Berlin argues that southern states treated free blacks in the antebellum period as slaves without masters. In other words, there were a great many restrictions on free blacks. They did not have the same freedoms and rights as whites did. Berlin further argues that after the 13th amendment, southern states applied the same restrictions (black codes, vagrancy laws, curfews, etc.) to all blacks, which became the basis of the Jim Crow segregation system. ( )