SS5H2. The student will analyze the effects of Reconstruction on American life.
a. Describe the purpose of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
b. Explain the work of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
c. Explain how slavery was replaced by sharecropping and how African-Americans were
prevented from exercising their newly won rights; include a discussion of Jim Crow laws
and customs.
a. Describe the purpose of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments.
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment to the United States Constitution was passed by the Senate on April 8,
1864, by the House on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, and it abolished
slavery as a legal institution in the United States.
FYI: The Emancipation Proclamation needed the 13th amendment to be passed in order to
guarantee the abolishment of slavery.
14th Amendment
The 14th amendment of the Constitution was passed by both houses on June the 8th and 13th in
1866. The amendment was designed to grant citizenship to and protect the civil liberties of
recently freed slaves. It did this by prohibiting states from denying or abridging the privileges or
immunities of citizens of the United States, depriving any person of his life, liberty, or property
without due process of law, or denying to any person within their jurisdiction the equal
protection of the laws.
FYI: Most Southern states refused to ratify the 14th amendment and therefore Radical
Republicans urged the passing of further legislation to impose these measures on the former
confederacy. The result was the 1867 Reconstruction Acts that divided the South into five
military districts controlled by martial law, proclaimed universal manhood suffrage and required
the new state constitutions to be drawn up.
15th Amendment
Passed by Congress February 26, 1869, and ratified February 3, 1870, the 15th amendment was
written to protect the rights of citizens to be able to vote, regardless of their race, color, or
previous condition of servitude. More specifically, it granted former slaves (black men) the right
to vote.
FYI: Although this article promised a lot for Blacks at the time, states and local polls found
loopholes in the legislation to prevent them from voting.
To read the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments are they are written go to:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html
b. Explain the work of the Freedmen’s Bureau.
The Freedman’s Bureau was established by Congress on March 3, 1865 and was intended to last
for one year after the end of the Civil War. The Bureau’s task was to help Southern blacks and
whites make the transition from a society based on slavery to one allowing freedom. The Bureau
also was designed to protect the interests of former slaves. This included helping them find new
employment and to improve educational and health facilities for African Americans. The bureau
established over 4,000 schools including Howard University, 100 hospitals, and provided food
and shelter for former slaves in the first year after its inception.
FYI: Attempts by Congress to extend the powers of the Freedman’s Bureau was vetoed by
President Andrew Johnson in February 1866.
c. Explain how slavery was replaced by sharecropping and how African-Americans were
prevented from exercising their newly won rights; include a discussion of Jim Crow laws
and customs.
Sharecropping was an arrangement where laborers with no land of their own worked on farm
plots owned by others, and at the end of the season, the landowners paid workers a share of their
crop. Sharecropping developed as a system that was to suppose to benefit both former slaves
and plantation owners who were unable to farm their land because they no longer had slaves and
also no money to pay a labor force. Landowners could have access to the large labor force
needed to grow cotton, but also did not need the money to pay the laborers. The workers, in
turn, were free to negotiate a place to work and had the possibility of clearing enough profit at
the end of the year to buy farm equipment or even land. But of course sharecropping
overwhelmingly favored the landowners. Many times at the end of the season, a worker might
only get paid one-third or less of the crop they produced. This is mainly because they came into
the agreement with only their ability to perform the farm tasks involved. They had to rely on the
landowner to provide supplies needed to farm the land and had to either “rent” or use “credit” to
get the supplies they needed to complete their end of the arrangement. Also many times the
sharecropper, who was illiterate and could not calculate their own debt, was told by the
landowner that the amount they made selling their crop was not sufficient to settle the debts
accrued during the year. Thus, it bound the sharecroppers to servitude to the landlord for another
year.
From the 1880’s into the 1960’s, a majority of American states enforced segregation through
“Jim Crow” laws (so called after a black character in minstrel shows). From Delaware to
California, and from North Dakota to Texas, many states (and cities too) could impose legal
punishments on people for consorting with members of another race. The most common types of
laws forbade intermarriage and ordered business owners and public institutions to keep their
black and white clientele separated (i.e. segregation).
To view some examples of Jim Crow laws go to:
http://www.sju.edu/~brokes/jimcrow.htm
References:
http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/802055/overview_of_the_13th_14th_and_15th_pg2.ht
ml?cat=37
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-3590
http://www.greatamericanhistory.net/amendment.htm
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_events_freed.html
http://www.sju.edu/~brokes/jimcrow.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAslavery.htm