After the Civil War in 1865, Republicans in Congress introduced a series of Constitutional Amendments to secure civil and political rights for African Americans. The right that gave black men the privilege to vote provoked the greatest controversy, especially in the North. In 1867, Congress passed the law and African American men began voting in the South, but in the North, they kept denying them this basic right (“African Americans,” 2016). Republicans feared that they would eventually lose control of Congress on the Democrats and thought that their only solution was to include the black men votes. Republicans assumed that all African American votes would go to all the Republicans in the North, as they did in the South and by increasing the …show more content…
In his speech he explained why they wanted the right to vote, “If the Negro knows enough to pay taxes to support government, he knows enough to vote; taxation and representation should go together... ” (“African Americans,” 2016). In 1869, when Congress debated on the Fifteenth Amendment, the first ever black national meeting of African Americans took place in the convention in Washington, D.C and those who attended the convention spent time meeting with member of Congress, encouraging them to pass a strong Amendment guaranteeing black male suffrage worldwide (“African Americans,” 2016). Democrats feared ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, because they believed that it would create 170,000 loyal black Republican voters in the North and West and to vote against it, they claimed that it restricted the states’ rights to run their own election and also that the low literacy of the black population would affect the votes (“African Americans,” 2016). Despite all Democratic oppositions, the Republicans won ratification victories and in March 30, 1869, President Grant officially proclaimed the Fifteenth Amendment as part of the Constitution. Washington and many other cities celebrated while more than 100,000 blacks paraded through Baltimore, but the victory did not last. While Republicans obtained African American voters in the North, the South was an entirely different situation; Ku Klux Klan and other violent racist groups intimidated black men into voting and those who did vote had their homes burned down, as well as churches and schools (“African Americans,” 2016). A few years later, Southern states required the blacks to pay voting taxes, pass literacy tests and undergo many other unfair restrictions. After 75 years, African American voting rights were once again enforced in the
Finally, with the ratification the fifteenth amendment in 1870s, it secured the vote for the African Americans, and it forbid states from denying any citizens from the right to vote based on race, color, or “previous condition of servitude.” These three amendments were significant changes during the Reconstruction period because all people, not just white, can fully enjoy being an American citizen without worrying over their race or
In May 25, 1787, a convention was called in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to express the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. However, the intention from many delegates was to draft a new constitution; create a new government rather than fix the existing one. Rhode Island was the only one of the 13 original states to refuse to send delegates to the Constitutional Convention. At the Convention, the first issues they had to address was the representation in Congress.
Since its inception in 1787, the U.S. Constitution has been considered as the oldest and most influential document. It laid down the principles and foundation which helped shape U.S. as a nation, and the more than one hundred countries that used it as a model for creating their own Constitution (Constitutionfacts.com, n.a.). But the circumstances during its creation were critical. The American War of Independence (1775-1783) against Great Britain had ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris that gave sovereignty to the U.S. in 1783.
Who Killed Reconstruction? “The blacks, as a people, are unfitted for the proper exercise of political duties…..” said a Boston newspaper in 1873 saying that the Africans-Americans were too dumb to be in Congress or any political office. Three years later, was the 100th year anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. With the irony of the election of 1876 had officially crushed the African-American dream. In 1877, the Reconstruction efforts finally ended, so people were wondering who killed Reconstruction.
The US Constitution was created in 1787. It was all about putting confidence in the citizens that they would be taken care of no matter what. It was very important to the people who wrote the Constitution that everything that was written would come to firmition. In certain situations the Constitution was held to its principles and in some instances it fell flat. When talking about the Whiskey Rebellion, Jefferson did a good job trying to support the citizens of the States.
The Founding Fathers offered a proposal for a new Constitution. Amending the Constitution grew in discussion to meet or agree on impending changes. The ratification of the Constitution was needed in order to administer the use of limited powers properly,involving wise decisions for both the government and the people. The new constitution was to serve as the basis to the government. “That we have it in our power one of the most respectable Nations upon Earth,admits, in my humble opinion, of no doubt; if we would but pursue a wise,just, and liberal policy towards one another...
Originally, African Americans had to be segregated and weren’t even allowed to vote. In 1965 after the Montgomery March, Lyndon B Johnson passed the Voting Rights Act, and later in 1968 both the Civil Rights Act of 1968 and the Fourteenth Amendment were passed. The Fourteenth Amendmendment said that “all persons born of naturalized in the United States” could legally vote. These acts got rid of literacy tests, and in 1968, when Nixon became president (Document H), there was over two times the amount of African American voters than there was in 1960 (Document G). African Americans also gained large support from a president, John F. Kennedy, which wasn’t something anyone had expected looking back at how past presidents acted.
The 15th Amendment (Amendment XV), which gave African-American men the right to vote, was inserted into the U.S. Constitution on March 30, 1870. Passed by Congress the year before, the amendment says, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Although the amendment was passed in the late 1870s, many racist practices were used to oppose African-Americans from voting, especially in the Southern States like Georgia and Alabama. After many years of racism, the Voting Rights Act of 1965 aimed to overthrow legal barricades at the state and local levels that deny African-Americans their right to vote. In the
Since its inception in 1787, the U.S. Constitution has been considered as the oldest and most influential document. It laid down the principles and foundation which helped shape U.S. as a nation, and the more than one hundred countries that used it as a model for creating their own Constitution (Constitutionfacts.com, n.a.). But the circumstances during its creation were critical. The American War of Independence (1775-1783) against Great Britain had ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris that gave sovereignty to the U.S. in 1783.
But, when these officials were elected to Congress, they passed the “black codes” and thus the relations between the president and legislators became worst (Schriefer, Sivell and Arch R1). These so called “Black Codes” were “a series of laws to deprive blacks of their constitutional rights” that they were enacted mainly by Deep South legislatures. Black Codes differ from a state to another but they were stricter in the Deep South as they were sometimes irrationally austere. (Hazen 30) Furthermore, with the emergence of organizations such as the Red Shirts and the White League with the rise of the Conservative White Democrats’ power, efforts to prevent Black Americans from voting were escalating (Watts 247), even if the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S constitution that gave the Blacks the right to vote had been ratified in 1870.
One of reasons the confederacy failed was because the U.S. Congress, with Lincoln’s support, proposed the 13th amendment which would abolish slavery in America. Although the confederate peace delegation was unwilling to accept a future without slavery, the radical and moderate Republicans designed a way to takeover the reconstruction program. The Radical Republicans wanted full citizenship rights for African Americans and wanted to implement harsh reconstruction policies toward the south. The radical republican views made up the majority of the Congress and helped to pass the 14th amendment which guaranteed equality under the law for all citizens, and protected freedmen from presidential vetoes, southern state legislatures, and federal court decisions. In 1869, Congress passed the fifteenth amendment stating that no citizen can be denied the right to vote because of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.”
To accomplish social equality and justice has been a long controversial issue in U.S. history. Voting Rights Act of 1965 should be understood as a tremendous accomplishment today because it not only represent a symbol of the triumph of fighting social injustice, but also open the first gate for African American and minority to strive for more political power in order to create a “great society.”
The United States Constitution is a vital part of the country’s government and society. The Constitution was written in June of 1788, and it would become the center of a country. The Constitution insures the rights of all Americans, from birth to death. It also insures a strict set of rules-which can ensure justice is perused, and laws are made. The Constitution wasn’t always the center of the United States government however.
Racism’s Impact on Reconstruction While the issue of slavery evidently contributed to the divide that resulted in the American Civil War, it is debated whether prevailing ideals of racism caused the failure of the era following the war known as Reconstruction. With the abolishment of slavery, many of the southern states had to reassemble the social, economic, and political systems instilled in their societies. The Reconstruction Era was originally led by a radical republican government that pushed to raise taxes, establish coalition governments, and deprive former confederates of superiority they might have once held. However, during this time common views were obtained that the South could recover independently and that African Americans
Many people were brutally beaten and there were also some that lost their lives, because of it. Lyndon B Johnson begins his speech his by convincing his listener that he will flight for what is owed to the Negros. That is the equal right to vote regardless of your race. The speech “We Shall Overcome”, speech gets to the core of the problem within the Legislation itself. He wants to see that everyone will abide by the 15th Amendment that gives Negros the right and the privilege to vote without any recourse, without worrying