The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments of The United States Constitution were important for implementing a total reconstruction of America and the blessings of of liberty to everyone that lived within the borders or our country. These ideas of equality would be reached out to the entire population including but not limited to slaves and their descendants and all American Citizens. These Amendments were especially important to African Americans and minorities who were the main victims of slavery and inequality during the time periods in which these Amendments were ratified. These amendments changed the way America operated as a country from politics to human rights and equality by granting freedom to sformer slaves and the prevention of discrimination from all citizens of the United States.
The Thirteenth Amendment to United States Constitution was passed by congress on January 31, 1865 and was ratified by the states on December 6, 1865 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.” This Amendment was the first of three of what is historically known as the reconstruction amendments following the American Civil War. One of many major importances of the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment was it created a constitutional law against slavery that banned this practice in all of the American States. There is a common misperception that the Emancipation Proclamation given by President Abraham Lincoln actually abolished slavery, this is not the case, it only proclaimed freedom to slaves in the ten states in rebellion and was not actually a la...
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Tsesis, A. (2009). Interpreting the thirteenth amendment. Rochester: Social Science Research Network. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1448852
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The 15th Amendment was an law added to the United States Constitution in 1870 that gave citizens the right to vote no matter their race, skin color, or previous conditions of servitude. This specifically applied to African American males who, though technically were citizens under the 14th amendment, were still being oppressed and restricted from voting. According to Angela Davis in her text, while some feminist activists in the 19th century supported this amendment, others were adamantly opposed to it. These activists were both males and females and many of them had been or were distinguished figures in the abolitionist movement. Supporters argued that African American men had as much of a right as anyone to vote and shouldn 't be denied that right simply because women were, while antagonists argued that until women
The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments are the amendments adopted to the United States Constitution after the Civil War. In succession, these amendments were adopted to the Constitution.
...ious slaves the right to citizenship, meaning they were able to do anything that a normal citizen could do, for example hold seats of power. The Fifteenth amendment ensured that they were given the right to vote. However, the reason that their accomplishments were in vain was because they did not get rid of racism. Whatever advancement they made was taken back due to whites still believing in racism. After the Reconstruction era, the South feared an African American with power so they formed hate groups and technicalities to get around amendments. Even though the Fourteenth amendment ensured that slaves were given the right to citizenship, the whole ideal of “separate but equal” came into play. With the Fifteenth amendment, the South was able to justify the racist action of enforcing a literacy clause or a grandfather clause by writing it into their constitution.
The 13th amendment to the Constitution legally ended slavery, however, one could argue that socially and economically it did not. Once African Americans were free, they had nothing and were given very little. Due to the racist attitudes that were rampant in the South, it was nearly impossible to find anything but low paying, unskilled jobs. Because blacks needed work and plantation owners had vacant land they came to a compromise – sharecropping. Sharecropping was an agreement that in exchange for land, a cabin, and tools, at a very high interest rate, the landowner would receive a portion of the harvest. Although this may sound like a good deal, the high interest rates made the debt nearly impossible to repay, thus once again the African Americans were under control of the white race. The contracts also included clauses that were sim...
The Voting Rights Act marked a significant shift in American democracy, ensuring the right to vote for all regardless of race, religion, or sex. The key provisions of the Voting Rights Act, Section IV and Section V, ensured the overview of all state mandated voting laws, safeguarding constitutional values despite racial opposition. The breaking down of this provision under Supreme Court Ruling Shelby County, Alabama v. Holder, Attorney General has the potential to undo decades of progress to tackle racial barriers, isolating and withholding the right to vote for the weak, effectively dissolving democracy for the ones who need it the most.
The Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution affects us today by granting citizenship, civil rights, and congressional representation.
To the African American community the 15th amendment was the most important amendment to the constitution. The 15th Amendment was made to provide every man, no matter what color he was, the right to vote. This made every man equal, although not all were treated that way. The 15th Amendment was very significant to many Americans of different races. This Amendment changed their lives forever by allowing them to vote.
Wolfe, Alan. "Most Americans Want to Revise Affirmative Action." Opposing Viewpoints: Interracial America. Ed. Mary E. Williams. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2001. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. HAYFIELD SECONDARY SCHOOL. 5 Sep. 2009 .
President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 freed slaves in the Confederate states. But it did not guarantee anyone an education, a job, or a place to live. The Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution made slavery illegal. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments were passed later, and they were supposed to give blacks all their civil rights, especially the right to vote.
For more than a couple of centuries, African Americans were enslaved by white Americans during the 1600s-1800s. There was no action at that time to prohibit owning slaves until another amendment was made. The Thirteenth Amendment had gained more significance than any other Amendment before it. Abolishing slavery had created controversy which then led to a civil war between the northern and southern states during Lincoln’s presidency. Through 1861-1965, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified eight months after the assassination of President Lincoln.
Skrentny, John David. The Ironies of Affirmative Action: Politics, Culture, and Justice in America. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
The passage of the 13th amendment seems simple. Lincoln declared the emancipation proclamation and set the majority of the slaves free. General opinion was already shifting toward abolition and a bill like the 13th amendment seemed inevitable. This is the well-known but extremely overgeneralized view of national abolition. Leonard L. Richards attempts to correct this general perspective in Who freed the slaves?. He argues that abolitionists were actually fighting an uphill battle throughout the civil war. Not only was there opposition from Democrats, the majority of Republicans was also against abolition. This only changed near the end of the civil war with countless endeavors to change public opinion and heavy secret bargaining.
...as one of the most influential Amendments passed in the U.S. ended slavery, but African Americans still did not have the same rights that white Americans did. The 13th amendment made everyone seem the same. People should not be treated different and we are all equal.
In this essay I will be writing about the effectiveness of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the Constitution of the United States of America and considering whether they achieved the purpose of making life better for African Americans. I’m going to start this essay by talking about the Amendments and what they were designed to achieve.
The passage of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States gave African-Americans recognized rights under the law. However, a national commitment to the civil and political rights of all U.S. citizens without regard to matters of race was destined to last less then a decade.4