Reconstruction Era Post

    The making of the Reconstruction Amendments were a very important action taken to free the slaves and further their legal rights following the end of the Civil War. The history behind the nearing of the Amendments is a long excruciating process that starts with the climax of the Civil War. 

    According to this website, the Civil War ended on April ninth, eighteen sixty-five after General Robert E. Lee finally surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant, declaring the Civil War concluded. 

    Following the end of the war, President Lincoln generated the Emancipation Proclamation, which meant a huge deal to the confined African Americans in slavery, because this one edict gave them their freedom. This Proclamation was a Union Goal, and this website explains how that leads to the Emancipation gaining support from the Confederates.

    Following the Proclamation, although the newly freed slaves, as well as Northerners were ecstatic, their celebrations were met with the disapproval of the irritated Southerners. While this Proclamation was great for the slaves, this also meant the Southern plantation workers had just had all of their cheap manpower stripped from them. Although this deal does sound extremely promising for the African Americans, he Proclamation also did not completely end slavery, as it only applied to the Confederacy in a state of rebellion. This is what caused people, particularly whites and the almost free slaves to petition ot President Lincoln to take further actions. 

   Things started to turn around with the rising of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments, also known as the Reconstruction Amendments, starting with the fourteenth in eighteen eighty six. This gave African American men the right to vote, a step in the right direction. This website helps explain what all of these new Amendments accomplished.

    The Thirteenth Amendment put a ban on slavery in all territories, as explained in this website. This was a great start to grant the African American's their freedom. It was a process though, despite this rule being put in place, white people still had African Americans working for them, to such an extent that they could be seen as slaves. The senate passed this Amendment in 1864, but it was not passed by the house until one year later, in January of 1865, after they originally did not pass it. 

    The Fourteenth Amendment came next, and this put the African American's a lot closer to becoming free. This amendment granted legal citizenship, equal, civil rights for anyone born in the United States or who became a citizen of the United States. The five concepts to this amendment protected African Americans from state action, privileges and immunities, citizenship, due process, and equal protection.

    Section one dealt with the rights of African Americans, stating every African American born in the United States is subject to jurisdiction.

    Section two is labeled Appointment of Representation. This gives them the rights to be considered in the equation when it comes to congress allocating each state based on the total population in each. This also prohibits congress from denying voting rights to any male citizen twenty-one or older, unless convicted of a crime.

    Section three deals with disqualifications from holding office. In certain situations, such as a person who has taken an oath swearing to the constitution and has afterward participated in some sort of rebellion about it, or who have helped enemies will not be allowed to have a stance in congress. This does though, grant removal of this restriction if there is a two-thirds vote against it in both the House and Senate.

    Section four is about public debt. The United States will stay loyal to its debts, but will not pay any debts that relate to rebellion or slavery.

    The last, section five simply states that Congress can enforce provisions on any of the sections above. 

   This website explains the accomplishment of the fifteenth amendment, which was to give voting rights to African American men. This was a major step for the newly freed slaves because this had been consented since the founding of the nation.

    The Reconstruction Amendments were major contributors to giving the newly freed slaves the freedom they now have a right to. Without these amendments, there would probably be a big intermission on the efforts created by these three Amendments to bring about the abolishment of slavery, granting equal protection laws, and voting rights.