Protecting Fundamental Rights Of Citizens

The South was still extremely unhappy regarding the freedom of the slaves. The Thirteenth Amendment states, “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

In 1865 Congress passed the thirteenth Amendment stating” Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall

Though the federal government created Amendments giving rights to slaves, opposers prevented them from benefitting from their rights. Within the 13th Amendment, the national government affirmed that slavery wouldn’t be accepted in our country “except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted”. The added exception allows states to determine what crime is appropriate for the punishment that is similar, if not identical, to slavery. The state governments used the exception to their advantage, creating minute laws with severe punishments. Then the national government establish the 15th Amendment, giving the freed black men the opportunity to vote, as the right to vote couldn’t be denied “on account of race, color,

Even though slavery was abolished in 1865 by the thirteenth amendment, it 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."[1]

When Confederate states wanted to join the Union after Civil war, they were required to undertake “Civil War” Amendments. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments were developed, with each supporting equality within the states. However, these Amendments proved to be insufficient in the provision of equal rights to African American citizens (Medley,2003). In the late 19th Century, laws limiting civil rights of the Blacks swept through state legislatures. Segregation then became a requirement in both Southern and Northern states.

On July, 1864 Wade-Davis Bill was passed which required majority of white men to sign an oath instead of just 10 percent and, made equality of freed slaves mandatory. Even though, after this, the differences occurred in between Lincoln and Radical republicans; Lincoln worked with them in passing the 13th amendment: first success of radical reconstruction. As mentioned in document 4, the section 1 of amendment included, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punish-ment for a crime, where of the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.”1 The amendment stated that no matter what happens after reconstruction it will never be legal to own slaves.

An understanding of the Fourteenth Amendment begins not in Congress, but in the history leading up to the Civil War. The first crucial story in understanding the Fourteenth Amendment is the striking changes in the law of race relations that took place in the North - especially in Bingham’s home state of Ohio - in the dozen or so years before the Civil War began. The second story is about the South, and the legal repression and brutal racial violence that took place there immediately after the Civil War ended (Finkelman, 2003).

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.

The thirteenth amendment was important to the slaves. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution 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(“loc.gov13th”)." Formally abolishing slavery in the United States the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31 1865 and ratified by the states on December 6 1865(“loc.gov13th”). This amendment is important because it ended slavery for everyone that was a slave in America. On June 13 1866 Thaddeus Stevens the Republican floor leader in the House of Representatives and the nation’s most Radical Republican rose to address his Congressional colleagues on the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution(“CivilWar.org”). Stevens had always fought for the struggle against slavery and for equal rights for black Americans(“CivilWar.org”). In 1837 as a delegate to Pennsylvania’s constitutional convention he had refused to sign it because it didn't give African Americans the right to vote(“CivilWar.org”). During the Civil War he

Although, it also tells us that you can work slave labor if convicted for a crime. The question of the legality can be answered simply. Our country was founded on the proposition that all men were created equal and slavery still being legal is a direct contradiction to this proposition. Because of this, the 13th amendment was justified as it embraces what the founders believed and gives true justice to millions of slaves living in oppression.

It was not until after the Civil War that the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments were enacted and began protecting individuals against the states. The Fourteenth Amendment has been the principal means by which this protection has been accomplished. It reads, in part, “No State shall...deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.” The Supreme Court had interpreted this guarantee of liberty to embrace the fundamental liberties in the Bill of Rights, meaning that the state governments must observe and protect them to the same extent as the federal government this is also known called incorporation. The amendments in the Bill of Rights are said to be incorporated against the states through the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. There has been an ongoing debate on the Supreme Court about the extent of incorporation, and whether the entire Bill of Rights, or only some of it’s guarantees, should be incorporated against the states.

The thirteenth amendment was the first to abolish slavery, or so people say. The thirteenth amendment reads, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude except as punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” the constitution. This amendment could easily fool people into believing that all was right within the world. However, soon after this amendment was added to the constitution unjust laws started to pop up within the states, “When slavery was legally abolished. A new set of laws called Black Codes emerged to criminalize legal activity for African Americans. Through the enforcement of these laws, acts such as

The Bill of Rights came to be applied to state governments through the Fourteenth amendment. Originally the Bill of Rights limited powers to the national government. Many states had their own bill of rights and the fear lied in potential tyranny of the national government and not in the state governments. According to our textbook, for many decades the courts were hesitant on defining civil liberties spelled out in the national bill of rights as constituting “due process” of law under the fourteenth amendment. In 1925 the case of Gitlow v. New York, the Supreme Court ruled that the fourteenth amendment protected the freedom of speech guaranteed under the first amendment. Many protections of the bill of rights were included in the fourteenth

The 13th amendment of United States constitution prohibited slavery. By 1981 different nations had taken action accordingly and exiled slavery. While the legal type of slavery was abrogated, the unlawful sort of slavery was left to flourish. Unlawful bondage, alluded to as human trafficking originated before the US for centuries in places such as Egypt and ancient Rome has been

The protection of human and civil rights, has been a long fight, one that this world has yet to win. The battles of this war are vicious: protests to overthrow corrupt governments are noble, but at what price? Protests and rebellions of international magnitude echo with violence and civilian casualties. A recent example of this “war” has been the Arab Revolts in 2010, which devolved into the full-fledged rebellions known as the “Arab Spring.” The already tense situations in the Middle East and North Africa, imploded into protests against unfair governments and pursuit of these corrupt leaders. The international community, especially those of democratic roots were quick to defend the “righteous” rebel