Post Civil War Reconstruction Amendments

Although post Civil War reconstruction was painstaking process that incited a lot of prejudice, violence, and political unrest, with the creation of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments - or reconstruction amendments - the United States was successfully mended back to a collective country. The reconstruction amendments provided a framework for how the post-war society would conduct themselves, the hopeful theme being “With Malice toward none, with charity for all” (Lincoln, 2nd Inaugural Address). The amendments would be passed in a five year span, immediately after the Civil War, in hopes to provide stability. The first Reconstruction Amendment passed in 1864, which was the13th amendment. It was the tool that freed all slaves residing in the United States. The 13th amendment was the first step in black Americans gaining equality, and gave the black community a foothold in their fight for justice. However, the government provided no compensation or federal aid to freedmen. Furthermore, the majority of freedmen were uneducated, and only had working skills in the agricultural field. This led to sharecropping, an arrangement in which someone could use a farmer’s land, and in
The 15th amendment stated than any male citizen, regardless of color, or past servitude, could vote, and that the states could not deny them this. Having the right to vote was a huge victory for Blacks. White Americans, especially those in politics, could no longer ignore them, since their vote could decide who became Governor, Senator or even President. This gave Black people a lot of power bot socially, and politically. The fact that people who were once enslaved could vote, also helped developed an argument for women to gain suffrage, which occurred 50 years later. The 15th amendment was a major step toward equality, and was a huge win for the United States, even if people during the 1870’s could not see that at the