When the Negro was made a citizen, it became necessary at once to settle his marital relations. If the usual slave marriages were not recognized as legal, then the offspring of such unions were bastards with the usual disqualifications of that class, among which is their partial incapacity to inherit property. In order to secure to Negroes the rights of heirs, it was necessary to legalize slave marriages, at least to the extent of giving to the children of such marriages the right of inheritance. This was accomplished in one of three ways. Some States required the emancipated slaves to be remarried in order to legitimate their offspring; others required them to appear before an officer, declare their desire to continue to live together, and get a certificate; others still, and these were in the majority, passed statutes legalizing all slave marriages. A few States did not adopt any one of these three methods but left it to the courts to recognize the legality of such marriages as cases arose. REMARRIAGES Among the States which adopted the method of remarrying was Florida,[117] which, by a law of 1866, required all colored persons living together as husband and wife, who had not been legally married, and who wished to continue so to live together, to be married within nine months from the passage of the statute on January 11th. If they failed to be married but continued to live together, they were punished as guilty of fornication and adultery. By the second marriage, their children were legitimated. The law made it incumbent upon the clerk of the court, upon application by the parties and a tender of the required fee, to enter a certificate of marriage upon his register. Anyone practicing fraud upon Negroes by pretending to perform the marriage ceremony without authority to do so was guilty of a misdemeanor and punishable by a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars, imprisonment not over six months, or might be sentenced to stand in a pillory not over one hour. After the expiration of the nine months named in the statute, the marriage requirements for white and colored persons were the same. This statute of 1866[118] was amended, on December 14, of the same year, to the effect that, if persons of color had lived together as husband and wife and had recognized each other as such, they were to be considered married and their children to be legitimate. Thus, the necessity of a remarriage was obviated. The amendment was added apparently because of the great number of indictments for adultery against those who had not complied with the law of January 11th.