The implementation of the black codes in South Carolina after the civil war required black to sign labor contracts each year. The blacks risked being arrested and fined if they refused to sign the contracts which resulted in forced labor. The outrage of the black codes undermined the support of President Andrew Johnson and the Republican Party. The black codes contained a set of restrictive laws that were designed to limit the freedom of African-Americans to ensure their availability as cheap labor, after the abolition of slavery during the civil war.