Essay On 13th Amendment

The 13th Amendment, created out of the ashes of the American Civil War, declared that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." It was an end to the harsh cruelty that was brought upon African Americans for generations; however, a loophole exists within a simple phrase: “except as a punishment for crime…”. Even though all Americans are considered free under the 13th Amendment on paper, in reality this cannot be further from the truth as people were still considered a slave to the state if they committed a crime. Over time though, this “hands-off” doctrine approach gradually started to shift throughout the 1960s and 70s because the Civil Rights Movement stretched far beyond just African Americans. For prisoners, it was a justifiable call to action for basic human rights.

The 13th amendment abolished slavery and freed millions of African Americans. This was supposed to improve their lives and give them a new beginning. However, more than 30 years after the abolishment, their situation has not improved. Their right to vote was revoked in many southern states during the early 1890s. Less than 40% of black children were enrolled in schools in Georgia by 1880. Between 1880 and 1918, over 2400 African Americans were hanged. Africans had the lowest paying jobs and very few owned land. Jim Crow laws were established in many southern states to legalize segregation. Their situation was disastrous and wasn’t improving. Four respected spokespersons presented their ideas to fix this racial inequality crisis. The four courageous people who offered their alternatives were Ida B Wells, Booker T. Washington, Henry Turner and W.E.B Du Bois.

On a date that will be remembered forever as a step forward for our nation, July 28, 1868, the Fourteenth Amendment became part of the U.S. Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment gave a new sense of hope and inspiration to a once oppressed people. It was conceived to be the foundation for restoring America to its great status and prosperity. The Amendment allowed “equal protection under the law”, no matter what race, religion, sex, sexual preference or social status. It was designed to protect the newly freed slaves. However, it only helped the white race.

Argument found in 13th: 13th states a problem about our 13th amendment claiming that everyone is free to their freedom but in all reality African Americans are still being targeted and put in prisons and treated like slaves for no reason.

Slavery is alive in the United States of America; it’s just morphed to fit itself into modern times. Every time I see the text of the 13th Amendment, I wonder if that little caveat was intentional or just really naïve.

In the 1860s, the north and the south fought against each other over the long-standing controversy over slavery. At the end of the Civil War, the 13th amendment abolish slavery and slaves were free from their masters. The ex-slaves were free, but it would take some time for them to gain equal rights. Former slaves faced obstacles for equal rights like voting and segregation for nearly a century. Although the 14th and 15th amendments helped blacks with equal rights, there was no one to blaze a trail for blacks until Martin Luther King Jr. came along. Martin Luther King Jr. was a civil rights activist and became a figurehead during the Civil Rights Movement for his peaceful protests. Martin Luther King Jr. peacefully stood against racial

Thanks to the groundbreaking Thirteenth Amendment, no person may be forced to work except in retribution for a crime he or she committed. The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is often viewed only as the amendment that abolished the insufferable slavery of African-Americans, - and this does appear to be the case on the surface - however many more interpretations promise many useful arguments for the labor movement and cause controversy over its ineffectiveness in combating racism and its hand in creating the hotly-debated American for-profit prison system.

Many pregnant immigrant women are illegally coming into the country just to have their babies. These women get free medical attention for themselves and the baby. This is costing the U.S. millions of dollars every year.

By the time the sun barely peeks over the horizon, several others and I have been working the fields for hours. We pick cotton until our fingers bleed. If my first strip isn’t done before noon, the whip will come slashing. If I complete my strip and take a break before moving on to the next section, the whip will come slashing. If my legs give out and can no longer support my weight, the whip will come slashing. When I was informed about the new amendment to the constitution tears welled up in my eyes as I took a step towards freedom, or what I thought was freedom. The thirteenth amendment brought forth the idea that slavery would be abolished. However, the congressmen left a loophole in the amendment, allowing slavery to continue, but under another name.

"To sit back hoping that someday, someway, someone will make things right­ is to go on feeding the crocodile, hoping he will eat you last ­but eat you he will.”—Ronald Reagan. Illegal immigration continues to disrespect this nation’s immigration laws completely, illegal aliens are criminals, nonetheless. There must soon be a solution to this problem because the U.S. born babies of these aliens are weighing down taxpayers with overbearing free benefits. Taxpayers toil to pay the billion dollar taxes of anchor baby benefits while illegal aliens generally do not pay any form of tax—making taxpayers alone compensate for the funds they do not deserve to pay. Ultimately, babies born to illegal immigrants create a financial burden for U.S. taxpayers because of rising costs in health care, housing assistance and welfare, and public education.

The purpose of this article was to inform other about birthright citizenship. The article further explains how illegal immigrants use their child “anchor baby” to gain citizenship through birthrights, also known as the 14th Amendment. This article also explains the misinterpretation of the 14th Amendment. There is no specific author but was published by Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). FAIR is known as a non-profit, non- partisan organization. Their mission is to acknowledge and aware the public of immigration issues, present solutions, give answers, and ensure the public’s voice is heard. Since their mission is to inform the public, this article is easy and useful for the general public. The article explains certain terms

“The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers” (2013) says that on average, illegal immigration costs the head of household taxpayer one thousand one hundred seventeen dollars a year. One of the major costs of illegal immigration is the cost to educate the children of these immigrants. According to “The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on United States Taxpayers” (2013), the costs of education is close to fifty-two billion dollars a year. Since the majority of illegal aliens do not pay taxes, it falls on American taxpayers to fund what goes towards

Not including the cost of education, Los Angeles County estimates that illegal immigration and birthright citizenship cost taxpayers over $1 billion each year (Feere).

Illegal immigration also has a great cost as well. Illegal immigrant households imposed, in total, costs exceeding $26 billion for the federal government, while these immigrants paid only 16 billion dollars in federal taxes, therefore creating a fiscal deficit of $10.4 billion per year at the federal level. The largest contributors to this deficit were Medicaid with $2.5 billion, medical treatment for the uninsured with $2.2 billion, food-assistance programs with $1.9 billion, the federal prison and court systems with $1.6 billion, and federal aid to schools with $1.4 billion.

What is an anchor baby? Would you like someone to call your children an anchor baby? When many illegal women come to the United States to have babies, so they can obtain citizenship for the children, and then they would return to their country, so that when their children are old enough, they may return to the U.S with no problems is called an anchor baby. As a young immigrant I would dislike it if someone called my children such a disgusting name. Personally, I have lived all the terrors, immigrants go through dangerous obstacles just to reach the American dream. The desert is not a safe way to reach the American dream, been lost for three to more days, starvation, and thirst are not a way to die. Therefore, the Supreme Court should not repeal or change the Fourteenth Amendment. “In both ways large or small immigrants have helped shape the United States for the better”. Also, immigrants have contributed to the state’s economic growth, and the American culture. The physical growth and political power that we have now would had ceased to exist. [Debate pg. 591]