90 likes | 337 Views
The effects of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments on the freedman. By: Paul Giroux Nick Collins Nick Fontaine. Claim.
E N D
The effects of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments on the freedman By: Paul Giroux Nick Collins Nick Fontaine
Claim Although southern state governments tried to undermine the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments; Freedmen's rights to equality were protected by the federal government, which made the lives of freedmen better.
The Government's intentions in the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments • 13th: Abolished Slavery • 14th: Protect the rights of the former slaves • 15th: The right to vote regardless of race, color, or previous condition (but not gender) • These Amendments are the Government's attempt to transition the Black male from being a slave with no rights, to an equal, active American citizen. Saxton, Rufus. "Reconstuction Testimony" Speech, Congress's Joint Committee on Reconstruction from Unites States Congress, Washington, 1866. Kluger, Richard . A Simple Justice. Vintage, 2004.
Things the state governments did to undermine the amendments • Literacy Tests -voting laws that made black men pass a nearly impossible literacy test before voting • Black Codes - Created by southern state governments - Most codes only allowed freedmen to work on farms unless they bought a licence for another line of work -Vagrancy laws make it so unemployed freedmen could be thrown in jail, loaned for work or assigned to public jobs • Klu Klux Klan - White terrorists break out in violent rage after 700,000 freedmen registered as voters after the 15th amendment
The rights for the freedman the government enforced • 1865- Freedmen's Bureau- created to help blacks adjust to freedom by supervising labor and educational issues. Built churches, schools, and colleges, the central institutions that united the free african american community. • 1866- The extension of the Freedmen’s Bureau and the first civil rights act made it so Freedmen’s rights to equality were protected by the federal government and federal courts. • 1867- First Reconstruction Act made the ten states that did not ratify the 14th amendment were made into five military districts. • Response to KKK-Congress passed election enforcement bills against the KKK and called for the U.S army to oversee the election process. Friedheim, William. Freedom's Unfinished Revolution. The New Press, 1996.
Works Cited • Friedheim, William. Freedom's Unfinished Revolution. The New Press, 1996. • Kluger, Richard . A Simple Justice. Vintage, 2004. • Onion, Rebecca. "Voting rights and the Supreme Court: The impossible “literacy” test Louisiana used to give black voters.." Slate. http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/06/28/voting_rights_and_the_supreme_court_the_impossible_literacy_test_louisiana.html • Saxton, Rufus. "Reconstuction Testimony" Speech, Congress's Joint Committee on Reconstruction from Unites States Congress, Washington, 1866. • Schroeder-Lein, Glenna R., and Richard Zuczek. "black codes." In American Government. ABC-CLIO, 2000-.Accessed October 14, 2013. http://americangovernment.abc-clio.com/.