Some white southerners used various methods to limit the freedoms of blacks.
Some white southerners used various methods to limit the freedoms of blacks.
Some white southerners used various methods to limit the freedoms of blacks.
Some white southerners used various methods to limit the freedoms of blacks.
Some white southerners used various methods to limit the freedoms of blacks.
They passed the Fourteenth and Fifteenth amendments to guarantee equality under the law and the right to vote. Both amendments counteracted efforts by the President, the southern states, and the courts to block Congress's Reconstruction program.
Some white southerners used various methods to limit the freedoms of blacks.
The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments significantly transformed the lives of Southerners, particularly African Americans, by abolishing slavery, granting citizenship, and securing voting rights, respectively. These changes challenged the existing social and economic order in the South, leading to resistance from many white Southerners who sought to maintain their power and control. The amendments also prompted the establishment of discriminatory laws, such as Jim Crow laws, which aimed to circumvent these rights and uphold racial segregation. Overall, while these amendments aimed to promote equality, they ignited tensions that would shape Southern society for decades.
Fourteenth essentially reversed the 1857 Dred Scott decision by formally classing all former slaves as American citizens, plus anyone born in the United States. The Fifteenth Amendment of 1870 would give voting rights to freedmen, although suffrage would be unconstitutionally repressed in the Southern states.
Some white Southerners used state legislation, segregation, and violence to limit the freedoms of blacks.
This victory signaled the start of reconstruction. By having a two-thirds majority in both houses and a republican president, virtually any piece of legislation endorsed by republicans could make it through. This allowed the southern states to be coerced into ratifying the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth amendments.
Tennessee was the only Southern state to ratify the 14th amendment.
Tennessee was the only Southern state to ratify the 14th amendment.