On January 31st, 1865, the 13th amendment was passed by congress. This amendment said that no one, not even those of differing colors, could be held as slaves (with the exception of prisoners). In short, this amendment freed the black slaves (and other races) of enslavement. Unfortunately though, the black slaves were never truly “free” for well over 100 years, as after the passing of the 13th amendment, they were repeatedly persecuted against, most notably in the southern United States. Furthermore, Mississippi never submitted the required paperwork to ratify the 13th amendment until February 7th, 2013 (Waldron, “Mississippi Officially Abolishes Slavery”, 2013). Fortunately though, slavery would still have been illegal even if Mississippi …show more content…
In states such as South Carolina, the “Black Codes” were adjusted to prohibit the Black community from holding any job other than Farmer or Servant (“Black Codes”, 2010). Other states allowed a Black person to be beaten should they fail to sign or renew a “Labor Contract” (“Black Codes”, 2010). Worst of all though, Apprenticeship laws allowed for children to be used as free labor, mainly for plantation owners (“Black Codes”, 2010). Fortunately, those in the Northern States disapproved of the “Black Codes” and wanted them to be abolished (“Reconstruction”, 2009/”Black Codes”, 2010). The United States Congress agreed with the public and quickly introduced the “Civil Rights Act” (“Reconstruction”, 2009/”Black Codes”, 2010). Despite President Andrew Johnson vetoing the bill, Congress managed to override the veto and put the bill into law (“Reconstruction”, 2009/”Black Codes”, 2010). As soon as the bill was officially signed, the US government took control of the Southern Reconstruction. As a result of the government intervening in the Reconstruction Era, Southern Blacks were soon elected into government offices, including Congressional Seats (“Reconstruction”, 2009/”Black Codes”, 2010). Unfortunately, thanks to the US Government’s involvement in the Reconstruction Era, white supremacist groups were created, most notably the Ku Klux Klan, or the KKK for short. While it was originally founded in 1866 as a group dedicated to stopping Blacks from
In May 1865, President Andrew Johnson announced his plans for Reconstruction. When word got out about his plans for reconstruction and how he was all land that had been confiscated by the Union Army and distributed to the freed slaves. As a result of Andrew Johnson’s idea the people in the south put in a series of laws called “black codes” which were made to restrict freed black slaves. In 1866 the “black codes” were still in
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.
Imagine living in a world where everyone was considered equal. Imagine living in a world where people were considerate of others. Imagine living in a world where everyone had the same rights and privileges. The Framers took a step at achieving this world with the passage of the 14th amendment. The intent of the 14th amendment was to prevent state governments from denying African Americans in the U.S. from their citizenship. At the time Africans were unable to attain citizenship because of their skin color. The Framer’s objective in formulating the 14th amendment was to grant citizenship to everyone born in the U.S., regardless of skin color. The 14th amendment expanded the protection of civil rights to all citizens in America.
John A. Bingham, Republican of Ohio had long been a believer in the idea of equal protection of the laws for all people, and was one of the leaders of the effort to pass the Fourteenth Amendment. While aware of the need to prove the constitutionality of the Civil Rights Act with the Fourteenth Amendment, Bingham did not actually believe that the Fourteenth Amendment created any new rights. Rather, he believed that it created a new understanding of rights already in the Constitution. Bingham maintained that, “The…equal protection of each [in] those sacred rights which are as universal and indestructible as the human race…are by this Constitution guaranteed…’” The guarantee to which Bingham was referring is contained in the Fifth
According to the thirteenth amendment, “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.” The purpose of the thirteenth amendment was to end slavery or any form of involuntary servitude everywhere among the United States. There was new hope for African Americans throughout the country but unfortunately their freedom had a limit and coincidentally, President Lincoln was assassinated shortly after. Jim Crow laws were established among the states and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the southern states of the United States up until 1965. This is how white southerners
The 1860s were an extremely turbulent decade with numerous cultural, social, and political upheavals in America. During this time period the 13th and 14th amendments were ratified giving African Americans more freedom than they had ever had. However even with the ratification of these amendments whites and blacks were still segregated. It's not possible to achieve equality while the two are races are separated. Equality can only be achieved through communication, so you can begin to understand each other's side.
“The purpose that brought the Fourteenth Amendment into being was equality before the law, and equality, not separation, was written into the law.” A state and its capabilities all come from within itself; therefore, what brings a nation forth is its ability to unite for a cause and to consistently keep the members of its nation steadfast in its belief. The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified not only to guarantee “equal protection of the laws” , but to also guarantee a more prosperous country in which its members are not distinguished based on gender, race, culture, ethnicity or religion. Consequently, every citizen is given a set of rights and the people are reassured that these rights define a government by the people for the people , but during the 1800s, the law was not just nor equal.
The Bill of Rights are the first ten amendments from the United States Constitution. The Bill of Rights was written by James Madison on December 15, 1791. The purpose of the Bill of Rights is to address the rights of the individuals that the Constitution did not specified correctly and it also was written to protect the rights of the individuals liberties even if the majority wanted to take them away.
The“ Black Codes” and “ The reconstruction Amendments ” (Documents B and A) are articles that support the argument that African Americans weren't free during reconstruction period as well as, used to diminish the liberty of the “ Freedmen ”.This was displayed by introducing new significant challenges that controlled the labor and behavior of former slaves and other African Americans. Furthermore this also claims to assist the counter argument that, former slaves were free and in addition introduces the idea that the institution of slavery continued to exist in spirit if not in law. Under the command of President Andrew Johnson in 1865 and 1866, new southern state legislatures passed restrictive “ Black Codes ” to control the labor and behavior of the freedmen and other African Americans. Outrage in the north over these codes destroyed support for the approach known as Presidential Reconstruction and led to the victory of the more radical part of the Republican Party. Some of these codes were extreme and absurd, for example SECTION
Despite efforts to gradually transition by Abraham Lincoln and his Emancipation Proclamation, Blacks into citizenship, slavery continued to be legal until the ratification of the 13th Amendment in 1865 Davidson et al. (2011). The amendment declared that physical bondage or involuntary servitude was outlawed in the US. However, both the Emancipation Proclamation and the 13th amendment failed to release blacks and integrate them into society,
The 14th Amendment provides that no government shall take away the individual right to life, liberty, and property, within its jurisdiction, without due process of law.
The fourteenth Amendment from the United States Constitution was adopted in July 9,1868 and was premeditated as one of the Reconstruction Amendments. This Amendment was to address citizenship rights and equal protection of laws. It was also proposed in response to problems related to former slaves forming from the Civil War. Mostly the 14th Amendment includes equal rights because the 1st section of the 14th Amendment States that all people are born or naturalized in the United States and are subject to the juridification thereof, are U.S citizens and no State can enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States. The 15th Amendment was addressed for granting African-American men the right to vote.
The Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868. This ratification altered the balance of state and federal power. It prevented states from denying basic civil rights and gave Congress power to implement its assurance of liberty and equality. Despite that each state was required to approve the Fourteenth Amendment which granted “equal protection” of the Constitution to former slaves, the Ku Klux Klan did not honor this protection. Not only didn’t the Klan disregard the Fourteenth Amendment, the Supreme Court also became unsympathetic to the rights of blacks and wary of congressional interference in state affairs. The Supreme Court severely limited Congress’ civil rights power by tapering interpreting the Fourteenth Amendment, which led to many civil rights being watered down.
Since the Thirteenth Amendment was passed in America than that means that all of the slaves are free and get the same rights as any usual white man. Thirteenth amendment makes slavery and involuntary servitude, in America it is illegal to have slaves. President Andrew Johnson helped get the thirteenth amendment ratified by three-fourths of the state in 1865. To pass a law the state legislatures have to vote more than three fourths or else the law does not become a law. It also takes a long time for all of the legislatures to vote on it because they have to talk about it and agree or disagree with each other and that could become a very long time before the law gets approved or not. They ended slavery after the Civil War and the Senate proposed the thirteenth amendment in 1864. Slavery was the main reason that the Civil War started. Abraham Lincoln started it by trying to put the Thirteenth Amendment into the Constitution. Kentucky is the only state that still uses the Union and declined to emancipate slaves. Kentucky is one of the states that allowed people to have slaves and have people work for them legally. The thirteenth amendment is the subject of controversy. The Supreme Court ruled the Thirteenth amendment and says that it does not apply to discrimination in private relationships. Mississippi did not ratify the thirteenth amendment. Mississippi was allowed to be
The 14th Amendment was one of the Amendments that struggled from being ratified. It was rejected by some of the northern and southern states because they don’t want the slaves to have their equal rights. Furious, the members of the Congress placed the Southern States under the military rule forcing them to ratify the said amendment. It allowed citizenship, state action, privileges or amnesties, due process clause and equal protection. It also granted apportionment of representatives, disqualification for rebellion, debts incurred during rebellion and enforcement clause.