The specific part of the Constitution that was involved was the Thirteenth Amendment and the Fourteenth Amendment. These two amendments held great power but unfortunately did not overpower the law. As a result of the Thirteenth Amendment, discrimination done in public areas had no relevance to the prohibition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was established to prohibit slavery to people; however, it did not apply to these cases. These actions were due to the acts of discrimination of private businesses and their own doings. In Constitutional Law: Principles and Practice Hames & Ekern states, “Parties in the Civil Rights Cases also argued that the Thirteenth Amendment authorized Congress to enact the law in question. Plaintiffs argued that
Although segregation was considered constitutional, it’s main meaning was that everyone would be “separate, but equal”, but this was not the case. For example, in the text it says “....the court determined that racial segregation in public areas was acceptable and legal, as long as the segregated facilities were “equal”’ (Source C). This shows that the situation is wrong because even if areas are separated, it will never be equal. This also shows that since
The Thirteenth Amendment loophole is significantly advantageous for corporations and their executives because they unethically manipulate it to boost their profits.
The passing of the 13th amendment changed the lives of African Americans in the South, by giving them the freedom to live their own life, without doing labor. The freedoms and rights they had, allowed them to go on with a new life and not having a master who controls their every move. They had a choice to leave slavery and be a free man, or continue their life as a slave with their former masters. For example, the Not Free Yet Worksheet states, “We was made to leave or go back and live as slaves.”. This shows how the white men of the South wanted the slaves to leave to the North and be free, or to work as slaves as they did previously. However, fighting for freedom was still a difficult task for the slaves to do, but that didn’t stop them from
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.
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.
In history class, we’ve learned that the 13th amendment had set out to abolish slavery. The 13th amendment is usually something that is regarded as a major feat for the progress of human and civil rights within the United States. Unfortunately, this depiction of “overcoming” slavery and in turn racism, isn’t necessarily a reality. Rather, as the film 13th displays, the 13th amendment has loopholes that mostly affect minority groups (primarily Black and Hispanic people), which have allowed for mass incarceration and what could easily be considered as modern day slavery to slip through the cracks.
The 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States and would essentially free an entire people from the chains of bondage. Many of the framers of the constitution were in fact slave owners. It is believed that as many as twenty five of the fifty members of the continental convention were slave holders at one time or another. Could the Constitution have been written in such a way that it would support slavery? The author, Steven Mitz writes: "Thurgood Marshall, the first African American to sit on the Supreme Court, said that the Constitution was 'defective from the start.' He pointed out that the framers had left out a majority of Americans when they wrote the phrase, 'We the People.'". Aside from the Bill of Rights, the Thirteenth Amendment is one of the most important amendments to the Constitution, in the fact that it effectively ended slavery in the United States.
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.
The thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments are all important; they each deal with fundamental human rights and are unique in their own ways. Each amendment is special in the sense that they each deal with different scenarios brought on by early American racism and the unstable government. The thirteenth amendment deals with the abolition of slavery, the fourteenth amendment deals with civil rights, and the fifteenth amendment deals with voting. The thirteenth amendment is important because it states that we cannot have slaves or servants that do not want to work for you. This is good because it gives people a law regarding slavery and it abolished slavery as a whole.
Argument found in 13th: The mass increase of population in prison systems is a continuation of slavery that allegedly ended in 1865.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is commonly regarded as a major victory against racism that further advanced democracy in America. Adopted on July 9, 1868, it attempted to transform the oppressive culture of the Confederacy by granting citizenship rights to all people born or naturalized in the United States and affording equal protection under the law to all U.S. citizens. Nonetheless, in spite of aiming to put an end to discrimination against African-Americans and other minority groups, this important amendment did not entirely succeed in eradicating racism during the Reconstruction era.
“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.” In chapter 12 and 13 of the textbook, it says that juries were always all-white in the South, even after the Civil War, so I feel like it’s a given that they would convict black people probably every single time they were charged with a crime, especially if the trial was in the South (Hine 303). So even if the wording of the Amendment wasn’t intentional, it was certainly immediately abused to take away the voting rights of black men and keep the power in the hands of white people. Some of the examples of charges against black people were so stupid too, like loitering or being homeless.
Issued by Abraham Lincoln, the Emancipation Proclamation set all slaves, under Confederate control, free, and armed black troops for the Civil War. A year later, beginning in September of 1864, Maryland, Tennessee, Missouri, and Louisiana abolished slavery. Shortly after, approved by Congress in February of 1865 and ratified in December, the Thirteenth Amendment was official. This amendment abolished slavery throughout the entire Union, which finally freed Kentucky and Delaware slaves. The war started as a fight to preserve the Union, but the new amendment went to show that the war had shifted to a fight to end slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment resulted in the abolition of slavery permanently. Although this freedom did not mean equality. Northern African Americans had been battling for their civil rights before and after the war. They were petitioning and campaigning at the state level, and created the National Convention of Colored Men and the National Rights League at the national level. None of these had as big of an impact as when the Radical republicans in Congress got involved to help overturn the inequalities.
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.
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