Eric Foner Thesis

Did you know the 13th amendment gave African Americans their freedom from slavery. Then the 14th amendment gave them their citizenship. Finally, the 15th amendment was passed so that they had the right to vote. These amendments were passed during reconstruction. Even with these amendments, freedmen’s lives didn’t change much socially, economically, and politically throughout reconstruction.

The 14th amendment essentially grants citizenship to all people born in The United States. The law also states no person can be denied "equal protection of the laws." In many states this law freed slaves. This changed because of the 14th amendment it allowed colored people to vote and voice their opinions. The fourteenth amendment was passed on July 28, 1868. Segregation in schools violated the 14th amendment because “Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” and therefore the Supreme Court made schools include whites and colored people in the same schools. Essentially separate but equal was not actually equal so changes were made. It was a difficult transition because many people did not want this. During 1957 the Little Rock

The 14th Amendment was one of the most significant changes to the Constitution. The amendment contains the equal protection of the laws clause. It was added to the Constitution after the Civil War. The rules that the amendment states have been the result of several Supreme Court cases. The amendment has deeply influenced American History and the perception of equality. The Citizenship clause states that anyone born or naturalized in the United States are citizens of the U.S. and their state. The Due Process law states that no state may deprive any person of life liberty or death. Perhaps the most important clause is the equal protection of the law. The equal protection of the law clause guarantees that every citizen receives the same rights,

The American Civil War that was started due to the controversy over slavery in 1861, was won by The Union supported by President Lincoln against the Confederate states. President Lincoln’s original goal during the civil war was to reunify the nation as quickly as possible and help both sides come to an understanding. After the Civil War ended in 1865, the newly formed United States’ reconstruction era began. The Reconstruction era was put into effect by the Congress in 1866 and lasted until 1877. The Union’s victory in the Civil War had given African Americans a new sense of hope, devastated the southern economy, and eased the history of disunity in American political life. Reconstruction was a program used to help the south rebuild and join

Reconstruction and the Myth of the Lost Cause has been misinterpreted and in some cases, not even taught by most teachers. Reconstruction failures have affected “race relations” throughout the United States. Eric Foner said “ Today’s scholars believe that if the era was “tragic,” it was not because Reconstruction was attempted but because it failed.” Students throughout the United States need to be educated on the importance of Reconstruction and The Myth of the Lost Cause. Also, the Confederate monuments can relate back to the failure of Reconstruction and the Myth of the Lost Cause.

This amendment allowed blacks to have an equal part in American society barring the exception of voting. They were provided with due process of law and a right to a fair trial, this made them equal in the courtrooms in theory. They were still discriminated against in the courts and really did not have fair trials and due process. Many whites still believed themselves superior to blacks, so most times when a black was brought into a legal proceeding they were convicted, no matter if they were innocent or guilty. They also had the right to run for local political offices, while this was a tremendous stepping stone for black rights, those blacks that ran for office never were elected because blacks did not have the right to vote, and no white man would vote for a black in this time period. This amendment helped blacks economically because they could now sue whites for cheating them thanks to due process; however, as previously stated, most times if a black and a white were against each other in a trial, the white man would have the victory due to the prejudices of that time. Socially blacks were forbidden to serve on a jury thanks to the Black Codes being passed under Andrew Johnson’s racist presidency. The fourteenth amendment allowed blacks more freedom in the eyes of the government, but in local settings this tenement was not practiced fully, most of

This amendment granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed by the Thirteenth Amendment. In addition to granting citizenship, it forbids states from denying anyone "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws,” no matter who they were. The 14th Amendment expanded the protection of civil rights tremendously to all Americans no matter color or race and is cited in more litigations than any other amendment of the United States today. On June 22, 1866, precisely fourteen days after the senate passed the Fourteenth Amendment, President Andrew Johnson issued a message to Congress announcing that the Fourteenth Amendment had been sent to the states for ratification. Johnson voiced his negative opinion of the amendment by stating that his actions should "be considered as purely ministerial, and in no sense whatever committing the Executive to an approval or a recommendation of the amendment to the State legislatures or to the

After slavery, African Americans in the south were in a time of change. Though they were free from slavery, whippings, and auctions, I believe life became difficult for them even after slavery ended. Racism began to grow increasingly, as many could not accept the fact that there was no more slavery. It became stricter when the government in the South enforced laws called Black Codes. Those laws were set to grant only certain rights to people of color. Employment for black people was unfair, as they were often paid much less than their white companions. The fourteenth amendment was created in 1868 and promised African Americans the rights of equal American citizenship. Many of the African Americans were homeless and separated from their family for years, sometimes never being able to see them again.

New Amendments were added to give African Americans rights after the war, all giving them some equal rights to whites. The first of the three added was the Thirteenth Amendment, it gave African Americans freedom from slave owners, and stated that no one could be kept as a slave in the U.S.. The next of the three is the Fourteenth Amendment, it made it so anyone born in the U.S. is a U.S. citizen, making it so states cannot take away one’s right, as well as giving all people equal protection of the laws. The

Over time, there have been many interpretations in the meaning of the 14th Amendment due to the use of both explicit and implicit language in the document. Having been written at a time when African-Americans were starting to get their rights. For some at that time, the 14th Amendment meant to just give African-Americans rights but as time progressed, the interpretation of the amendment was challenged and began to change. The 13th Amendment’s meaning is to end slavery in the United States except as a punishment for a crime. The 13th Amendment didn’t help African-Americans because states passed the Jim Crow laws. The 14th Amendment meant no state can make or support any laws that take away the rights of U.S. citizen equal protection under the laws. To understand the intent and purpose of the 14th Amendment, one must analyze the language closely.

The 14th amendment is split into five sections. Section one is the most important of them all and it states, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state 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 the laws.” (The Constitution 2014). However it was put to test in the south early on. Even though it granted Blacks citizenship it did not give them equality, and soon arose numerous

The Gilded Age was an age that was directly dependent on the end of the Civil War. Jazz was a major parts of what the 1920s and it helped African Americans realize the where they are at that moment was not what they had to stay at. The end of the Civil War made most of the American populace believe that the lives of slaves would change drastically. American slaves were granted freedom by order of the President and the Congress. The 13th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America freed the slaves in America. The 14th Amendment gave the slave citizenship. Yet even with these assurances all did not work out, as it should have. Segregation was the social structure that took the place of slavery throughout America, contrary

The fourteenth amendment protects the little people. The people who are slipping through the cracks, the ones that have fallen by the wayside of the majority. Recently, this has meant rulings in favor of same-sex marriage. Historically, it has granted women the right to an abortion and given African Americans the right to go to the same schools as their fellow Americans. In each case, an oppressed or otherwise infringed group from the overreaches of the state, the society at large. But something else has begun to slip through the cracks, and nobody is rushing to save it. It is impossible to tell where this slippage first began, but its ever increasing severity is in full display: Middlebury students turnings their backs and chanting as the

Imagine a world in which The Civil War and the events after never happened. Southern states still hold slaves, there are no laws on immigration or who can become a citizen. The Civil War freed the slaves and allowed laws that dealt with citizenship and immigration to be ratified. This was what led to the creation of the three Reconstruction Amendments, which includes the Fourteenth Amendment. The Fourteenth Amendment has rich history, various meanings and applications, and can be used to shape our nation for the better today.

One of the few things that needs recognition is the Declaration of Independence and our 14th Amendment. After earning our independence, slavery and segregation occurred. For almost a century, whites treated African Americans unfairly until the 13th Amendment passed, the amendment to abolish slavery. Our whole country was in chaos for many years due to unfairness and racism. We all wouldn’t be have our rights today if it wasn’t for the 14th Amendment.