Transcript Constitutional Amendments Reconstruction Amendments (13, 14, 15) PowerPoint

Constitutional
Amendments:
The Reconstruction
Amendments
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(13 , 14 and 15 )
1865-1870
THEMATIC ESSAY QUESTION
Theme: Change—Constitutional Amendments
When the Founding Fathers wrote the United States
Constitution, they included the amendment process. The
amendments that have been passed brought political,
social, and economic changes to American society.
Task:
Select two constitutional amendments that have changed
American society and
for each
•Describe the historical circumstances that led to the
adoption of the amendment
Discuss the political, social, and/or economic changes the
amendment brought to American society
From the June 2012 Regents Exam
Constitutional Amendments
Amendment
“Historical circumstances”
SPECIFIC political, social and/or
economic changes to American
society
Political
14th
Amendment
(1868)
Social
Economic
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13
Amendment
(abolition of slavery)
1865
The “historical circumstances”
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surrounding the 13
Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment is
the first of Congress’
Reconstruction amendments.
First proposed in 1864 as the
Civil War was wrapping up, it
would abolish slavery.
President Abraham Lincoln
pushed for both houses of
Congress to propose the
amendment. Since the
secession of southern states,
his Republican party controlled
the national government.
It passed through the Senate in
1864, but struggled to get
enough support in the House.
It finally passed in January
1865, officially proposing.
Now it had to be ratified by the
states.
The Amendment Process
Proposal
Ratification
Proposed by a 2/3 vote
in both houses of
Congress
Passage by ¾ of state
legislatures
OR
OR
Proposed by 2/3 of state
legislatures call for a
national convention
(never used)
Passage by ¾ of special
state conventions (only
used once for the 21st
Amendment)
Lincoln—his focus shifted to
ending slavery—wanted to get
the Amendment ratified before
the end of the war, because
Southern states would never
vote to ratify it once they
rejoined the Union.
Lincoln—his focus shifted to
ending slavery—wanted to get
the Amendment ratified before
the end of the war, because
Southern states would never
vote to ratify it once they
rejoined the Union.
Union states legislatures approved
the Amendment quickly. But the
war ended, causing the need for
readmitted states formerly of the
Confederacy to also approve it.
The acceptance of the Amendment
was basically required to be
readmitted to the Union.
Political
Politically, the Thirteenth
Amendment did not have an
impact because it did not give
freedmen the right to vote.
Social
The Amendment outlawed
slavery (except in cases of
criminal punishment), granting
millions of former slaves
freedom.
Unfortunately, freedom did not
make the daily life of freedmen
better. Things got worse when
Southern states began passing
Black Codes, severely limiting
the rights of the former slaves.
Economic
The economic impact of the
abolition of slavery was huge.
The entire southern economy
was radically changed with the
elimination of slave labor on
large plantations.
For the freedmen, the
economic change was not an
improvement. They had no
way to earn a living and had
virtually no opportunities. Life
was a struggle.
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14
Amendment
(African-American
citizenship)
1868
The “historical
circumstances” surrounding
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the 14 Amendment
The Amendment Process
Proposal
Ratification
Proposed by a 2/3 vote
in both houses of
Congress
Passage by ¾ of state
legislatures
OR
OR
Proposed by 2/3 of state
legislatures call for a
national convention
(never used)
Passage by ¾ of special
state conventions (only
used once for the 21st
Amendment)
The Fourteenth Amendment is
one of Congress’
Reconstruction amendments.
In 1865, the Thirteenth
abolished slavery. The
Fourteenth, three years later,
made the freedmen citizens
and guaranteed them rights.
The Radical Republicans in
Congress decided to push for
the Amendment in response to
the emergence of Black Codes
in the southern states.
At first they tried to fight
against these state and local
laws by passing the Civil Rights
Act of 1866. President Andrew
Johnson vetoed it, but
Congress was able to override
his veto with the required 2/3
majority.
Fearful the Act wouldn’t be
enforceable, Radical
Republicans decided a
Constitutional Amendment
should be proposed
guaranteeing AfricanAmericans rights.
The proposed Amendment was
finally passed both houses of
Congress in 1866 and was sent
to the states for ratification. It
was hotly contested and it took
until July 1868 for the
necessary ¾ of state
legislatures to approve it.
There are three
main clauses—or
parts—to the
amendment.
Citizenship
The Supreme Court case Dred Scott v.
Sandford (1857) classified slaves as
property, not citizens. Therefore, they
had no legal rights. The Amendment
changed that. The freed slaves were
now considered citizens and
government had a responsibility to
protect their rights.
Due Process
One of the most important rights is
that of due process. This means that a
standard set of procedures must be
followed before any action is taken to
punish persons accused of breaking
the law.
Equal Protection Under Law
This clause was included to battle
against the black codes that began to
be passed by Southern governments
during Reconstruction. State and local
governments were supposed to
protect all citizens justly, regardless of
race, gender, age… well, for any
reason.
SPECIFIC political, social
and economic changes to
American society
Political
Despite the Amendment,
Southern state and local
governments did not comply.
When Reconstruction ended,
laws just like the black codes—
now called Jim Crow—
continued to discriminate
against African Americans.
Specifically, segregation laws
throughout the South
systematically excluded African
Americans from white society
and kept them in an inferior
position in society.
The third Reconstruction
amendment was ratified in
1870, guaranteeing African
American males (women
would not be given the right to
vote until 1920) suffrage—or
the right to vote.
In addition, African Americans
were systematically kept from
exercising their right to vote in
the South through laws like
polls taxes and literacy tests.
Terror organizations, like the
KKK also intimidated people,
preventing them from voting.
Social
Socially, segregation laws
created separate white and
black societies in the South.
Everything in society
communicated that blacks
were inferior to whites,
perpetuating racism.
Economic
Economic opportunities for
African Americans in the South
were severely limited. Most
freedmen got caught in the
unfair system of sharecropping
with no way out.
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15
Amendment
(right to vote for
freedmen)
1870
The “historical
circumstances” surrounding
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the 15 Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment is last
of Congress’ Reconstruction
amendments. It was supposed to
protect freedmen’s (not AfricanAmerican women, as women—
white or black—didn’t get the
right to vote until 1920) right to
vote.
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13
While the
Amendment
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ended slavery and the 14
Amendment guaranteed civil
rights, neither expressly
enfranchised—or gave the right
to vote to—African-Americans.
Only eight states allowed blacks
to vote in 1868.
After Republican Ulysses S. Grant
narrowly won the Election of 1868
with half a million African-American
votes. The Radical Republicans in
Congress became convinced that the
black vote was necessary to the
party’s future success and began
pushing for an amendment
guaranteeing African-Americans the
right to vote.
Fearing that such an amendment
wouldn’t pass in the next Congress
(because there would be more
Democrats in office who would vote
against it), the Republicans pushed
the proposal of the amendment
through during the lame duck period
after the 1868 elections.
The proposed amendment went
through several revisions—all
compromises to gain the most
support—before passed by the House
and Senate in February 1869. It then
went to the state legislatures for
ratification.
The Amendment Process
Proposal
Ratification
Proposed by a 2/3 vote
in both houses of
Congress
Passage by ¾ of state
legislatures
OR
OR
Proposed by 2/3 of state
legislatures call for a
national convention
(never used)
Passage by ¾ of special
state conventions (only
used once for the 21st
Amendment)
The proposed amendment faced
significant opposition and it was unclear if
it could get the ¾ of the states to approve
it. But since many southern states were
still controlled by Radical reconstruction
governments and remaining states
waiting to rejoin the Union were forced to
approve the amendment as a precondition, the necessary ¾ was hit in
February 1870.
SPECIFIC political, social
and economic changes to
American society
Political
The impact of the amendment
was not as intended. While
blacks were enfranchised in
theory, in practice, Southern
states used measures such as
poll taxes and literacy tests to
prevent them from voting.
In addition, the Ku Klux Klan
commmited acts of violence to
intimidate African-Americans
to stop them from voting.
Their terror campaign led to
few African-Americans even
registering to vote.
Social
The social impact of the
amendment was also
disappointing. Because
African-Americans were
disenfranchised in practice—or
denied the right to vote—
government didn’t pass laws to
help them.
This lack of political power
allowed white controlled
Southern states adopted Black
Codes (later called Jim Crow
laws) to discriminate against
African-Americans.
Economic
The federal government’s
inability to enforce the
amendment helped contribute
keeping African-Americans in
an inferior economic position
to the rest of society.