Civil Rights Act Of 1964 Essay

A comparison and contrast of the Civil Rights Act of 1866 to that of 1964 “The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 represented precisely such a hope - that America had learned from its past and acted to secure a better tomorrow” (Aberjhani, “Aberjhani Quotes,” brainyquotes.com). This quote by Aberjhani, né Jeffery J. Lloyd, expressively sums up how the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 altered the American thought process in regards to the African American. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibited discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. It was a turning point in U.S. history because it was in the works since 1866. “The Civil Rights Act of 1866 granted citizenship and the same rights enjoyed by white citizens to all male persons in the United States “without distinction of race or color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude” (“The 1866 Civil Rights Act,” pbs.org).
The 13th amendment banned slavery and made It unconstitutional (“13th Amendment to the Constitution,” loc.gov). This 13th amendment finally gave blacks hope for a better future that didn’t involve being degraded as human beings through strenuous work for their owners. Originally, slavery was preserved in the U.S. constitutional through the Three-Fifths Compromise. The Three-Fifths Compromise was a piece of the many compromises that took place at the constitutional convention of 1787. “The Three-Fifths Compromise outline the process for states to count slaves as part of the population in order to determine representation and taxation for the federal government” ( Michael Knoedl,“The Three-Fifths Compromise,” study.com). In essence, “enslaved blacks in a state would be counted as three-fifths of the number of white inhabitants of that state (“The Three-Fifths Clause of the United States Constituion (1787),