Black codes were state laws regulating the activities of blacks in the Southern United States after the American Civil War. When slavery was abolished in 1865, Southerners used black codes to retain control over blacks. The laws varied in strictness and detail from state to state. They restricted the civil rights of blacks, and generally treated them as social and civil inferiors. Some forbade blacks to own land or carry arms. During the Reconstruction period between 1865 and 1877, the military governors who controlled the South suspended the black codes. In 1866, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act. The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which protects the rights of blacks, was ratified in 1868.