Following the Civil War and between 1865 and 1870, Congress passed Reconstruction Amendments (13, 14 and 15) to establish a new order or reconstruct laws to provide for equal freedoms and rights for African Americans.

The 13th Amendment abolished slavery and involuntary servitude throughout the United States, except as punishment for a crime. But this law would soon prove not to be sufficient.

Southern state legislatures began writing “Black Codes” to control the labor and activities of African Americans.

An example is the Vagrancy Law which made it a crime to be unemployed, resulting in arrest and potential forced servitude for those who could not pay the fine.

Black Codes also placed restrictions on voting, limited possibilities for employment and property ownership, prohibited black people from serving on juries or testifying against white people in court.

In response to racial discrimination tactics in the South, Congress ratified the 14th Amendment to protect the legal rights and liberties of African Americans from discriminatory state “Black Codes.” Section 1 established a definition of citizenship stating that all persons born or naturalized in the United States were citizens of the United States (birthright citizenship). Section 1 also extended the protection of the Bill of Rights to the states, prohibiting states from depriving any person due process of law. Section 2 addressed how representatives in Congress will be apportioned by counting the whole number of persons in each state.

It also penalizes states that deny the right to vote to male citizens over 21 by reducing their representation in Congress. Black Code laws were often used to prevent black males from voting. Section 3 forbid former government officials who participated in “insurrection or rebellion” against the U.S. from holding federal or state office. This was used to prevent former Confederates from holding office. Section 4 invalidated any debts incurred by the confederacy and prohibited claims for emancipation of enslaved people by their owners. Section 5 gave Congress the power to enforce this article. The DOJ, Department of Justice, was established in 1870 to help enforce federal laws such as the 14th Amendment.

The 15th Amendment expanded voting rights to include African American men by prohibiting denial of suffrage based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude. This was a crucial part of the Constitution ratified by Congress on Feb. 3, 1870.

Despite the passage of the 15th Amendment, many Southern states found ways to deny black men the right to vote with poll taxes, literacy tests, and the “grandfather clause” The end of the Reconstruction Era in the late 1870s led to the rise of Jim Crow Laws in the South which further continued discrimination and effectively nullified the 15th Amendment.

Jim Crow Laws such as separate schools for black and white children, separate sections on the buses and trains, and colored and white drinking fountains and restrooms. Jim Crow Laws were upheld by the 1896 Supreme Court ruling Plessy v. Ferguson, establishing “separate but equal” doctrine. Separate happened but not usually the “equal.”

The full intent of the 15th Amendment in 1870 was not realized until the impact of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s nearly 100 years later.

Jim Crow laws had permitted a culture of discrimination in many ways and impinged upon black men and women the right to vote.

The Civil Rights Act in 1964 and Voting Rights Act in 1965 enabled the United States to come closer to the words in the Declaration of Independence in 1776, “that all men are created equal.”

Betsy Cook, member of Living Democracy: Engaging Citizens, a local citizen group.

Our mission is to inform and educate the Mid-Ohio Valley about how government works on the local, state, and federal levels and how citizens can be involved to make our democracy work.

Join us the third Monday of each month, 10:30 at the Armory.. livingdemocracymov@gmail.com and facebook/speak foryourselfvote and Youtube channel Living Democracy.