whose county they resided. The Negro, when registering, had to give his name, age, color, sex, and occupation and had to pay one dollar to register ... All Negroes over twelve years of age had to have a guardian approved by the probate judge ... The guardian could be sued for any crime committed by the Negro; the Negro could not be sued. Under the new law, any free Negro or mulatto who did not register with the nearest probate judge was classified as a slave and became the lawful property of any white person who claimed possession." Free Blacks were ordered to leave Arkansas as of January 1, 1860, or they would be enslaved. Most left. Migration from South to North Even with the presence of significant free black populations in the South, free blacks often migrated to Northern states. While this presented some problems, free blacks found more opportunities in the North overall. During the nineteenth century, the number and proportion of population of free blacks in the South shrank as a significant portion of the free black population migrated northward. Some of the more prominent and talented free black figures moved to the North for its opportunities, draining the South of potential free black leaders. Some returned after the Civil War to participate in the Reconstruction Era, establishing businesses and being elected to political office. This difference in the distribution of free blacks persisted until the Civil War, at which time about 250,000 free blacks lived in the South. Opportunities for advancement The economic, military, and scientific superiority of the Elites provided justification of slavery through the idea of "Divine Providence" (i.e. the idea that "Things were as they were because God willed them to be that way"). Blacks were thus perceived as members of an inferior race, as God had allowed the Elites to seemingly exploit the slave trade without any hint that he might be planning any sort of divine retribution. In fact, the very opposite had happened and slaveholders were seemingly rewarded with great material wealth. The judiciary confirmed this subordinate status even when explicitly racialized laws were not in place. A South Carolina judge editorialized in an 1832 case: Free negroes belong to a degraded caste of society; they are in no respect on an equality with a white man. According to their condition they ought by law to be compelled to demean