Passing the thirteenth amendment enabled Abraham Lincoln to successfully save the Union and the republic. The primary tension regarding slavery grew from two different readings of the Constitution. The Confederacy believed slaves could be treated as property, whereas the Union believed in “‘we the people’, not we the white people” (347). Douglass explains how certain measures in the Constitution should have been disregarded after the slave trade was abolished.…
In the year of 1877, Reconstruction started and was a big success in resolving political, social, and economic problems. Furthermore, it restored the United States as a unified nation. The era was established to fix all the conflicts between the North and South. Additionally three more amendments were stated, the 13th, 14th, and 15th; declaring former slaves the right to vote, earning their citizenship, and making slavery illegal. Although the former black slaves were now free, they had no land and very few rights, and most did not even have family. However with the reconstruction, blacks were able to gain rights, but were continuously harassed by the white southerners. The formation of the Ku Klux Klan sabotaged hopes for freedom and progress for African Americans.…
Through the years of American history there’s been many different amendments past through the government that have given, taken, or altered the rights of all citations. While during the era of reconstruction was happening, there was 3 important amendments passed through congress theses being the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. The 14th amendment had 5 sections within the article covering many different parts of rights of congressmen, state repetions, and people within them. Eric Foner who write the book A short history of reconstruction talks about the undergoing power this amendment had to switch power and majority in the house of legislative branch of government. There was the thought that black suffrage was not avoidable and nothing was…
Before the Union had won in 1865, we were faced with many challenges after the war ended. One of the main challenges post-war was the mixture of 4 million newly released African Americans in the nation and some federal representation from former states in the rebellion. Since then the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments were added to the Constitution which explained civil rights and legal protection to any former slaves during this…
The Reconstruction of the South had both positive and negative effects on the people of the South. For African Americans the Reconstruction brought many different opportunities as well as new rights. It also helped the African Americans create some legal precedents and new institutions that helped with survival, stated on page 370. Many defeated white and slaves had different views of what freedom meant. The 13th amendments is the abolition of slavery, the 14th amendment which was ratified in 1868 is citizenship rights, equal protection, apportionment, civil war debt, the 15th amendment was passed in 1869 which is right to vote not denied by race.…
One obvious success was the unification of the union. In addition to the re-unification, Freedmen’s Bureau was another success during the Reconstruction. This bureau was created in 1865 to help the poor white farmers and the former slaves after the Civil War. The organization provided food, medical aid, housing, schools, and much more to these people in need (“Freedmen’s Bureau”). Congress had intended the bureau to only be in effect for one year, but this was so beneficial that they extended the life of the program. The Freedmen’s Bureau gained a lot of support around the country, to president Johnson’s dislike. Some of the biggest successes of the Reconstruction were the passing of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments. The Thirteenth Amendment was passed by Congress in 1865 and officially abolished slavery. The Fourteenth Amendment was passed in 1866 and required states to extend an equal citizenship to the African Americans and all of the people who were born in the United States. This virtually overruled the Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case who said that African Americans could not be considered citizens. Finally, the Fifteenth Amendment was ratified in 1870. This amendment gave the millions of African Americans the right to vote. This, however, did not give the voting rights to women and it did not guarantee the right to hold office or prevent states from limiting the voting rights of Africans (Boyer). These beneficial reforms and amendments helped to exemplify the positive legacies that came out of the…
In 1865, following the defeat of the Confederate States of America in the Civil War, the United States entered a time of despair known as the Reconstruction period. This period is commonly remembered for the advancement of rights given to African American citizens. Two monumental advancements in the fight for racial equality were the fourteenth and fifteenth amendments. While the fourteenth amendment "guaranteed equality before the law" for blacks, the fifteenth amendment granted suffrage, the right to vote, to black men.…
As both the confederacy and Civil War ended , came the Reconstruction of America and the social classes’ power in the government. With the thirteenth amendment being approved by President Lincoln, slavery had been abolished in both the northern and southern states .The southern states were riled and violence erupted causing Congress to send an army force to watch over the South, and with the fifteenth amendment passing, the violence only increased. The fifteenth amendment gave the newly freed slaves and any person of color the right to vote and have a say in their government as it was used to give the Black population a head start into society. The people who were once less than the common white man were given the right to own land, seek education,…
Answer: During the decade known as Radical Reconstruction (1867-77), Congress granted African American men the status and rights of citizenship, including the right to vote, as guaranteed by the 14th and 15th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution. During Reconstruction, some 2,000 African Americans held public office, from the local level all the way up to the U.S. Senate, though they never achieved representation in government proportionate to their numbers.…
There are varying historic interpretations of the period of Reconstruction and whether it proved promising for African Americans. Some historians such as William A. Dunning suggest that the southerners were the victims of Reconstruction and a growing population of African Americans formulated ‘Negro Rule’ whereas others contradict this with the Post-Revisionists claiming that the period was ‘non-revolutionary’ and conservative in terms of black independence.…
The political freedom of the former slaves was one of the best handled points of the reconstruction. When the thirteenth amendment was passed it stated that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude … shall exist in the United states” ( the thirteenth amendment to the constitution). This amendment was written to show the united states that slavery was going to end and they were forced to relent.The next major step forward was the passing of the 15th amendment in 1870. This…
During a period of Reconstruction, there were two exceptionally significant implications to the U.S. Constitution: the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments. The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified in July of 1868, consisted of five sections, which ultimately stated that ALL “persons born or naturalized in the U.S., and subject to jurisdiction thereof are citizens”. Additionally, it reduced state representation in Congress proportionally for any state disfranchising male citizens, denied former Confederates the right to hold office, and lastly repudiated (meaning disclaimed/disowned) Confederate debt. Moving right along, the Fifteenth Amendment, ratified in March of 1870 and consisting of only two sections, guaranteed the right of suffrage to ALL…
As the American Civil War came to a bloody end with the northern side conquering, it was evident the newly reunited Unites States was in ruins economically, as well as socially and politically. Beginning in 1865, this initiated the beginning of the Reconstruction era with the purpose of rebuilding and reestablishing America. Among the American people were the newly freed African Americans whom who were dumped into society frequently destitute, unaided, and unknowing. Although the north had won and blacks were given freedom, they still had fight to exercise their newly given rights. While Reconstruction was meant to recreate, reform, and restore America into a successful, united country while integrating recently liberated African Americans…
The social and political situations of freedmen during reconstruction has not improved for African Americans today. During reconstruction, a vicious and radical group known as the ku-klux-klan as well as the Black Codes were both present and deteriorated the freedmen’s social and political situation. Voting restrictions since the election of 2010 along with the discrimination against and because of their race are both present today. Because of this African Americans still have a negative involvements with both political and social situations. These negative aspects towards freedmen or freed blacks during reconstruction has not improved into present as their are still many laws, restrictions and discriminations towards African Americans today which reduces their…
The first Reconstruction Amendment passed in 1864, which was the13th amendment. It was the tool that freed all slaves residing in the United States. The 13th amendment was the first step in black Americans gaining equality, and gave the black community a foothold in their fight for justice. However, the government provided no compensation or federal aid to freedmen. Furthermore, the majority of freedmen were uneducated, and only had working skills in the agricultural field. This led to sharecropping, an arrangement in which someone could use a farmer’s land, and in…