Slaves played a fundamental role in the Civil War by helping the Union With the Union's victory against the confederacy blacks become one step closer to equality. The acceptance of runaway slaves into the union was against the Fugitive Slave law of 1850, but Union commanders eventually decided to take them in. Union commanders viewed salves as a major tool for the confederacy so by returning them the confederacy would have more laborers. Slaves in the confederacy served to to task such as digging trenches, moving supplies and producing food and other supplies for war. The Union commanders were hesitant to have blacks fight for the Union, but eventually formed troops composed of only black soldiers. Racial discrimination has been an issue for a long as different races have populated the same area. A large portion …show more content…
of blacks before the civil war were slaves, and those who were free still faced with discrimination. After the Civil War ended a whole new struggle began over what equality meant. A series of laws were passed to give all races equality, but they weren’t properly enforced, defined or protected.
The fourteenth amendment of the constitution was ratified on July 9, 1865 and granted citizenship to all born or naturalized in the states.The fourteenth amendment was ratified by receiving the three-fourths of state votes needed.
The fourteenth amendment was an effort to give everyone equal rights in the eyes of the law. Most southern states were in disagreement with the ratification of the fourteenth amendment, because it was intended to abolish slavery. Equality on paper didn’t translate equally into the real world because segregation wasn’t supported by all whites. Even though the fourteenth amendment stated that blacks were to be treated equal that was hardly ever the case. Blacks were still
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Throughout history there have been numerous supreme court cases in which the fourteenth amendment's boundaries has been put into question. The supreme court Plessy vs Ferguson is an example of how congress legalized segregation as long as everyone received equal treatment. This loophole shows us how the fourteenth amendment wasn’t strict enough on granting Americans equality. The Plessy vs Ferguson demonstrates how not even political figures were ready to truly integrate. The Plessy vs Ferguson case was an important court case in American history because it showed how those in power could manipulate the laws by interpreting them to their choice. Once segregation became legal again a series of laws promoting and enforcing segregation were created. These segregation laws that were known as the Jim Crow laws. The Jim Crow laws abided with the fourteenth amendment, because blacks were still treated equally. Once again blacks were left to face segregation once again. Even though equality was granted by law, blacks were still faced with unequal treatment . This unfair treatment was legale due to the loophole that were found in laws passed to protect equality. Congress could have easily made modifications to laws such as fourteenth to enforces complete desegregation, but many whites were against sharing facilities and commodities with blacks.