All citizens are guaranteed due process under the law Fourteenth Amendment, ratified July 9, 1868: Everyone born or naturalized is a citizen of the US.Thirteenth Amendment, ratified January 31, 1865: Slavery is abolished, except for convict labor.What were these Reconstruction Amendments? Please see our YouTube video, with paintings and photos:
Before the Civil War, each state determined its own racial policies, but the politics of slavery, then white supremacy, proved so repugnant to the North that it passed these three amendments.Īs Eric Foner puts it, “Together with far-reaching congressional legislation meant to provide former slaves with access to the courts, ballot box, and public accommodations, and to protect them against violence, the Reconstruction Amendments greatly enhanced the power of the federal government, transferring much of the authority to define citizens’ rights from the states to the nation.” Each amendment specifically gave the US Congress the authority to enforce these amendments by appropriate legislation. Did the Civil War lead to a Second Founding of the United States? Eric Foner in his book with that title on the Reconstruction amendments and his other books on the Reconstruction era argues forcefully that the Civil War was a political turning point for this country.
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