Many Americans believe the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment signifies the end of the oppression for African-Americans and marks the beginning of equality for all citizens in the United States, but that belief notes their lack of social awareness. The amendment abolishes slavery, but states the exception, as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Even though the amendment did much to ameliorate African-Americans' position in society, the exception presents a loophole that enables the exploitation of African-Americans. The exception of punishment in the Thirteenth Amendment reconstructed systemic racism rather than de-institutionalize slavery, which made a negative impact on American society. Prior to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment, the United States was economically, politically, and socially defined by its heavy dependence on slaves. The South's …show more content…
predominantly agrarian economy and shortage of laborers led to its reliance on slave labor. The reliance on slaves led to a southern culture that revolved around slavery. So, the "sale of people represented the most lucrative economic transaction" (Newman 1). Due to the trade and industrial based economy, the North did not depend on slaves. The contrast in the North and South's economies led to political strife, especially regarding slavery. The sectional differences brought about power struggles that threatened the union of the nation; compromises, originating in the Constitutional Convention, were made to preserve the balance power in Congress and pacify the North and South (Heidler 1). The nation's leaders, including the Founding Fathers, placed placation over abolition with the passage of the Three-fifths Compromise, Missouri Compromise and Compromise of 1850. The issue of slavery was not resolved and resulted in the Civil, the Emancipation Proclamation made clear the Union Army was fighting in the war to end slavery (Meltzer 235). Shortly after the Union Army won, the Thirteenth Amendment was ratified and the immediate result was a Southern economy in jeopardy and poor, homeless freedmen. Immediately after the ratification of the amendment, the portrayal and perception of African-Americans had shifted to a negative depiction, and generations of Blacks were subjected to cyclical poverty. The archetypes of genial slaves were replaced with depiction of African-American men as threats, especially in media. Although D. W. Griffith’s Birth of a Nation revolutionized American cinema, the popular film depicted African-Americans as fools and predatory rapists, which propagated violence against African-Americans. Also influential, blackface minstrelsy was an integral part of American theater during the 19th Century; the portrayal of Blacks perpetuated stereotypes and vilified African-Americans through blatant racism (Bert Williams 1). With the Southern economy in a disarray, sharecropping served as a replacement, and "labor relations also retained characteristics of the master-slave relationship, including the widespread threat and reality of violence to enforce black subservience" (Campbell 2). Then as larges groups of African-Americans fled the South when economic opportunity arose in northern cities, "white flight" occurred and governments and private interests disinvested in cities; this led to greater poverty and less political power in the inner cities (Miller 1). The portrayal of Blacks in media and subjugation through impoverishment influenced the criminalization of African-Americans and made them more susceptible to crime in the inner cities. America's public perception of African-American men as threats influenced political issues and policies, which led to the overrepresentation of Blacks as criminals. President Nixon popularized the "war on drugs", Nixon's advisor, John Ehrlichman, admitted the war on drugs was code for an assault against Blacks by associating Blacks with heroine to criminalize them (Baum 2). Then during the 1970s, there was a crack cocaine epidemic that devastated urban communities. notable, President Reagan declared a war on drugs to combat the epidemic, but rather than treating addiction as a health issue, it was considered a criminal offense. Contrary to the fact Whites users of cocaine and crack cocaine during 1992 exceeded the number of Black users, ninety-two percent of people convicted were black; the imbalance in convictions is partly due to police presence in the city being greater than in the suburbs (Reed 3). Then, President Clinton continued the "war on crime" with the "three strikes and you're out" policy, mandating life sentences after three felony offenses was included in the Federal Crime Control Act of 1994 ("Crime" 3). With Black communities within the inner city being disportionately targeted and convicted of crimes, mandatory life sentences also target Blacks. The political pressure to project an image of being tough on crime influenced the trend of mass incarceration, which is the effect of the overrepresentation of African-Americans in arrests, victimization, imprisonment, and capital punishment. The public perception of black men as threats, and the monetary benefit of imprisonment provide incentives for various parties to criminalize and mass incarcerate African-Americans. After Reconstruction ended, white elites reclaimed political power in the South and used the exception in the Thirteenth Amendment to reestablish their dominance over the freedman; the "introduction of chain gangs and convict leasing heralded the onset of a penal system that bore striking similarities to slavery and provided a source of forced labor for white employers to exploit" (Campbell 3). Suddenly, African-Americans were imprisoned for mild offenses, such as loitering, to provide agricultural and industrial labor to the states; state and county officials profited off of convict labor, which resembled slavery (Riser 1). "But in a convict lease arrangement that [economic] incentive [to care for the laborers] did not exist. This reality in many respects rendered it worse than slavery. Leaseholders could—and often did—work prisoners to death," (Riser 1). Also, mandatory sentences provide an incentive to "criminals" to lie. A poorly represented defendent is more likely to plead guilty to a lesser offense than go to trial and possibly face a mandatory sentence if the trial is lost. "Some ninety-five per cent of criminal cases in the U.S. are decided by plea bargains—the risk of being convicted of a more serious offense and getting a much longer sentence is a formidable incentive" (Gopnik 6). Also, many corporations, such as small towns, private prisons, and construction and technology companies profit from rise of prison-industrial complexes (Falk 2). With more people imprisoned, there is an increasing need to built new prisons,hire more guards, and more beds occupied each day, which garners greater profit for those corporations. A study has found private prisons are not of better quality, for public and private prisons have relatively equal recidivism rates and inmates are like to serve up to three months more time in a private prison (Kerwin 1). The criminalization of Blacks and economic advantages of prison-industrial complexes incentivize mass incarcerating African-Americans. Although the purpose of the Thirteenth Amendment was to prohibit involuntary servitude, it did little to protect the freedmen and outline their rights, so the effects of nonspecific protection for the emancipated is apparent today.
The lack of protection for Blacks caused the need for further amendments (Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendment) to protect African-Americans' civil rights, but Blacks were terrorized through threats of lynchings and blacklisting up until the Civil Rights Era (Devoy 2). Throughout history, Blacks had been subjected to unfair voting laws, such as the Grandfather Clause, literacy tests, and poll taxes. Eventually, African-Americans were given equal voting protection under the law with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, but felony disenfranchisement has now replaced former restrictions of voter suppression. In most states, a felon is not able to vote while serving a sentence and sometimes never at all. Today, convicts are considered second-class citizens and the conditions in which black men are criminalized and exploited are uncannily similar to
slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment exempting imprisonment peonage from abolition provided a loophole to restructure institutional racism and slavery through the penal system. American entertainment portrayed black men as violent and uncivilized criminals, which changed public perception of Blacks to a more negative image. The South exploited the exception by using convict labor and sharecropping as a supplement to slave labor, which instigated cyclical poverty for African-Americans. The Great Migration spread more racial tension throughout the United States, and those demographic changes incentivized the criminalization of African-Americans and mass incarceration. These trends in juxtaposition with felony disenfranchisement proves systemic racism applies to the modern times, all because of the ambiguity of the Thirteenth Amendment
From the day, the first European set foot on American soil up until the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, which occurred in 1865. Slavery was a controversial issue. The issue of slavery divided up the United States of America to ultimately put the two against each other. The Northern States who identifies themselves as the Union disapproved of the atrocious actions of the South who condone the crude treatment of slaves and the disturbing practices of slavery. Although slavery was not the sole cause of the Civil war, it played an important part in the disunion of the United States. The battle between states rights and federal rights rubbed more salt in the already enormous wound. Southern States who later considers themselves the confederates disapproved of the idea that the available actions of the states to act upon certain situations were dwindling, reducing the power and rights of the states. The set up of all these complications and disagreements led to the secession of the southern states which initiated the start of the brutal American Civil War which lasted from 1861 to 1865.
We saw the Thirteenth Amendment occur to abolish slavery. We also saw the Civil Rights Acts which gave full citizenship, as well as the prohibiting the denial of due process, etc. Having the civil rights laws enabled African Americans to new freedoms which they did not used to have. There was positive change occurring in the lives of African Americans. However, there was still a fight to suppress African Americans and maintain the racial hierarchy by poll taxes and lengthy and expensive court proceedings. Sadly, this is when Jim Crow laws appeared. During this time African Americans were losing their stride, there was an increase in prison populations and convict labor, and the convicts were
The election of Abraham Lincoln and the secession of the South led to the outbreak of the civil war. The civil war was the first revolutionary change in America. States' rights were a major issue during this time. Issues of power, different interpretations of the constitution, and banking issues led to many difficulties. South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union. In South Carolina's Declaration of Causes, it was stated that "powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states" (Document A). The 10th amendment which limited the power of the federal government had acted as a backing for the secession of the South. Nowhere in the constitution did it say that the states had no right to secede from the Union. This secession from the union forever changed the country. Another major change that occurred after the civil war was the thirteenth amendment which abolished slavery. Even though the slaves had fought for the Union in the civil war, they were unable to take any political action and were still inferior as it is stated in document C. The fifteenth amendment granted the right to vote to all men no matter the race. It was argued t...
was lacking in some aspects but excelled in most. For example, a good aspect was that Richards questioned the actual people and factors that freed the slaves rather than adopting the overgeneralized view. This is a good question to ask considering the widespread ignorance surrounding the actual process of the 13th amendment. To answer this question, Richards meticulously analyzed evidence from several historical periods to support his argument. In addition, the bulk of his sources were primary sources. In this regard, he successfully supported his argument through his use of credible evidence. Richards does not present any alternative hypotheses because he focuses on strengthening his main argument throughout the book. Richards’s explanations utilized a variety of sources and used logical deduction. As a result, these tended to be believable and reasonable. Richards does not make many moral judgements but is slightly biased against Northern Democrats. He tends to portray them as devious and excessively aggressive against opinions that conflict their own
While the formal abolition of slavery, on the 6th of December 1865 freed black Americans from their slave labour, they were still unequal to and discriminated by white Americans for the next century. This ‘freedom’, meant that black Americans ‘felt like a bird out of a cage’ , but this freedom from slavery did not equate to their complete liberty, rather they were kept in destitute through their economic, social, and political state.
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. Thirteenth Amendment The 13th amendment was adopted speedily in the aftermath of the Civil War, with the simple direct purpose of forbidding slavery anywhere in the United States. The 13th Amendment took authority away from the states, so that no state could institute slavery, and it attempted to constitutionally grant the natural right of liberty. Thought that this amendment would suffice, Congressional Republicans pushed the amendment through.
...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 American constitution recognized slavery as a local constitution within the legal rights of the individual states. But in the North slavery was not adaptable to the local economy, and to many, it contradicted the vision of the founding fathers for a nation in which all men are to be free. The South considered slavery as a necessary institution for the plantation economy. It was linked to the local culture and society. As the United states expanded, the North worried that the South would introduce slavery into the new territories. Slavery had become both a moral issue and a question of political power." (Kral p61)
The feelings of allowing felons to vote is chilling; those who have been to prison have committed crimes and are out to get their rights back. But it is clear that felons should be “disenfranchised because they have broken the laws,” says Edward Feser, a philosophy professor and writer. Yet people are still questioning whether it is moral to keep felons from getting the rights to vote. Disenfranchising felons is unintentional in racial issues, and is used to punish felons to teach them that once they've broken the laws, they have lost their voting rights as well, and it would also keep felons from violating fellow citizens' voting rights.
This story was set in the deep south were ownership of African Americans was no different than owning a mule. Demonstrates of how the Thirteenth Amendment was intended to free slaves and describes the abolitionist’s efforts. The freedom of African Americans was less a humanitarian act than an economic one. There was a battle between the North and South freed slaves from bondage but at a certain cost. While a few good men prophesied the African Americans were created equal by God’s hands, the movement to free African Americans gained momentum spirited by economic and technological innovations such as the export, import, railroad, finance, and the North’s desire for more caucasian immigrants to join America’s workforce to improve our evolving nation. The inspiration for world power that freed slaves and gave them initial victory of a vote with passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. A huge part of this story follows the evolution of the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment more acts for civil rights.
The 15th Amendment states that “The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude”. This gave African Americans the right to vote. The amendment seemed to signify the fulfillment of all promises to African Americans. The 15th Amendment is also categorized as one of the three constitutional amendments. In the beginning thirty-seven states ratified the 15th Amendment. The first of these states to ratify the 15th Amendment was Nevada. To disenfranchise African Americans, devices were written into the constitutions of former confederate states. In 1869, when the New Year began, the republicans were anxious to introduce a constitutional amendment guaranteeing the black man’s right to vote. Congress considered the amendment that was proposed for two months. When congress approved a compromise, the amendment did not specifically mention the black man. The struggle for and against ratification hung on what blacks and other political interests would do. The Republican-dominated Congress passed the First Reconstruction Act. This act divided the South into five military districts and outlining how ...
The title, 13TH, refers to the 13th amendment of the constitution, which abolished slavery and
Slavery allowed the American economy to flourish for over 300 years. It allowed many Southern states to grow at a furious pace without significantly diversifying their economy. The South relied on the harvesting of cash crops such as tobacco and cotton, which were very labor intensive. Without much cheap labor, slaves were relied on to harvest the crops; this provided enormous value to farmers and plantation owners in the region. However, the institution of slavery was challenged in the 18th century by decades of Enlightenment thought, newfound religious ideals, and larger abolitionist groups. After the American Revolution many states would ban the practice of slavery completely and only a few would maintain the “peculiar institution”.
African Americans have a history of struggles because of racism and prejudices. Ever since the end of the Civil War, they struggled to benefit from their full rights that the Constitution promised. The fourteenth Amendment, which defined national citizenship, was passed in 1866. Even though African Americans were promised citizenship, they were still treated as if they were unequal. The South had an extremely difficult time accepting African Americans as equals, and did anything they could to prevent the desegregation of all races. During the Reconstruction Era, there were plans to end segregation; however, past prejudices and personal beliefs elongated the process.
In “The declaration of Independence”, it talks about how founding father helped citizens get equal rights, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (“The Declaration of Independence”). This quote illustrates that people are born with same equal rights in American soil. This quote connects to hypothesis because it signified the major importance of ensuring equal rights to American citizens. In the article of 13th amendment, the founding fathers made sure that there will be no segregation in the united 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 jurisdiction” (“The Declaration of Independence”). This quote says that slavery should not be allowed in the United States, unless it is a punishment by jury for any crime act. This quote supports the hypothesis because the ban of slavery ensures rights for citizens and gives them equality to live independently. For ensuring rights, it is essential to make sure that government cannot interfere with the rights of citizens by making random