Reconstruction Amendments and the Significance of the Brown case essays

Reconstruction Amendments and the Significance of the Brown case essays Although Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, enacted in 1862, intended freedom for all slaves, it did not completely eliminate slavery. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution were adopted after the Civil War as attempts to end discrimination. In short, the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery, the Fourteenth Amendment declared that African Americans were citizens of the United States and were therefore allowed equal protection under the law, and the Fifteenth Amendment guaranteed African Americans the right to vote. Essentially, the Thirteenth Amendment ended slavery on paperhowever, racism could not be erased so easily from the public's mindset. This mindset was especially prevalent in the South. Many laws regarding segregation and the Thirteenth Amendment were simply ignored. In fact, many Southern states adopted their own black codes as a means of getting around the amendment. These codes restricted African Americans from owning property, from making certain purchases, and from having a job, and sometimes from even seeking work. The Thirteenth Amendment did not erase all racial problems by any means. In fact, African Americans were prevented from holding public offices, they were not allowed to vote, nor were they able to purchase land. Interestingly, the issue of voting was one that never reached the High Court and, as a result, many African Americans were not allowed their share of offices. (Norton 450). Although the Thirteenth Amendment did abolish slavery, it did not guarantee basic citizenship rights to all individuals that were born in America. The Fourteenth amendment was an act by the Joint Committee on Reconstruction to prevent "unrepentant Confederates from taking over the reconstructed state governments and denying blacks basic freedoms" (Davidson 611). The Fourteenth Amendment is often seen as the "heart of ...