This law also gave to the justices of the peace the power, by proclamation, to outlaw any runaway who was in hiding, committing injuries to the inhabitants of the community. It was then lawful for any one to kill such a slave.[66] Any runaway who was caught was forced to wear a yoke around his neck until he gave sufficient evidence of good behavior.[67] Sheriffs and constables were strictly charged with the safe keeping of all runaways who were committed to their care. If they negligently or wilfully permitted any to escape, they were liable for damages to the master at common law with costs.[68] To encourage the police officials to execute the law, they were exempted from the payment of all public, county, and parish levies for their own persons. The keepers of ferries were required to give immediate passage to officers charged with conducting runaways.[69] No feature of the slave code shows more progressively the attitude of the whites toward the negro than the law on runaways. As the slaves developed the means for evading the law, it was made increasingly rigid. White men could be sold into temporary servitude to pay fines for persuading the slave to run away.[70] Anyone convicted for attempting to steal and convey a slave out of the colony was required to pay the owner twenty-five pounds. If he could not pay this fine he was forced to serve the master for five years.[71] The idea in these laws is not necessarily harshness to the slave, but rather the security of the bondage of the slave. II. THE STATUS OF THE NEGRO IN THE STATE OF FRANKLIN FROM 1785 TO 1788 The State of Franklin[72] was included in the western part of North Carolina, which later became the Southwest Territory and the State of Tennessee. The independent action of its people is significant, therefore, not only as an expression of their own position on slavery, but also as a prophecy of the attitude of the state of Tennessee. The constitution proposed by the Greenville Convention, November 14, 1785, established a liberal suffrage.[73] Section 4 of this constitution states that “Every free male inhabitant in this state six months immediately preceding the day of election, shall participate in electing all officers chosen by the people, in the county where he resides.”[74] The Declaration of Rights uses the terms “freeman,” “the people,” and “every man,” synonymously. There was no property or religious qualification for the suffrage. The slave, by emancipation, would have voted under this constitution on the same basis as other citizens. This constitution was finally rejected and that of North Carolina with few changes was adopted.[75] The above proposal is interesting as a typical frontier attitude on the suffrage question.