Thirteen, Fourteen, Fifteen

Hello readers! To officially finish this segment on the Civil War and Reconstruction, I thought we could have a discussion about rights. The period of Reconstruction would bring about three new amendments to the Constitution--the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to be exact.


The Thirteenth Amendment

The Thirteenth Amendment was ratified to the Constitution on December 6, 1865 after the conclusion of the Civil War. The 13th Amendment would officially abolish slavery in the United States. The 13th Amendment 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 Fourteenth Amendment

The Fourteenth Amendment officially granted African-Americans, born free and former slaves alike, citizenship rights. In part, the Amendment reads: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."


The Fifteenth Amendment

The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution was formally adopted on March 30, 1870 and grants African-American men the right to vote. In part, the 14th Amendment reads, "...the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."


Together these three Reconstruction amendments would officially grant citizenship rights to African-Americans, but there remained great opposition to these Amendments which would last well into the 20th century.


Opposition to the Reconstruction Amendments

There was opposition to the Reconstruction Amendments, usually in the form of outright refusal. Predominantly in the South but also in the North as well, opposition to the Thirteenth Amendment including sharecropping. Sharecropping was a form of agriculture where a landowner would allow tenants to use the land in return for a...wait for it...share of the crops. During the Reconstruction Era, and after, African-Americans were more likely to be tenants because they could not afford to buy land. Landowners would charge their tenants for everything, including tools and seeds. This often put tenants in debt and unable to pay off those debts, which would extend their terms as tenants and unable to break the cycle.

Opposition to the Fourteenth  Amendment included the implementation of Jim Crow Laws. Jim Crow Laws were implemented all over the country and worked as a means to highlight the inferiority of African-Americans in relation to whites. Jim Crow Laws segregated blacks and whites by forcing people to use separate public facilities (schools, trains, buses, restrooms, water fountains, etc.) and banned blacks from patronizing various businesses. Jim Crow Laws lasted well into the 1960s.

Opposition to the Fifteenth Amendment as it not only affected African-Americans but poor whites as well. Numerous states enacted the Grandfather Clause, which prevented most blacks from voting unless the could prove their grandfather voted in the 1860 election; poll taxes (where a tax would be paid in order to vote) and literacy tests (tests to prove a voter could read and write) were given as well.


Despite the opposition African-Americans faced and continue to face in regards to equal rights, the Reconstruction Era brought them out of the bonds of slavery and closer to being considered full citizens under the law of the United States.