Reconstruction Amendments Links
https://lsintspl3.wgbh.org/en-us/lesson/ilwnet17-reconamend "The Reconstruction Era (1863–1877) refers to the period in American history directly following the Civil War."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y23NhTk_RlE Nov 1, 2020 Kristopher White of the American Battlefield Trust details the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments of the Constitution, also known as the "Civil War Amendments," which granted new freedoms and rights to African Americans across the country after the end of the American Civil War. American Battlefield Trust
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeOatT3a-I4 Nov 12, 2021 The 15th Amendment was a monumental piece of legislation that gave Black men the right to vote. As a result of it, over 2,000 African-American men would be elected to office at various levels of government. But the amendment became more notable for what it didn’t say, versus what it did. Loopholes in the law allowed for voter suppression tactics to rise, which directly hindered the advancement of Black voters’ rights and the election of Black officials. It wouldn’t be until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that an all-encompassing law would pass, guaranteeing voting rights for all African-Americans. In this episode of Black History In Two Minutes or So hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. — with additional commentary from Eric Foner of Columbia University, Heather Cox Richardson of Boston College, and Kidada Williams of Wayne State University, we look at the ongoing journey to obtain, implement, and protect a civic duty that all Black Americans should have. Black History in Two Minutes or so
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7x_m1EkyB_E May 16, 2019 After the Civil War, the Reconstruction era brought about hope and change in the form of citizenship and equality in America. Black men were given the right to vote, and in 1870, Hiram Revels became the first African American in the U.S. Congress when he was elected to represent Mississippi in the Senate. What followed included more than 2,000 Black office holders serving at every level of America’s political system. Sadly, this progress was short-lived. Black men were denied access to the ballot box and the rights they were granted at the start of the Reconstruction period slowly diminished. In result, a Black presence in Congress was completely eradicated by 1901, and it would take a full generation for it to be restored. In this episode of Black History in Two Minutes or So, we’ll discuss the African-American achievements in the political system that were systematically overturned. Black History in Two Minutes or so
Long before the Union victory in 1865, Congress prepared for the many challenges the nation would face at war’s end, particularly the integration of four million newly emancipated African Americans into the political life of the nation, and the readmission to federal representation of former states in rebellion. Congressional Reconstruction included the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth amendments to the Constitution which extended civil and legal protections to former enslaved people.
Passed by Congress January 31, 1865. Ratified December 6, 1865.
Section 1
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.
Section 2
Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Passed by Congress June 13, 1866. Ratified July 9, 1868.
Section 1
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.
Section 2
Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.
Section 3
No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.
Section 4
The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.
Section 5
The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869. Ratified February 3, 1870.
Section 1
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 —
Section 2
The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.