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.

Throughout America’s history the franchise has been withheld from different groups. This has been possible due to weakly written laws that do not provide adequate protections. In 1965 PL 89-110 was passed, this law, commonly known as the Voting Rights Act of 1965, finally provided real protections for minorities living in southern states. In recent years the language of the law was modified within the Supreme Court to take away the law’s primary power. In the following mock Congressional testimony we will go back to 1848, 13 years before the American Civil War, and provide evidence of why a law like PL 89-110 is necessary and commendable.

The 13th Amendment says “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.” (Doc C) Although many years later African Americans still were not being treated like people, abolishing slavery was a big step to the stop of harsh treatment toward African Americans. The citizenship, and the right to vote are granted to African Americans by the 14, and 15 Amendments. The passing of these Amendments insured that the African Americans are people.

The genre of “Saving the Right to Organize” would be an article. This would be a secondary source because it is an article, and it refines the primary source. The topic of this source would be that it focuses on the 13th Amendment replacing the Wagner Act on labor movements in the U.S. Percentage of U.S. workers who were unionized in 1953. A good thesis from this source would be Mark Dudzic’s words, “Articulating [worker] right[s] solely as an

Being the only dissenting justice in the case Plessy v. Ferguson Justice Harlan spoke of a constitution that did not see a difference between its citizens. That the constitution provides equality for all, that it is color blind in fact he stated that “Our Constitution is colorblind, and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens” . These words would make Justice Harlan a hero in the eyes of many he stood up for those who couldn’t and he stood alone. However, what many people don’t realize is that these words were not simply stated by a Supreme Court Justice. But by a Supreme Court Justice who was a former slaveholder, who at one point did not recognize nor respect the Emancipation Proclamation and a judge who also refused to recognize or the Thirteenth

“The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it cannot forget what the soldiers did here” are the words esteemed President Lincoln spoke years ago on the field of the deadliest battle in our country’s history. Today, students across the country pull out copies of his monumental words and travel long distances to view the Gettysburg memorial, in order to fully remember the soldiers who fought on that day. But it was more than the soldier’s courage that makes them recalled by generations of people. It was the vision they strived for. Now, the 13th Amendment stands in place of these fallen soldiers, a concrete representation of the ideals many fought for. The 13th Amendment honored the courageous soldiers, who gave “their

The amendment I choose from the United States Constitution is the Thirteenth Amendment. I picked this amendment, because it was created and added to the Constitution at a really difficult and troubling time in the United States of America. At this time in America there was a very high tension between the North and the South that caused a great rift in this country. The South did not like the view of North on slavery and decided on separating from part of the nation that did not agree with them. The war that boiled over and started was the Civil War.

African Americans were freed in rebel states in 1863, and after the civil war the thirteenth amendment was made in all U.S. As a result, the masses of southern blacks were now facing the difficulty of northern black people who were facing free people surrounded by many hostile white people.

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 December of 1865, Congress passed the 13th amendment abolishing slavery in the United States. By July of 1868, the 14th amendment was passed to grant citizenship to anyone, regardless of race, born in the United States and prohibiting states from depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property without due process of law, or rejecting to any person, within their jurisdiction, the equal protection of the laws (Jim Crow Stories). Immediately following the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln and Republicans were trying to give equal rights to African Americans and set rules that would allow the Southern states back into the Union. At the same time, the Radical Republicans were working to minimize African Americans’ rights; this era is known as

The 14th Amendment was introduced in 1866 and ratified in 1868 by Congress and two-thirds of the state. It attacked national court cases such as Dred Scott and state cases such as People v. Hall in California. This amendment provided citizenship rights to former slaves born in the U.S., guaranteeing no state can deny an individual of their privileges without the due process of law. It also guaranteed each individual the equal protection of laws.

The significance that the 14th amendment had was so imperative because, not only did it make sure fellow African-Americans were granted citizenship they also had to be treated as equals. This allowed them to have equal civil rights and equal legal rights. It is almost as though they no longer treated the African-Americans as slaves and workers but more like people. “It stated that all persons born or naturalized in the United States are granted citizenship”.(14th amendment SECTION 1) This also allowed everyone as a whole to have equal opportunities. The 14th amendment was proposed on June 13th 1865 and it wad passed on July 9th 1868. There were 38 states that ratified the 14th amendment.

Following the beginning of the Civil War while Abraham Lincoln was positioned president, a strategy to preserve the Union during the Civil War allowed Blacks to fight besides whites. Thou President Abraham Lincoln always despised slavery; he knew that most of the world did not find the act of humane imprisonments abhorrent. Abating his own personal feelings and morals concerning slavery, Abraham Lincoln did not decide to push forward the abolishment of slavery at that time. As the war progressed and thousands of slaves joined the northern armies in battle in mid-1862, Abraham Lincoln was convinced that the abolition of slavery was now a sound military strategy. (__) As the war continued to use slaves in battle and successfully having won the Union Victory at the Battle of Antietam in Maryland, President Abraham Lincoln announced the

It is without a doubt that discrimination in this country has existed since its early stages. However, to this day after many movements and eras to try and eliminate it all together, it remains. And in this class, we seek to understand why. For these last couple of weeks, we discussed the 14th amendment and more specifically referenced its equal protection clause which vows to protect the fundamental rights of “all” citizens of the United States. Because of this state and federal governments attempt to create neutral laws that will apply fairly to all citizens in the United States. Which seems to be the best thing they can try and do nonetheless if a bill is said to be neutral, but has an unequal influence on a particular group of people problems

The use of storytelling in the DuVernay's documentary is used to illustrate the legacies of slavery and the 13th amendment. In the documentary, from Nixon's time as president to the present, the war on drugs has become more serious. While Nixon was president he believed that the black population was a menace to society. Thus, Nixon created a system that targeted black people without expressing the underlying motivations and inspiration of an unjust criminal system. Instead of a war on black people, Nixon suggested a war on drugs. While Regan was president , the war on drugs was consecrated. Throughout time, 'this war on drugs' became more insidious and was born and reborn while the years and presidents passed. To this