apprentice laws, it states, "masters have the power to inflict punishment." This quote shows that the ancient masters still have control over these children. Mississippi's apprentice laws also state that children must perform "service to their master...indentured," which shows that the child never left slavery. These children were usually orphaned children. The government assigned a teacher to children whose parents could not afford or refused to care for them. Using the……middle of paper……if Southerners were still racist and supremacists. The Ku Klux Klan inflicts another account of negativity against blacks, only more violently. The KKK was a very violent racist group that terrorized many people, such as those witnessed during a congressional hearing. In this testimony the KKK is cited for abuse, threats, death threats and demeaning attitudes. People like these were present during the Reconstruction period to slow and reverse the process of incorporation of freedmen into society. There was no respect for freedmen during this time, and the leaders in office were no help in passing the correct legislation to address this problem. The new time of Reconstruction was a time when in theory freedmen should have become free, but current ideas and the laws of the time did not allow this to happen..