Black History Site celebrates the accomplishments and achievements of black people while also recognizing the contributions
of other races and genders which helped black Americans to realize their goals and those of their descendants.
Main Menu
Articles
Books & Media
Education
Events
Links
News & Headlines
People
Speeches
Legalities
Issues
About
| Articles: | back to all articles... |
Reconstruction and the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments Page 2 by Roger Smith It had taken a while for a joint committee to come up with the new constitutional amendement, but after a series of proposals, votes and reconsiderations of approximately seventy amendments that had been introduced over the year, one was finally submitted to Congress. Parts of it read that "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 where they reside [and] 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." This section of the amendment captured the entire meaning of the Civil Rights Act, and with its approval by Congress, supporters of the "Act" succeeded in keeping it safe from future constitutional attacks. Although the Fourteenth Amendment had been adopted, and was soon to be ratified, the idea of full racial equality went against the grain of white society and culture in the North as well as the South. Many Northerners thought the freed slaves were not entitled to immediate access to the vote, and when Reconstruction forced black suffrage on the South in 1868, Congress approved the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution that prohibited the federal and state governments from depriving any male citizen the right to vote because of his race, color, or previous condition of servitude, such as being a slave. A year later, it was ratified. Many democrats of the time thought it was " 'the most revolutionary measure' ever to receive Congressional sanction, the "crowning" act of a radical conspiracy to promote black equality and transform America from a confederation of states into a centralized nation." What carried the Fifteenth Amendment through to ratification was the worry of Republicans and Northern business leaders that the South, once readmitted to the Union, would swamp Congress with Democrats if blacks were not able to vote against them. They feared that if this happened, it would take away both the political and the business advantage that they each enjoyed. Since the period beginning reconstruction and through to the present, the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments have opened the door not only for blacks but also for other minorities to excel and achieve beyond the limits that have been put on them by society. And, even as time has passed, the amendments themselves have been amended to reflect the ongoing changes in the United States, such as the Twenty-Fourth Amendment in 1964 that prohibited a poll tax. The poll tax was incorporated to deprive blacks of the right to vote in opposition to the Fifteenth Amendment. Reconstruction was the beginning of trying to correct injustices that had been placed upon blacks for nearly as long as America had been in existence. Even though the wheels of progress have moved slowly and have, at times, been tumultuous, things have changed for the better, and those of us who live today are fortunate enough to have been the beneficiaries. |