(9.) In Alabama the exclusion stands on positive statute. The Code provides that “negroes, mulattoes, Indians, and all persons of mixed blood descended from negro or Indian ancestors to the third generation inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation may have been a white person, whether bond or free, must not be witnesses in any cause, civil or criminal, except for or against each other.”[43]
(10.) In Mississippi, the Act of June 28, 1822, is nearly the same in language with the Code of Alabama on this subject.[44] But by Act of January 19, 1830, free Indians are placed on the same footing as white persons, and consequently can testify.[45]
(11.) In Florida the law is brief and explicit. The Act of November 21, 1828, § 16, provides that “any negro or mulatto, bond or free, shall be a good witness in the pleas of the State for or against negroes or mulattoes, bond or free, or in civil cases where free negroes or mulattoes shall alone be parties, and in no other cases whatever.”[46]
(12.) In Missouri, the Revised Statutes provide that “no negro or mulatto, bond or free, shall be a competent witness, except in pleas of the State against a negro or mulatto, bond or free, or in civil cases in which negroes or mulattoes alone are parties.”[47] But it has been decided, that, if a free negro is party to the record, even though he vouches in a white person to defend his title, colored testimony is admissible.[48]
(13.) In Arkansas, the Revised Statutes provide that “no negro or mulatto, bond or free, shall be a competent witness in any case, except in cases in which all the parties are negroes or mulattoes, or in which the State is plaintiff and a negro or mulatto, or negroes or mulattoes, are defendants.”[49]
(14.) In Louisiana, the Revised Statutes provide that “no slave shall be admitted as a witness, either in civil or criminal matters, for or against a white person”; and also, “no slave shall be admitted as a witness, either in civil or criminal matters, for or against a free person of color, except in case such free individual be charged with having raised, or attempted to raise, an insurrection among the slaves of this State, or adhering to them by giving them aid or comfort in any manner whatsoever.”[50]
The Civil Code declares “absolutely incapable of being witnesses to testaments” “women of what age soever,” and “slaves.”[51] But the Civil Code has provided expressly that “the circumstance of the witness being a free colored person is not a sufficient cause to consider the witness as incompetent, but may, according to circumstances, diminish the extent of his credibility”;[52] so that a free colored person in Louisiana may be a witness for or against a white person, subject to inquiry as to the value of his testimony.
(15.) In Texas, the Act of May 13, 1846, provides that “all negroes and Indians, and all persons of mixed blood descended from negro ancestry to the third generation inclusive, though one ancestor of each generation may have been a white person, shall be incapable of being a witness in any case whatever, except for or against each other.”[53]