As the Civil War came to an end, the United States of America had become an undivided nation. The United States of America went into a Reconstruction era, which Northern political leaders created strategies to get the government of the South to rejoin the Union. This era attempted to rebuild a shattered nation by resolving some of the major issues with the Reconstruction Amendments. There were many changes being made during this time period from the abolishing of slavery to giving everyone equal rights and privileges, to granting African American the right to vote. This led to the creation of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth (Reconstruction) amendments which benefited African American in many ways and has change their life for the …show more content…
It is the lengthiest of all of the reconstruction amendments; with five separate sections. It specified that, “all persons born or naturalized in the United States of America are citizens.” It also declares that states may not 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 laws. To add to that, it addresses suffrage, the right to hold public office war debts and compensation for emancipation. This amendment was ratified on July 8th 1868, used to make states enforce the bill of rights, as well as it being the foundation for landmark Supreme Court cases. Way back in 1857, there was a Supreme Court case known as the Dredd Scott Decision ruled that black Americans were not citizens. The Fourteenth amendment however had helped to overturn that ruling by stating the above. It was one to help establish political equality for any race in the United …show more content…
It was ratified by all states in 1870. This amendment insist that “the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or any state on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. It extended suffrage to all men but it did not keep power from disfranchising Americans with restrictions and it did not ban gender discrimination. However in many ways, these reconstruction were successes but also have many failures. Like the Ku Klux Klan a group of vigilante founded in Pulaski, Tennessee in 1866 were aiming to destroy the Radical’s political power in the South, maintain white supremacy and intimidate black voters or any other race that supported them. Later a group of South Democrats who motives was to undo Reconstruction and restore the Old South, passed restrictions and “black codes” which attempted to bind the freedmen to the land and had different degrees of harshness depending on the state. The Supreme Court however supported them by saying that the 14th amendment and also the 15th amendment were only applied at the federal level. Reconstruction was a success or failure, it all really depends on how you look at it.
So did the Reconstruction Amendment really benefited African American? Controversially, the Reconstruction Amendment did benefited African American in many ways. It was designed to guarantee the rights of freed slaves, have helped to create