Reconstruction
Shawnee Haight
13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment
The 13th amendment ratified in December 1865. "The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared that Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This Amendment formally abolished slavery and was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865. The 14th Amendment to the Constitution was ratified on July 9, 1868, and "granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, which included former slaves recently freed." "It forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” "The 14th Amendment greatly expanded the protection of civil rights to all Americans and is cited in more litigation than any other amendment." The 15th Amendment ratified on February 3rd, 1870. "The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the right of 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."
Plans for Reconstruction
Lincon's plan replaced majority rule with loyal rule in the south. Lincoln tried to reestablish peace between the Union and the Confederates. He offered amnesty, or pardon, to all Southerners who pledged an oath of loyalty to the United States. When 10% of a state's voters had signed this oath, Congress would reinstate the state into the Union. "Johnson's plan was to publicly attack the planter aristocracy and insisting that the rebellion must be punished." "Johnson followed Lincoln's approach in offering amnesty to former Confederates, the major difference being that he excluded persons owning over $20,000 worth of property, which Lincoln had not." Congress breaks with the president. February, 1866 president vetoed the feedom's Bureau bill. Congress passed both bils over Johnson's vetoes. Congress barred southern congressional delegates. The Radical Republican's plan was to have revenge among the south to punish the South for causing the war. Their "concern for freedmen, some believed that the federal government had a role to play in the transition of freedmen from slavery to freedom." "The Radicals wanted to keep the Republican Party in power in both the North and the South."
Black Codes Effects on African Americans
"It restricted their economic rights, they could not vote, hold office, serve on a jury or receive a public education." The Black Codes kept African Americans from voting and being equal to whites. It guarantee stable labor supply now that blacks were emancipated. They restored the pre-emancipation systim of race relations. They forced many blacks to become carperbaggers.
Racism and discrimination against African Americans
They had to show that they could read and right. The Ku Klux Klan had angry white southerens that formed sectet terrorist groups to prevent African Americans from voting. African Americans served as delegates to all the state constitutional conventions.
event that brought the reconstruction to a end
Emancipation proclamition of Abraham Lincoln and The compromise of 1887 brought the reconstruction to an end.