There were several factors that produced the change of 1831. The number of free negroes had increased from 361 in 1801 to 4,555 in 1831.[4] Since free negroes voted at this time, this meant that they were a factor in politics. Manumission societies had been active during this period, and had created opposition to free negroes. Abolition literature had flourished. The cotton industry had developed by virtue of the settlement of West Tennessee, a portion of the Black Belt. Fear of servile insurrections had increased. There had been Gabriel’s insurrection in Virginia in 1800; the Vessey insurrection in South Carolina in 1822; the Nat Turner insurrection in Virginia in 1831; and an attempt at insurrection in Tennessee at the same time.[5] The liberal policy of the state prior to 1831 had caused an influx of free negroes from other states. The governor, in a message to the legislature in 1815, stated that fifty free negroes had come into the state that year from Virginia and as many more were expected the next year.[6] In 1831, the legislature forbade “any free person of color (whether he be born free, or emancipated, agreeably to the laws in force and use, either now, or at any other time, in any state within the United States or elsewhere), to remove himself to this state and to reside therein, and remain therein twenty days.”[7] If a free negro was convicted of entering the state in violation of this act, he was subject to a fine of not less than ten nor more than fifty dollars and an imprisonment of one or two years, at the discretion of the judge. If he did not remove from the state within thirty days after the expiration of the term of imprisonment, he was again subject to indictment as before, and upon conviction was imprisoned for double the maximum time for first offense. No pecuniary fine was attached in the second instance. There were only two ways by which a free negro could legally enter the state after 1831. This, of course, is barring special act of the legislature. If a free negro and a slave of another state were married, and the owner of the slave decided to move to Tennessee, he was permitted to bring the free negro along with the slave, by giving a bond of $500 to the county in which he chose to reside, guaranteeing that the free negro would keep the peace and would not become a charge to the county.[8] If a free negro of another state married a slave of Tennessee with the master’s consent, he was permitted to come into the state if the master of the slave would make bond to the county for his good conduct.[9] The state, however, reserved the right to order such free negroes to remove, if their conduct proved unsatisfactory. If they refused to do so, they were subject to the punishment provided by the Act of 1831.[10]