What laws were passed during the civil rights movement?

Answer 1

The Confederates started to run out of eager volunteers first, and so had to resort to a draft law in 1862. The provisions of this law and the way it was implemented caused problems which plagued the Rebel Army for the rest of the war. All men already in the Army were required by the new law to stay in the Army until the war was over, regardless of whatever they might have agreed to when volunteering. Men were allowed to change branches of the service, from infantry to artillery or cavalry, for instance. The old soldiers were supposed to be given furloughs to visit home before returning "for the duration", but the law took effect just as the winter was ending and active fighting and campaigning was about to begin. Exemptions from being drafted included one white man for every twenty slaves, promoting bitterness among the majority of non-slave owning small farmers who were most of the Confederate soldiers, who could now say that it was a "rich man's war but a poor man's fight". Also exempt were petty government officials, like mailmen and justices of the peace, so the politically connected could Dodge the draft by getting appointed to such a position, if they wished. The worst part of the law was that it allowed existing Army units to hold new elections for their officers, so electioneering and promising became widespread. Any officer who had tried to be efficient and enforce discipline was likely not to be reelected, and he was likely to be replaced with someone more easygoing but much less capable. The effects of that single provision caused a loss in the efficiency and fighting power of the Rebel armies. The law was mainly a goad to volunteering, and in that sense it worked, as there was a new outpouring of volunteers into the ranks in 1862. It was considered a disgrace to be a "conscript" (draftee) so men "voluntarily" enlisted to avoid this stigma.

Volunteering in the north also dried up, and the north had even closed many enlistment offices when the war looked to be going well early in 1862. The Union had finally to go with a draft law in 1863. When draft workers went to try to make lists of men eligible riots, the worst ever in America, took place in northern cities, most notably in the New York City Draft Riots of July, 1863. In the north a man could be exempted from the draft by paying $300, or by hiring a "substitute", which involved finding a man of sufficient physical fitness to serve but who was not eligible for the draft, and paying him to take your place. (Lincoln quietly hired a substitute for himself). Northern poor men were bitter as $300 was more than they made in a year and they could not afford to hire a substitute, so it was a rich man's war and a poor man's fight there too. To get men to "volunteer" states and cities in the north payed "enlistment bonuses". This could amount to several hundred dollars. If a state or city could not get sufficient "volunteers" by paying bonuses to meet the quota Washington had set for them, then they had to make up the difference by drafting more men. The bonus system led to "bounty jumping", where soldiers enlisted over and over to collect the money, then deserted and went to another area and enlisted again.

On both sides conscripts made poor soldiers and were apt to run as soon as the fighting started.

Answer 2

Emancipation Proclammation and others

Answer 3

jim crow laws

Answer 4

emancipation proclamation